The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: colliewobbles on March 25, 2013, 01:04:35 pm

Title: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: colliewobbles on March 25, 2013, 01:04:35 pm
Hi, we have two Gloucester Old Spots (male and female) which we are raising for meat.  At the moment they are fenced in with stock fencing, boarded at bottom with a line of barbed wire just off the ground.  The fencing stands between 3-4 feet high. 

A couple of people have told me that we will need to improve this with electric fencing as they grow.  Can anyone advise if this is so? 

If it is so then what do we need? 


We will need to run this from a battery as there is no available power supply.

Many thanks
Donna
Title: Re: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: hughesy on March 25, 2013, 01:13:45 pm
Your fence sounds adequate enough to me. You could use electric fencing to sub divide the area or to utilise another patch of ground without the cost of stock fencing, but you don't need it as well as what you have.
Title: Re: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: JMB on March 25, 2013, 07:48:30 pm
I agree. Your fencing sounds fine.
We have an electric fence to subdivide the field (and especially in winter to fence off a smaller area). Ours is a ibattery powered one and we use tape ( it was for a horse originally) and that works fine.
I think the box and tape and poles might have been £200 ( not sure, ours is second hand) but the replacement battery is only £30 or so
Hope this helps
J xxxx

Title: Re: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: supplies for smallholders on March 25, 2013, 08:20:42 pm
Personally I would add an electric strand or two - otherwise if they mound up the soil over the barbed wire they will soon make short work of the stock fence - and this usually happens when you least want it to!

Lots of energisers and Polyrope / wire available - just shop around and buy a reputable make not a cheapo import.


Title: Re: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: Marches Farmer on March 28, 2013, 11:48:14 am
Also depends how much space they have and how interesting they find what's on the other side of the fence.
Title: Re: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: cuckoo on March 28, 2013, 09:05:15 pm
Our pigs are reared in an enclosure of stock fencing with just a single strand electric running around bottom and one on top.  dont actually think we need top one.  Just watch lower one as earths when soil mounds on top.
 
We have energisers - Rutland - 5 years and still going - was expensive but lasts.
 
Also an orange one but cant remember make!
 
We use electric strands around this pen but have also used tape when not with stock fence as can be seen easier.
 
hope this helps.
Title: Re: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: colliewobbles on March 28, 2013, 09:12:03 pm
So - given the responses there are still mixed opinions!!  I guess we could fairly easily run a wire at mid-height around the stock fencing - although the initial set-up might be a sizeable investment. 

Seems to be important to buy a reputable make too, not a cheaper import - which are usually false economy anyway for most things!

Thanks - Donna
Title: Re: When/Do we need electric fencing?
Post by: benkt on March 28, 2013, 09:24:24 pm
I use electric when subdividing our larger paddocks which are around 2/3rds acre. The paddocks themselves just have well tensioned stock mesh fencing and seem to keep them in - poorly tensioned stock mesh used to subdivide needs the help of a couple of strands of electric in front of it otherwise they bulldoze it down in a couple of days.