The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Paul and Caroline on October 14, 2017, 02:53:19 pm
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Hi
We have a field which is a shade under 3 acres bounded by stockfencing and a top strand of electrified wire, run off a mains energiser. We have 2 gimmers which we are putting to the tup this year and hopefully lambing in April. We are also retaining 3 of this years Ewe lambs for next years breeding plus another 2 which we will send away as hoggets in May (ish). We have hitherto grazed our entire flock of 12 on the whole field with no rotation and it hasn't been a problem, with plenty of grass and a nil worm count. However our latest FEC samples show a low to medium egg count so we would like to subdivide the field into 3 paddocks so that we can employ a rotation system allowing us to 'rest' the land. So my point (at long last) is would temporary strands of electrified tape or cord be enough or would their fleeces render them useless? Do I need to invest in hard fencing? There would be a maximum of 9 animals in a paddock at any one time.......
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We did a similar thing a good few years ago, using stob and mesh fencing, and a gate per paddock. Tape and electric strand fencing is not adequate, especially for the tup who will walk straight through to tup your lambs. I don't think electric mesh fencing is suitable for sheep as they seem to get tangled easily, either by their fleece or their horns, and they can die from the shocks, even from a battery powered fence, as well as strangling themselves to death. This I know from experience.
We spaced our stobs a little further apart than on a march fence, and used a lower grade of wire mesh, but the job was done to be sturdy enough. You will be needing these paddocks for years to come, so there's no point in skimping, and if at some point in the distant future you decide you don't need the separate paddocks then it's easy enough to roll up the mesh and remove the stobs to be used elsewhere.
For times when we don't need the paddocks, then we leave the gates open and the sheep are free to choose which field to graze - they love the choice ;D
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Once they have a respect for wire (polywire is what we use) and the fencer is decent enough and battery not gone flat, that should keep them contained. 3 strands should be sufficient but 4 if you want to be safe. However if you want to separate the ram and ewes from all other stock I would say something more permanent like stockfence would be better, and keep a paddock free in between them. If your sheep don't respect electric however you might again need stockfence, as sheep who walk through electric are a nightmare !
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We us rutland electric sheep fencing (the wire version) as others have said once they have respect for it we don't have a problem and actually as smallholders use the electric fencing alot ! Start off on high and fast pulse and reduce after a couple of days. Once used to it I have used it on experienced ewes used with a flat battery for a couple of weeks and they never tried to escape (not that I'd recommend it). Its great for sectioned off bits of land to allow some rotation.
I'm currently using it on some new stock and have run each strand round and the again one peg lower so in total there are 6 strings on it, giving no gap to escape.
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Most of my sheep are kept behind 3 strands of horse tape electric but lambs do have a habit of escaping underneath if the bottom strand is too high. I do like the rams to have at least one paddock between them and the ladies.
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3 strands electric wire keep all mobs apart here
Rules are;
Keep a paddock between mobs
Keep the fence tight & power good
Don't try it to keep rams from girls as it is unlikely to work
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What breed of sheep? Down sheep are so well insulated they just walk through electric. Mountain breeds can jump so well they'll need something quite high. I'd go for permanent fencing unless you're likely to stop keeping sheep in a few years. You can always use hurdles instead of gates to keep the cost down initially. If dividing a field then keeping an empty field between ram and ewes is a good idea - even if he can't get to them the ram will tire himself out patrolling the fenceline in the tupping season. Could also be helpful to have a small pen in the middle somewhere for gathering stock. If your stock has a high FEC at this time of year then it might be worth speaking to your vet about the best strategy to reduce it, or it will go through the roof by Spring.
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What breed of sheep? Down sheep are so well insulated they just walk through electric. Mountain breeds can jump so well they'll need something quite high. I'd go for permanent fencing unless you're likely to stop keeping sheep in a few years. You can always use hurdles instead of gates to keep the cost down initially. If dividing a field then keeping an empty field between ram and ewes is a good idea - even if he can't get to them the ram will tire himself out patrolling the fenceline in the tupping season. Could also be helpful to have a small pen in the middle somewhere for gathering stock. If your stock has a high FEC at this time of year then it might be worth speaking to your vet about the best strategy to reduce it, or it will go through the roof by Spring.
Sorry - having re-read my original post I realise I didn't state that my Ewes are on a neighbours farm to be served by one of his tips - we don't have any ourselves. They are Scotch mule crosses with quite thick fleeces hence the reason I asked about the effectiveness of electric tape etc. As for hurdles when I penned them up for fluke drenching several of them gaily skipped over the top and away - I am sure I heard them chanting "nah-na na nah-nah....." we will be doing another FEC check in early December on vets advice followed, I expect, by drenchIng for worms. I must admit we didn't really want to erect stock fencing as it would mean 300-400 metres of it and at £6 per metre plus gates etc it's quite an expense and fertilising and topping of the land will be that bit more awkward. Currently we have a neighbour comes in with his tractor and 12 metre sprayer or his 9' topper and does the whole field in about 20-30 minutes.
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The lambs will probably be more daring about testing the fence than the ewes. My poll Dorset x lambs this year stayed contained behind electric and they were fluffy little things !