The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: 5Acres on May 05, 2014, 01:48:45 pm
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Hi,
I've been googling and found a few on here have Ouessant sheep so am hoping someone can help me.
I have just ordered 2 wethers to use a lawnmowers in my woodland (3 acres of 6yr old trees) as it was suggested that they were the best type for this.
I intended to use an electric fence to keep them contained and move it around the land but some say that sheep aren't bothered by electric fences and others say that horned sheep shouldn't be enclosed by electric netting.
I wondered if anyone can give me their experiences with Ouessants
Thanks
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Are you in the UK? As I understand it you can't use electric netting if you have horned sheep. I have used tape and a hot wire as a temporary fence - Ie there is a perimeter fence and it is used to section off an area of grazing inside that area. It is not a setup I would recommend for use where the sheep are left unattended for any period of time and always at night the sheep are in a fenced area with no electric fencing.
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:wave: i agree you are not ment to put horned sheep in electric net . you can run 2 or 3 single wires on a rapa reel system worked on my ewes when i wintered them on an arable place. never had quessants but shropshires are used to graze young woodland and they dont damage the trees
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The land has hedges but I don't think they are good enough for sheep so I was hoping to rely on the fence.
It's next to my house so I'll be there daily.
I spoke to a small holder yesterday who uses 2 wires and said that's all she's ever used and had no issues - I'm unsure what sheep she had though.
What is the difference / benefit of tape over std elec wire / string ?
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I chose tape over wire as its a visual barrier once learnt the sheep are imo less likely to push past it. I rarely turn mine on and they treat it as a fence.
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We use white rope electric fencing for our little flock, the theory was that it's more of a visual barrier than wire. We're newbies to sheep keeping and originally had problems with one ram lamb escaping (and nibbling at my cider apple trees, the little beggar). My (very clever and patient) wife watched and found that he was pushing under the bottom rope. Of course, muggins here had left the power off on the very low bottom wire to stop it grounding. Anyway, I now strim the length of the fence when I move them and keep the bottom rope live as well. That's worked without any dramas so far. We do use a 4 reel system for the sheep, but maybe 2 would be enough if there are no lambs.
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Tape is good as a visual but i have it and don't like it - gets twisted, wires break at the corners (and therefore don't conduct) etc. I haven't had it, but would 6 mm rope work as well on the visual side?
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None of my cross breeds respect any kind of electric, even when just sheared, if there is more grass on the other side they just push through or jump it!
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Thanks
Following advice (and searching on here) I've bought a mains energiser and 6mm rope if that doesn't work then I'll go with the wire mesh fencing
I don't get them for another 2 months