[Mondo]

What would you recommend as perimeter fencing for Dexters? Should I go for stock fencing with a strand or two of barbed on top? I hate barbed wire after seeing what is can do to a pony but I've been told it's essential for cattle.
Cheers

[landroverroy]

Yes - stock netting with 2 rows of barbed wire - standard fencing for cattle. Do not be tempted to make it any lower just because they are small as you may end up getting larger animals later.
 Cattle have much tougher hides than ponies and will lean over and destroy the fence (unless you add a row of electric) if you don't use barbed wire. 

[Mondo]

Thanks [member=6533]landroverroy[/member]

I have a problem 20-30m stretch which borders a riding school. The rest borders a road, or I'm fencing my side of a hawthorn hedge.

Can I stand the barbed wire off the fence? Or maybe should I talk to the riding school. They have some sections of electric fence and maybe I could suggest that they run some a metre or so onto their side.

Cheers

[SallyintNorth]

Yup, explain that you will need to use barbed wire so suggest they run an electric wire on their side of it. 

But alternatively, yes you can put a strand of barbed wire a couple of feet in front of the main fence, at cattle chest height.  We used to do this in places in Cumbria, cheaper and quicker than a complete refence when the main fence wasn't wholly reliable any more and we didn't want to do a complete refence just yet. 

[Backinwellies]

Dexters can jump higher than  other cattle in my experience!   Yes stock fence topped with barb is essential for perimeter fence.  You could train them to an electric fence internally ..... which is what we use to strip graze and to protect areas where neighbour doesnt maintain fence well enough.

[landroverroy]

I wouldn't trust someone else's electric  fence to keep my animals in. You never know when the battery is flat, or even removed altogether because (in my experience!) many horse keepers seem to believe that a line of unelectrified tape will keep their animals in,  because once they've had a shock they won't go near it again.   

[harmony]

I wouldn't trust someone else's electric  fence to keep my animals in. You never know when the battery is flat, or even removed altogether because (in my experience!) many horse keepers seem to believe that a line of unelectrified tape will keep their animals in,  because once they've had a shock they won't go near it again.

I think the suggestion is that the riding school could electric fence their side to keep the horses off the barbed wire strands.  Once you fence back from a the original fence you create a green strip that is very tempting. You could back the section bordering the riding school with rails so the cows will still have barbed on their side but the horses have wood.

[Mondo]

That is what I meant, thanks. I'll talk to the riding school about it.

Regarding electric fencing - I was going to use that internally to strip graze. That's what we did for the ponies for years. Does a single strand of electric tend to do the trick?

[twizzel]

It should do providing it’s got a good fencer unit on it. Galvanised wire would be preferable to polywire.

[SallyintNorth]

Just something to think about if you haven't had cattle before...  No electricity is guaranteed against
 hormones! lol

So depending on how you plan to manage your ladies (and any boyfriends they may have), may impact on the effectiveness of your internal electric fencing.  (And Dexter calves are tiny for a long time, so will run under a single strand.)   Not the end of the world, perhaps, if it's only internal fences which depend on electricity, but definitely make sure the outer fences are properly secure if you don't want your tiny Dexter girls needing morning after shots after breaking out and finding the local Charollais Lothario...