[Ladygrey]

I am having a major fencing malfunction 

I currently have sheep grazing the garden, the field, the fruit tree bit of the field and the pig pens!!, and the sheep pen where two of the ewes are meant to be is empty....

The kunekunes are going to run out of grazing due to having so many sheep sharing their grass!! and the garden is looking umm bare.. wiltshire horn ewe is jumping everything and the other sheep are following, she is jumping stock netting plus two strand barbed wire!! and she isnt stressed and has loads of grass and she is jumping into areas of less grass.

What fencing do other people use?? I cant afford deer fencing  going to have to add another strand of wire to the very tops of the posts!

[Bionic]

I have only had my sheep for 3 weeks and so far they have kept their feet firmly on the ground.
 
I believe that some types of sheep are more likely to be escape artists than others.
 
Hopefully someone will be along soon with some more constructive advice
 
Sally

[piggy]

Mine easy jump the standard stock fence 32inches so we now have the next height up which is 46inches put on 6ft posts with a strand of electric wire on top of the post so far so good no escapes.Having just bought a roll i can tell you it £20 more than the standard roll but £50 cheaper than deer fencing,plus if you went for deer fencing you would need some really tall posts to put it on or the top will just flop.

[ScotsGirl]

Well some of mine can jump 3 strands of electric, about 3' but not challenged them to anything higher.  The other grass must be tastier even if a bit sparse.  No idea how you stop them other than up the voltage on top piece of electric.
 
Mine only do it if short of grass and usually jump back when they see me.
Good Luck!

[Ladygrey]

Thanks Sally

Piggie where do you get your wire from?

As we are looking to replace the wire we have anyway with stock netting with slightly smaller holes it in. Electric fencing on the top sounds good as I dont like so much of the barbed wire due to the lurcher (which jumps 5ft) leaping over fences for fun...

Also my sheep dont jump back when they see me... they sort of just say hi  and keep grazing

[Small Farmer]

We're moving all ours today to wean the remaining lambs who have patient mothers and split off the entire male lambs to where their growing inclinations can do no harm.  But it's today because the lambs have all started hurdling the temporary 3-line electric that is supposed to contain them.  That's always a signal that they fancy the grass more on the other side so time to move them anyway.


Only one of our ewes can really jump and only then if she's scared.  We had her in a hurdle pen for examination because she was limping and next minute she'd buggered off.  Still limping.

[Fleecewife]

First off - get rid of the barbed wire - it's evil stuff.  It doesn't stop anything from jumping over, or trying to, but rips them on the way over - livestock as well as pets. You can replace it with tensioned plain wire.  Barbed wire is a pet hate of mine 
 
You could try adding your strand of electric wire on the inside of the fence, projecting horizontally from the top (you can buy extension thingies which do that)   It then looks too complicated for them to jump.
 
Have you seen your sheep jumping, or are you assuming that's how they get over?  There might be a way through somewhere.   Mine don't jump, even though they are Hebrideans and Soay.  Years ago our Jacobs jumped but only to examine some new arrivals, then they jumped back to their own side.  A Soay tup did fly over fences so we had to put up double height mesh around his pen so he didn't get to the neighbour's ewes 

[in the hills]

Too high !!!!!


No, seriously,    our Soay's have not attempted to jump our normal height stock fence ...... yet. 
Always seem fairly content to be where they are.


We did find one a couple of weeks ago having a rather good time eating the new apple tree in our garden! Couldn't see how she had managed to get in but then spotted that the wind had blown the pallet from the end of the compost heap. She had climbed on top of that and then leapt into the garden. Obviously need to move that! Could your sheep be finding something similar to help them over the fences? 


A neighbour called me a while ago to say that he was really worried because one of my lambs had got into the farmers field and was very nearly clearing the normal height fence that is topped with a strand of wire in an attempt to get back ..... thought he might get caught by the back legs. Guess that if they wanted to they could easily clear my fences. 

[Fowlman]

I have standard height fencing and my shetlands dont jump.

[SteveHants]

Wilts horns can be a pain in the backside for this. you either: run three strands of electric on the inside of the stock fence (electric fencing works pretty well on the shedding breeds) or get rid of that ewe. Ewes with a tendency to wander cause more heatbreak than they are worth in the end - either they wind up vanishing or you annoy all your neighbours by having to go and fetch the sheep back all the time.

[jaykay]

I'm with Fleecewife on barbed wire 

My Herdies went over 6ft drystone walls  (my goats go over 6ft stone walls with 2ft of wall topping fencing above it  )

My Shetland tup went over standard stock fencing - there were 12 very nice girls the other side  He hasn't since I added a top wire and the girls never went over to him.

A couple of electric wires inside the fence are the only things that stop the goats.

[Burrwoodfm]

My North Ronnie Girl's have jumped a 4ft electric fence from standing still.  I think they could easily manage more with a run up!

[Bramblecot]

My Shetlands (one is called Zebedee) can jump straight over hurdles without touching them  - but they don't usually bother, thank goodness.  I hate barbed wire too but it seems to be standard practice around here to put two strands on top of stock netting.

[plumseverywhere]

Mine have all found a way UNDER fences/hedges/gates but so far we've been very lucky and not had any jump over! Now I'm worried having read this! Am hoping that the fact they are all Texel crosses will mean they are too heavy to be jumping 

[omnipeasant]

I have never seen sheep jumping fences! What are you lot feeding them on? racehorse nuts. But seriously, if ours ever go to try out the neighbours grass they usually go under the fence. They are experts at it. Check if any stakes are loose. They  could squeeze under if the stakes will lift a few inches.