[nancyscho]

We have four three month old pigs who have been recently moved from their pigsty with a large run to an ark in a field, we enclosed their boundary with a two strand electric fence, each strand running from a small unit which they totally disregard, I think the current is too weak. Is there any chance if we bought a heavy duty unit and tape to give them a strong zap that it would contain them now they have made their breakout to freedom. My husband wants to put in stock fencing but the difficulty with that is finding a fencer who can come at short notice. They are GOS X Saddlebacks, this system worked well with our Berkshires although they were younger when put in the field.
Help!!

[Hilarysmum]

Can you make a much smaller paddock which you could then "fence" on the outside with corrugated iron or similar to block their view out.  Once they touch the fence a few times, without the "reward" of escape, they will quickly learn to respect the fence.  (That's the theory anyway).

[nancyscho]

Many thanks Hilarysmum, I've passed it on to my husband who thinks it makes sense. He has gone pig mad, last night in our local paper there was an advert for 4 British Saddlebacks for only £100. It was all I could do to restrain him from picking up the phone and if he'd got that far and they were still available they would have been ours. I put my foot down, we must prioritize and get the fence situation sorted out first. He has managed to get someone to do the stock fencing next weekend.

[sausagesandcash]

A much quicker solution with the same effect is to hold each one beside the fence, show them the fence as it were, and then touch them off it three times. You get shocked too, so it sort of evens up the score! After that they will have learnt to respect the fence, and so indeed will you! Oh, and make sure your fence is mains powered, I don't find the battery ones much use as you have to keep monitoring them,

[doganjo]

A much quicker solution with the same effect is to hold each one beside the fence, show them the fence as it were, and then touch them off it three times. You get shocked too, so it sort of evens up the score! After that they will have learnt to respect the fence, and so indeed will you! Oh, and make sure your fence is mains powered, I don't find the battery ones much use as you have to keep monitoring them,

Ay, well, ye widnae catch me daein that!   Not a chance!

[Hilarysmum]

Nor me it hurts!!!

[sausagesandcash]

Good for the 'ol heart!

[gavo]

NOT IF YOU HAVE A PACEMAKER; you'll short circuit.

[Malc]

What kind of wire are you using? We use galvanised wire which seems to give a stronger 'zap' - even using car batteries - than cord or tape, both of which seem to be next-to-useless with pigs.

Sausagesandcash's test seems a little extreme - there are testing gizmos available to check the power is getting to the fence.

[Hilarysmum]

We use tape dont often have trouble with them escaping.  (Except when I forget to turn it on they seem to know instantly).

Sausagesandcash's test seems a little extreme - there are testing gizmos available to check the power is getting to the fence.

My friend sadly no longer with us, used to make his wife test the fencing with a blade of grass.  If she screeched it was working!!!

[herdsman]

Hold a metal fence stake by its insulator. Touch the bottom of the stake on the ground and move it to just touch the wire It will spark across with a nice click. It saves getting the shock and you know its working.

[Hilarysmum]

We smallholders are very innovative.

[oaklandspigs]

We use white tape, pigs see it much easier and respect it.

However we have a small "training pen" about 20ft * 10 ft which we put weaners into.  This has stock wire round it loosely attached to fence posts with the electric tape on the inside.  When weaners touch the tape, they can not go forward as they see the stick wire, so go backward.  After 2-3 days we can then move them to an area with just tape.

If you just put them into an electric fenced area without training, it is 50/50 as to whether they will go forward or back when first shocked, and you can quite easily teach your pigs to escape when shocked, rather than be enclosed.

[sausagesandcash]

Agreed, My first male weaner ran straight through the electric fence. Catching him again was no small feet given the amount of land around us. After that we trained all our weaners to the electric fence. Now they avoid the tape, then again they have always had plenty of fresh grass, and don't need to wander. Maybe i'm just lucky, but it's a system that works for us and saves unnecessary stress on the piglets.