Electric Fencing Blog

Deer have become an increasing problem in nearly all areas of the United Kingdom and the deer population is thought to be higher now than at any time in history. Coppice re-growth and natural regeneration of trees is impossible in many places without fencing or other protection. In some areas Muntjac deer are causing significant damage to the ground flora of woodlands. Deer fencing is erected for any of the following purposes:

1. To exclude deer from woodlands, including plantations, coppiced woodlands, newly planted amenity woodlands and those where natural regeneration is needed to maintain or extend woodland cover.
2. Exclosure fences may also be needed to protect high-value horticultural and agricultural crops.
3. To enclose deer in a farm or park.
4. Exclude deer from private property.

Where they choose to feed, rub, walk and breed is a habit learned over time and reinforced every time they do it safely. To exclude a deer herd from a food source, area or trail to which they are habituated forces the herd to break this habit. Thus the first day, week and month of denial of use (by a fence) is the key period. Once the habit is broken, the change in routines and location is easier to maintain. However, you are only fencing out the animals desire so don’t expect success in persuading a starving deer herd to feed elsewhere if your site is its only food source. The greater the desire – the more substantial the barrier has to be.

Full-height (1.8m) wire netting for deer fencing was designed for deer farming, and is not always suitable for woodland exclosures or other uses. The rolls of netting are extremely heavy and require machine access along the fence line, and the netting is difficult to fit neatly on undulating ground. Traditional Deer fences can be a significant source of mortality to low flying ground nesting birds, particularly capercaillie and black grouse.

There are four basic approaches to controlling deer damage to woodlands, which may need to be used in combination:

1. Fencing or tree guards. Netting or mesh fences are necessary, as deer can push between the wires of line wire fencing. Muntjac can push under netting, which must be lapped or buried as for rabbits. Tree guards must be of sufficient height and robust enough to resist damage.
2. Providing alternative grazing and browsing to divert attention away from the areas you want to protect.
3. Culling of population. Culling has to be organised on a local area basis, as deer will rapidly move into woodland where culling has taken place. Contact the local Forestry Commission office as there may be a deer management group in your area.
4. Electric Fencing is highly effective and being intrinsically lighter than conventional fencing is substantially cheaper and easier to erect.

Note that deer can easily injure themselves by attempting to jump normal stock fences. Standard height stock netting fences topped with one or two lines of barbed or plain wire, giving a total height of about 2m, are a frequent cause of injury. As the deer tries to jump, its leg can get entangled in the top wires, where it dies a lingering death.

Electric fences deter the deer’s brain instead of the body and siting and erecting the fence should bear that in mind and should be managed with an awareness of how a deer herd interacts with your area and the new fence.

Permanent Fencing.
These generally utilise wooden posts combined with suitable ring insulators. Plain Hotstop wire is the most suitable due to its longevity and most important, its excellent conductivity. The number of strands depends on the type of deer being excluded. Muntjac Deer are small (size of a medium dog) at 50cm, through Fallow Deer 100cm to the taller Red Deer at 130cm. The first wire goes in at that height as that is the nose height at rest and the nose is what animals use to investigate un-familiar objects.
Muntjac have the habit of going under wire so put in 2 lines below that and one 20cm above. So for Muntjac spacing would be 15,30,50 and 70cm above ground.
Red Deer have a habit of jumping so 5 wire fence is preferable at 50, 80,110,130 and 155cm.A total exclusion fence for deer would therefore be a combination of the two and require 7 strands. (It is important you read the section on Training the Deer)
An additional improvement developed in Australia is to slant the fence towards the direction from whence the deer approach, this probably replicates the 3 Dimensional fence talked about later

Deer have a natural insulation due to the hooves and hair and this has proved to be a problem in the past. Electric fencing has in the past been thought to be not totally effective but this has been rectified by new technology and improved exclusion techniques. It is recommended that the hotShock or HoriSmart energisers are used. These run at higher voltages than standard models to enable them to bridge this natural insulation. (Again the section on Training the Deer is important)

Temporary Fencing
Poly Posts are very useful in temporary situations. They are very simple to use and are quite adequate. Use the longest available, especially for Red Deer and at 150cm above ground they are adequate for most situations. The ends and corners still need to be wooden posts to enable you to tension the wires adequately. For temporary fences,Poly Twines or Electric rope is preferable to wire as they are easily handled and easily wound onto reels for transporting to another site.

3 Dimensional Fences.
There are reports coming out of the USA where an additional single line 1 meter on the pressure side of the fence greatly improves fences that are less than 150cm high. The principle is based on the belief that deer have less than ideal depth perception so are more tentative with wide fences rather than tall. Leaning the fence towards the deer probably replicates this effect.
This theory has recently been exposed as possibly incorrect by a trial in Allegheny hardwood clearcuts in northern Pennsylvania where “two fences were used to prevent browsing by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). A five-strand vertical fence, 58 inches (148cm) high, and a “figure four” three-strand fence, 43 inches (109cm) high, were used…… More than 33 percent of all the seedlings in the unfenced portion of one clearcut were browsed annually while inside the fence no browsing was detected. At least one deer penetration occurred at each fence, but the effect of browsing on forest regeneration inside the fences was negligible. The “figure four” fence was not as effective as the five-strand vertical fence in preventing deer browsing.”

Training the Deer.
Remember we need to change the deers habits built up over a period of time. There are two methods of increasing the effectiveness of the fence. The first is by clearing the brush about 3-5 meters away from the fence. The smaller deer have an inbuilt tentativeness crossing open areas that is reinforced by contact with the fence.

Red Deer in particular have a habit of not investigating the fence and simply jump over it. This is in common with the Springbuck and Impala of Southern Africa (both of which do comfortably clear a 2 meter high fence) and consequently an effective technique has evolved there whereby the fence is initially baited to attract the target to investigate the fence.

With deer this is done by two methods;-

1. Little metal Bait Caps containing cotton wool soaked with a suitable attractant attached to the fence. (Neat apple cordial works well.) These may be left on the fence and re-baited when necessary.
2. Lengths of kitchen foil smeared with peanut butter, molasses/treacle or syrup wrapped around the wires at strategic positions of the fence. These should be removed and replaced if pressure on the fence re-occurs.

The Deer are attracted to these fences by their appearance or smell and are lured into sniffing the fence with their sensitive noses getting an effective sting from the fence. This then creates the psychological barrier in the animal’s brain. This shock is a very strong stimulus and deer learn to avoid the fenced area creating a barrier that they are unable to see and consequently do not know how high it goes. To illustrate this further, foxes, rabbits and badgers do not dig under electric fences for the same reason. The deer seldom attempt a second try. This may sound harsh, but the technique is VERY effective and after the first few animals get a sting the rest will learn from their experiences, termed “Socially Conditioned Avoidance,” and the fence will be left alone.
The bait may be removed after about a week. Baiting may be necessary again if another herd comes into the area, the deer begin to test the fence again or after the fence has been off for a while.

Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) has clearly become a major issue amongst camelid breeders coupled with the possibility of valuable livestock contracting the disease from infected Badgers. Many owners are now seeking to exclude the badgers from their property to protect valuable breeding stock from infection.

A large part of the badger’s diet consists of earthworms and grubs which they find in areas of turf such as pastures. Hence it may be necessary to exclude them from these areas.

There are two methods of badger exclusion and both involve fencing. Firstly there is the conventional high tensile mesh fence. It is highly ornate, involves burying the wire in to prevent badgers digging under and very expensive. Whilst very effective, Badgers have been reported to clamber over these fences.

The next solution is to use an appropriate electric fence to give the badgers a sharp, but non-lethal “sting” on the nose if they try to get into a protected area. Electric fencing has been shown to be highly effective in excluding badgers in scientifically sanctioned trials whilst the cost is a fraction of the conventional fence.

There are two types of fencing applicable to excluding Badgers.

1. Strained-wire fences consist of a series of electrified parallel conducting wires at varying heights above the ground. The conducting wires of strained-wire fences can be made from either polythene twine interwoven with steel strands (polywire) or galvanised steel. The steel wire is a better conductor, far more durable and is cheaper.
2. Electric netting consisting of a woven mesh of poly twines containing electrical filaments. These are very easy to erect and move, very effective but are more intrusive and require larger energisers.

If both fence types are maintained properly they are equally effective. However, galvanised steel fences appear to be more effective than their poly wire counterparts. There is a greater proportion of the wire open to contact and wire will last a lot longer than plastic twine – up to 20 years.

Electric fencing systems are very light and simple to understand so lend themselves comfortably to DIY possibilities. Maintenance of a well constructed fence is not a problem and revolves around a daily test of the voltage in the line and only then is an inspection required if this is seen to be inadequate. New technology high-voltage energisers (HotShock) are very low maintenance and highly effective.

The strained-wire fence system is constructed of electrified parallel conducting wires at heights of 15, 20, 30 and 45cm (6, 8, 12 and 18 inches) above the ground. The wires, which are all live, are held by adjustable plastic insulators supported on wooden stakes. A very viable alternative is to use short 50cm plastic “tread-in” posts similar to those employed in horse yards as they provide both the posts and insulators in one item. The corners and ends are normally more robust wooden posts with insulators applied.

Electric netting varies in height and mesh size, and come in 50m rolls fitted with spiked posts at regular intervals and a clip at each end to join rolls together. These fences are very easy and quick to erect and dismantle but do require stronger energisers and require more maintenance to keep the vegetation away from the bottom strands than a line fence.

The electric fence needs to be used between dusk and dawn until each visiting badger has had a “sting” on the nose. The best guesstimate is that they will remain effective for at least 98% of badgers who have been stung (as exceedingly few like to receive a second sting).

Electric fences must be powered by a specialised energiser (which gets its power from the mains or from a 12v battery). If you use a 12v battery, you will need two batteries, so you can charge one up on a trickle-charger, whilst the other one of electrifying the fence. When badgers encountered the fences for the first time their initial response is the same as would be expected for any unfamiliar object. In most instances, badgers approach the fences cautiously before investigating, usually with their nose that is poorly insulated and packed with sensitive nerve endings. Any individual touching an electrified fence with their nose will, therefore, receive a sharp shock and subsequently learn to avoid the area. Badgers are normally inquisitive and do not normally require encouragement but should this be necessary then investigatory behaviour may encouraged and a number of approaches have been used to achieve this. These include attaching proprietary bait caps, unfamiliar objects or food items to the fence.

Badgers that have definitely been seen to touch the electrified wires responded by retreating immediately to the nearest harbourage. This response was most marked when the badgers concerned touched the electrified wires with their noses. Badgers do not appear overly stressed by the receipt of an electric shock. They have not been seen to dig under an Electric Fence.

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Hull University have completed a study on the new 125m (410ft) turbine at the Croda Europe plant in Hull assessing the effect they have on the wild life. The fear is that birds are flying into the spinning blades. Initial assessments were not considered successful even if no dead or injured birds were found below the turbines as fox spoor was prevalent. The assumption was that these foxes were picking up any birds struck by the blades.
In order to completely satisfy the study objective it was decided to fence off the turbine to eliminate the fox as a factor. This was done using poultry netting coupled to a Hotshock energiser. During the study period from 2008 – 2009 NO bird carcasses or evidence was found.

“No evidence of fox prints at all were found whilst the fence was up and operational, the ground was soft for the majority of the study (sometimes frozen however), and so I would assume that tracks would have been easily visible. Before the erection of the fence, the site was covered in fox spoor and so the fence has appeared to certainly deter if not eliminate the foxes entirely from the area within the fence.” Anna Phelps.B.Sc (hons), M.Sc. Researcher

Coupled with visual observation noting that birds did not fly into the blades and were quite obviously taking avoiding action before getting too close to them.

“The project demonstrates successful cooperation between industry and environmental/conservation science, working towards a sustainable future for our local environment.”

There is only one thing that will stop a fox dead..it comes out the end of a gun! Electric fencing stops them….alive!! There is no cheaper or better combination. The availability of electric fencing has transformed free-range poultry keeping. It is arguable that without it, the keeping of extensive commercial flocks would never have happened.

Hens really enjoy exploring green places and foraging for natural treats. Their house and run should be fenced off from predators and an electric fence is ideal, as it is an effective deterrent and easy to move at regular intervals. Agrisellex has a range of electric fencing equipment and knowledgeable staff to advise you about your particular set up.
Housing must be water proof, rat proof and fox proof, yet still provide good ventilation. Your chickens should have enough space for all of them to access the food and water. It must be practical for you to reach all parts of the house for cleaning and you should provide at least 20cm of perch space per bird. Make sure that feed and nest boxes are not placed under perches or they will soon become soiled. Water should be placed outside the house.

Electric fencing is extremely portable and versatile; it may be used on its own for both permanent and temporary fencing and has been used around the world to control every mammal in some guise or other. It is cheaper, easier to erect, more effective and far safer than a barbed wire and is a fraction of the cost of a fox-proof wire mesh fence.

An adequately designed and constructed electric fence works by the combination of a weak physical barrier (the fence) and a strong psychological imprint (the 6000v sting) created in the mind of the animal. An energizer attached to the fence wires produces a short but painful sting when touched by the animal, similar to a sharp “thwack” from a riding crop. The low amperage (15-100mA) and short duration (about 1/300th. of a second) results in a sharp but safe sting that then creates a psychological barrier that the animal associates with the fence and discourages it from touching again. Fortunately it only takes one or two animals to be affected and the rest will copy these, called “Socially Conditioned Avoidance”A Wimpy energiser will give you a Wimpy fence

Permanent electric boundary fence lines should be constructed from four strands of solid hotShock electrical wire on insulated poles spaced at intervals suitable for foxes. Domestic stock is easily controlled but predators are quite a different situation. In the search for food they have to overcome different obstacles and the most difficult is fear of humans. Even a shock from a sub-standard electric fence is not too big problem for a mother feeding her young, hungry, wounded or old predator to crawl or jump through the fence. A carnivore has to learn to respect an electric fence and the operational efficiency must be high for electric fencing to repel the carnivore penetration. If a fence lacks operational efficiency then animals will soon be de-sensitised overcome their “fear of the fence” and it may take several weeks of training to re-block them. A fox does not burrow under an effective Electric fence nor jump over it due to the psychological imprint created. A range of hotShock energizers have been developed to counter this problem. They run at a higher voltage than standard energizers so are very effective at controlling both poultry and foxes

Lightweight electric poultry netting is available, that can be dismantled, bundled up and re-erected further on. It is effective at allowing poultry access to specific grazing areas, as well as excluding a fox. The netting is made of polythene and stainless steel conducting twine and is erected with support poles and ground spikes. When taking a net down, do not try and roll it up, this causes a mess. Simply gather the posts together allowing the nets to fold against themselves.

Electric fencing has been used in wildlife conservation and has been particularly effective in ground-nesting Plover and Tern breeding sites around the world where foxes predate on the nests extremely heavily.

Study on Fox predation on Lesser Tern Colony,

“Tracks and scats of the foxes were first noticed near the colony on 28th. May, and almost daily thereafter. On 18, 19, and 20th. June, observers recorded that the incubating terns seemed “skittish, nervous and uneasy.” This phenomenon was first thought to be associated with hatching but no chicks were noted. Nest numbers decreased from 138 to 129 on 20th. June, to 61 on 22nd. June. By 23rd. June only 45 tern nests remained. Fox tracks crisscrossed the colony.

On 24th. June the electric fence was erected. On 25th. June we noted a slight increase to 48 nests; a week later, 2nd. July, we counted 60 nests, and by 6th. July, 85 nests. Fresh fox tracks were seen near the colony, but they never came closer than 10 ft to the electric fence, no tracks were found in the trial area. New nests outside the fence were consistently taken by the Foxes – none survived.”

“Once again an electric fence was erected around the main breeding area. This is to protect against terrestrial predators such as foxes. No Little Tern losses were thought to occur through terrestrial predators. This was thought to be a direct result of the electric fence.”

Beacon Lagoons Nature Reserve Easington, East Yorkshire

Hull University completed a study in 2008 on the new 125m (410ft) turbine at the Croda Europe plant in Hull assessing the effect these large wind turbines have on the wild life. The fear is that birds are flying into the spinning blades. Initial assessments were not considered successful even if no dead or injured birds were found below the turbines as fox spoor was prevalent. The assumption was that these foxes were picking up any birds struck by the blades. A fence was subsequently erected.

“No evidence of fox prints at all were found whilst the fence was up and operational, the ground was soft for the majority of the study (sometimes frozen however), and so I would assume that tracks would have been easily visible. Before the erection of the fence, the site was covered in fox spoor and so the fence has appeared to certainly deter if not eliminate the foxes entirely from the area within the fence.” Anna Phelps.B.Sc (hons), M.Sc. Researcher

The Energiser needs to be powerful enough to deliver a definite jolt when your horse touches it, even when its current is reduced by vegetation touching the fence line or (as sometimes happens) by moist, dewy early-morning conditions.
Ignore energisers whose power is rated by miles; look instead for one rated by OUTPUT joules, a measure of the oomph with which the energiser is pulsing its thousands of volts of current into the fence once every second. One joule is a minimum rating for fencing that encloses up to five acres, it is recommend getting the most powerful energiser you can afford. A higher joule rating doesn’t mean the fence’s jolt–which can’t injure horses or other animals–will be harder or more painful, but that it will be more consistent. Remember – a wimpy energiser will give you a wimpy fence.

The cost of an energiser does not rise linier with the rise in Joule rating. A 2 Joule energiser is not twice the price of a 1 Joule energiser. The increase will be insignificant compared to the value of your horses and your peace of mind; expect to pay £100 to £120 for a good one-joule energiser that plugs into an outlet in the barn or elsewhere; six-joule energisers now sell for less than £150, a small premium for peace of mind. (Worried about your electric bill? Fence energisers use negligible amounts of power, whatever their rating.) It’s possible to run High Voltage insulated cable up to 1/4 mile from an energiser to the fence without significant power loss. Install the energiser under cover where you can check it easily during each day’s routine. Most chargers have a light that flashes with the electric pulse when they’re plugged in and functioning.

Ground system. This is a series of galvanized-steel rods pounded into the ground and connected by insulated cable to the “ground” terminal on the fence energiser. (In areas where soil is very dry, three or more rods may be needed.) Assuming that you have a good energiser, the ground system is the key to your electric fence’s effectiveness. If your horse touches the fence, he feels a jolt only when the brief pulse of electric current that goes through his body and into the ground is picked up by the ground system and returned to the fence energiser, completing the circuit. Be sure to use a ground rod clamp to attach the ground wire as tightly as possible to the rod, rather than just wrapping it around.

Insulated cable. The cable that carries the electric pulse from the energiser to the fence needs to be specifically for electric fence, with insulation rated for up to 20,000 volts (most fence chargers emit from 5000 to 10,000 volts)–the same degree of insulation as on automobile spark plugs. By using cable designed for electric fence, you avoid the electricity leakage that results when you connect the charger to the fence with standard household electric cable, whose insulation is rated for only 600 volts.

When attaching the cable to the fence itself, use a connector clamp rather than just wrapping the cable wire around the fence; cable connected by wrapping comes loose more easily or loses power due to oxidation or corrosion build up. All fence manufacturers sell a connector clamp designed to work optimally with their product. You’ll also need the cable to carry the electric fence current from one side of a gate to the other: Connect all strands of the fence to the cable on the side of the gate nearest the charger.

Cut-off switch(es). Save lots of extra steps by installing a weatherproof cut-off switch the insulated cable and its attachment to the fence, enabling you to turn the fence off without going back to the barn to unplug the charger. It is also an idea to install cut-off switches on both sides of a gate–multiple cut-off switches allow you to isolate sections of the fence for easier trouble-shooting.

The fence itself. Visibility is key to an electric fence’s effectiveness and safety. Materials such as 1.5- or 2-inch poly tape, braid, rope make the fence easy for your horse to see and avoid. Electrified HT wire may also be used to protect solid fence.

Choose a product with a long warranty (for instance, some fence materials have a guaranteed lifetime of 20 years) and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for number and spacing of strands. The first strand is aimed at the targets nose-height as that is what all animals use to investigate a foreign object. Space the top two or three strands no more than 12 to 14 inches apart and the lower strands 18 inches apart, with the lowest strand 18 inches from the ground to minimize interference by grass and weeds.

Insulators. The type of insulator you need (to hold the fence material on the post that supports it, while preventing the fence from contacting any surface that will cause current to leak) is determined by your choice of electric fence; most manufacturers market insulators specifically suited to their fence products. In general tape, braid, rope are installed on insulators that allow the fence to slide through. To help prevent chafe and wear on a tape fence, however, insulators need to be the type that clamps and immobilizes the tape (especially important in windy areas), and to be installed vertically on the fence post. Avoid cheap “generic” insulators (often made of brittle plastic), which only last a few years.

Testing, Testing… Why It’s Important

When your electric fence is built, monitoring its voltage regularly-recommended daily, is a basic management practice, just like checking water buckets. Use a digital voltmeter that tells you exactly how many volts of current are on the fence. (How many volts are enough? Four thousand to 5,000–remember, there’s no way this jolt of current can hurt your horse, but it needs to be definite enough for him to remember it and want to avoid it.)

Your first check of your new fence’s voltage gives you a baseline so that future checks can alert you to voltage drops that signal problems. Depending on the strength of your charger, it will emit 6000 to 10,000 volts when nothing is connected to it. After you’ve hooked it to your fence, check the voltage at the furthest point from the charger. Some drop in voltage–1500 to 2000–is normal. A more than 2000-volt drop means either your charger is underpowered for the fence, vegetation or something else is “loading” the fence (touching it, causing voltage to leak away), there’s a short-circuit somewhere in the system–or a combination of these.

If the base voltage on your newly built fence is 4000 or better and everything’s working fine, watch on subsequent checks for an overall voltage drop of 1500 or more. (It’s normal for voltage to be 500-1000 lower in the morning when moisture on the fence, posts, and nearby vegetation can cause temporary current leakage.) Such a significant decrease means it’s time to check for problems and correct them before your horse discovers the fence no longer packs a punch; in fact, many horses can sense when the fence is or isn’t functioning.

Attractive walls and solid wooden fences are not always a deterrent to a hungry Fox so a worthy addition to an attractive wall is an Electric fence to give a very strong message, and if you are worried because you have a brick, cement or pre-cast wall, you do not have reason to fret because wall top electric fences are the perfect way to securing your premises and preventing a fox from scaling it to get to your chickens.

With wall top electric fences, at least two braided steel wire strands are used, which electrify the top part of the fence or wall, and brackets are placed in such a way that intruders cannot get over the fence. The wires of the fence carry the electrical charge. While walls can delay entry, without reliable electric wires, your wall might just be an attractive feature of your home, and not an imposing deterrent.

There is nothing to compare with electric fencing when one wishes to keep foxes off your property. Not only will the intruder be faced with a physical barrier, they will also be exposed to the psychological barrier created by high voltage pulses that will deter the most hardened predator.

Electric fences have revolutionized fencing entirely, and carefully designed wall top electric fences have already increased security to many who believed an existing wall could not be electrified! A too thin wire, a weak energiser, a bad join or faulty or leaking insulator will lessen the shock the intruding fox receives. The object of electric fencing is to make this shock as severe as possible.

An adequately designed and constructed electric fence works by the combination of a weak physical barrier (the fence) and a strong psychological imprint (the 6000v sting) created in the mind of the animal. An electric fence energiser attached to the fence wires produces a short but painful sting when touched by the animal, similar to a sharp “thwack” from a riding crop. The low amperage (15-100mA) and short duration (about 1/300th. of a second) results in a sharp but safe sting that then creates a psychological barrier that the animal associates with the fence and discourages it from touching again.

If you are going to work with electric fencing, it is possible you will have a run in with lightning depending on your location at some point. An electric fence is a beautiful antenna that periodically can act as a direct route for lightning to reach the earth, sometimes through your energiser. Below are a few things that can be done to protect an energiser from being damaged by an unwelcome bolt of lightning.

The standard installation in the UK is a continuous wire fence and utilises the ground/earth to return the current via the Earth rod to the energiser. In an unprotected fence, Electricity is converted from a low voltage current (220v Mains or 9/12volt battery) to a high voltage-low amperage charge by an energiser, sent out to the fence by a High Voltage Cable onto the fence wire. The second wire is from the Earth post back to the Earth terminal on the energiser.

Lightning Protection.

There are two things that can be done to protect an energiser from the fence side. The first is a lightning arrestor. This is a simple device that is installed between the hot wire of the fence, the input side of the energiser and a ground rod. There are several different styles of lightning arrestors but they all do about the same thing. In the middle of the arrestor there are two metal leads that are kept at a specific distance apart so that electricity won’t jump across the gap under normal voltages. If lightning hits the fence the electricity will arc across the gap and head to the earth through the ground rod. Just about any lightning arrestor should do the job, but, like anything, some have nicer features than others. One of those features is the ability to see if the arrestor has been hit by lightning. Those that are more visible tend to cost a little more but it can save some time trying to identify which arrestor took the majority of a lightning blast. When the arrestor has been hit by lightning it is generally destroyed and must be replaced.

Some diverters incorporate the use of a lightning arrestor brake or induction coil. The lightning brake is just what the name implies, it acts to slow down or stop a reverse flow of electricity on a fence. The lightning brake is nothing more than a coil of wire that develops an electromagnetic field when electricity flows through it.  When the energiser is pumping out electricity an electromagnetic field is set up that goes in a circle around the coil. If electricity tries to come backward in the fence, not only does it have to resist the flow of electricity out of the energizer, it also has to reverse the electromagnetic field around the lightning brake. There are several different types of lightning brakes on the market today but it is possible to manufacture one for yourself.  Some are nothing more than about 12-15 meters of high-voltage cable wrapped into a coil. Some are bare wire held apart in a coil by a fiberglass, plastic or wooden frame. Regardless of how they are made they all do about the same thing.

You Can’t Always Fool Mother Nature

Although these are few tips to help reduce the chances of any severe damage from a lightning strike, there is no sure way of being totally protected. No matter how an energiser is protected, if there is a direct hit, energisers are likely to be damaged.

I went to set up an Electric fence to keep Asian Leopard cats enclosed. These are domestic cats but are very independant and look just like miniature leopards. They also tend to wander and go off hunting as their big cousins do. These are very beautiful to look at but they have been climbing an 8ft wall to escape on a regular basis.

I decided to simply scale down a scheme used for genuine leopards on chain link fences to stop them climbing over the top. This involved creating an earth wire by securing a 60cm strip of chicken wire along the top of the wall. This is then connected to the earth post and earth terminal of the mains electric fencing energiser.

Along the top of the wall 2 offsets were fixed with insulators to carry live wires 150 and 300mm at 90 degrees to the top. These are both connected to the live terminal of a hotShock energiser.

The idea is the cat climbs the wall and comes into contact with both the chicken wire (the earth) and the live wire simultaneously, so completing the circuit. ZAP.

Within minutes of installing the fence it has been tested by the cats and they received a shock and backed off from it.One of them have tried twice in the following day – he was obviously selected as the fall guy – and they have now ceased trying to climb over the wall.

Yet another success for electric fences.

My daughter has a Red Border Collie (Rascal) that is rather full of himself and believes he is able to take on the world. Unfortunately a person has moved in next door with 2 Staffie x Bull terrriers and they are constantly at each other across the fence. Rascal was nearly climbing over the 5 foot wall to get at these dogs and there is no doubt in our mind that he would come off second best if that happened.

The solution we decided on was to electrify the fence at the top and along the bottom to prevent them from coming together. This was a simple 15minute operation creating what must be the shortest electric fence in the world, about 1 meter long attached to a battery energiser – just a little over powered.

Rascal was released and immediately went to the fence and promptly yelped, retreated from the fence and did not approach again for some hours when he tried again and was again given a good belt. He gave the fence a wide berth for 24 hours and tried again with the same result.

He now seems to have learnt his lesson and we are all at peace.