Electric fence

[Rhondaalaska]

Hi , I am putting up a small portable corral in my yard for my little mare to be in.

I have the posts and the ribbon fencing, what I need is the charger. I have looked at several but I don't know what strength I realy need. This will be a small area , I don't need one for ten acres . I put up the fence and put my girl in it and have discovered that she has been in an electric fence sometime in her life. She compleatly respects the fence. My girl is 36" and around 300# . I realy can't do the super expensive models , I had seen several that says for small animals and dogs would one of these work. Or do I need the livestock ones.

Thanks

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Most any small fence charger should work. The more distance of wire the charger serves, the more expensive the charger. Just be sure you use a ground rod. And plug the charger into a GFI plug, if possible.

It's nice your horse already knows about them; I always hate being the owner who introduces the horse to an electric fence the first time.

Ours is a Gallagher brand, 2.4 joules. It does 12 miles of wire and it cost $180 about 8 years ago. The smallest you would probably want is 1.5 joules. If you get any smaller, it might not work if vegetation gets against it.

A ground rod is needed for every 5 joules. So, less than 5 joules you need only 1 ground rod.

 

[Jean_B]

If you are going to have any long vegetation around it, be sure it is "Low Impedence". It will still shock if the weeds are wet.

 

[Max's Mom]

One thing to keep in mind is that while minis are small, they are also quite hairy, so the strength of the charge might need to be stronger than you might expect. Also, consider how it will be affected by vegetation or snow. My understanding is that you need a wide impedance charger if your soil is dry, as it is with lots of snow. A low impedance charger is best if you have lots of tall vegetation and frequently wet soil. The Premier 1 website might be helpful to you- their products are great and they do a great job explaining in detail what works in which situations.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

It sounds like I would need two different chargers. One for snow and when it is dri and one for the rest of the year. My new pen in my yard is only going to be the size of a round pen. I have a small yard and wanted to get her off her tie out when she was in the yard and keep her out of areas like my flowers as well. I do not have a fence so wanted to make one that I could move around or beable to take with me if we go camping with her. I may have to save up to get two of them. I am lucky that she never tries fences. Not even realy week ones. She just stays in side her area. I don't need a battery one , my hubby can make an plug one work for me if I need to.

 

[Carolyn R]

Great advice.....ground rod, low impedance, stronger than needed.....all great advice. I have two parmark chargers. One for their main area, another for a different turnout. I like the newer of the two, which is still about 5-6 years old. The other is at least ten years old. The parmark 8 is overkill for my turnout but works great, it run about $110-$125 now. Has fuses in case there is a power surge, it has a digital readout to let you know how effectively it is working, it is low impedance, works in all four of our season here in PA. The wet spring, humid tropical early -mid summer, dry in the fall, the occasional superwet hurricane season in late sept early October, then super dry again, the the winters where we typically have 6-12" of snow on the ground, but it is not uncommon to get 23-24" here near the Poconos. Never seem to have a problem, the readout may drop down to 8-9 which still puts out a good shock, but I. The best conditions, the readout is maxed around 19.2, which I think is the optimal range, and let me tell you.....owe, owe owe! No matter how many times in my life I accidentally touch the fence, it is a feeling one never gets use to!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I don't understand why you would need two chargers, rhondaalaska, for your pen. Our single charger does very well in all seasons. We do patrol the outer perimeter during summer to keep any tall weeds/grasses out of it. But it does well in heat, ice, and rain for us.

One can have the line go to another area by either taking it overhead, or putting it in pvc pipe underground. We have it underground across gate areas.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I thought I would need one for snow and one for when it was realy wet. But I think I will look for a low impedance one. I just need to find one that I like that won't be too strong for my small area. Most say for five acres .

 

[happy appy]

You should get one like this. I use these when I travel and go over night camping. Used them with big horses too.

http://www.tscstores.com/SMARTFENCE-PORTABLE-ELECTRIC-FENCE-P13560.aspx

 

[Carolyn R]

I thought I would need one for snow and one for when it was realy wet. But I think I will look for a low impedance one. I just need to find one that I like that won't be too strong for my small area. Most say for five acres .

I edited my post, when I said my charger was overkill, I meant yes, it was a lot of surge power for what I have, but it works great shocking through weeds and such. Another thing to keep in mind, my fence's shocking ability is less for my horses sake of keeping them in and more for deterring the neighbor's dogs, goats and horse out if they should wander this way

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I edited my post, when I said my charger was overkill, I meant yes, it was a lot of surge power for what I have, but it works great shocking through weeds and such. Another thing to keep in mind, my fence's shocking ability is less for my horses sake of keeping them in and more for deterring the neighbor's dogs, goats and horse out if they should wander this way

That's a good point. My horses don't go near the wire. I lead new horses through the safe gates so they know where they are. So keeping unwelcome animals out is another function of good fencing.

 

[Shes My Style]

I thought I would need one for snow and one for when it was realy wet. But I think I will look for a low impedance one. I just need to find one that I like that won't be too strong for my small area. Most say for five acres .

I would not go for a charger any smaller than 5 miler or else you won't get enough zap to go through the manes if they have their head down. You are better off getting more zap than you really need then not enough. I miss when we had our 50 mile charger on 5 acres. LOVED it and never had a horse out, nor a dog willing to test it out to get in. But lightening killed it and we went down to a 10 or 15 mile charger for the 5 acres which should be plenty but it still isn't as effective as the bigger one was.

 

[amysue]

I buy the best chargers that I can afford. That way they last a long time, they work through weeds and brush, and they withstand the weather. Solar chargers are best as you do not need to run extension cords to power them, or dig up your yard to lay wires down. You do still need to ground them, but the good thing is that they stay outside and thus you are less limited as to where you use them (ie next to a barn or shelter vs. taping off a section of a huge pasture). I buy mine on ebay as they have a wonderful protection policy for buyers, and many sellers offer warranties. I like the parmak chargers as they are of higher quality than zareba (which parmak manufactures). I would recommend that with whatever charger you choose, you install a lightning arrester so that it does not get fried by lightning. Good luck.