Electric Fence

TimberHawk

A good 3 year old buck
I'm wondering what others are using for an electric fence to protect a food plot until hunting season. My food plot is roughly .6 acres. I'd like to plant beans in the spring then over seed in the fall with brassicas once the beans turn brown, but I know the beans won't stand a chance based on my experience last year with far less desirable plantings getting hammered. Has anyone used the Hooyman fence kit, or are you piecing together your own kit?

Any recommendations or input would be appreciated.
 
Most use a Gallagher-style e-fence. It is a 3-dimensional fence that works pretty will at a fairly low cost. The outer fence uses tape and the inner fence uses turbo wire. Tape and wire height are important as well as spacing between the inner and outer fence. While deer can physically jump over the fence easily, they don't unless they are spooked. Deer will first try to crawl through a fence to get to food and can't without getting zapped. Once zapped, that white fluttering outer tape is a visual reminder of the zap. Deer will next try to jump a 2 dimensional fence, but a 3D fence presents a problem. They can see the inner turbo tape, but not well. They don't have good depth perception, so they usually won't try to jump over it. All e-fences are expensive, but the Gallagher style fence is the most effective per dollar that I've seen. The most expensive part is the fence charger. If you have power, they are not expensive. The solar powered ones can be. With only 0.6 acres, a 6-volt Parmak will work and they are not too expensive. I just buy the components (any brand) from the local TSC and Coop. The Gallagher web site has the specs for the design.

Thanks,

Jack
 
TimberHawk:

I plant soybeans in small plots and overseed with brassica in the fall. If you aren't able to get your hands on an early maturity bean (0.7-0.9) it really isn't worth it. I am in southern MN. and a 0.9 is fully mature early to mid September. If you are further south you will have a few extra weeks of growth to be had by the brassicas. If you are further north you will have to shoot for a little earlier bean. Around here .9 beans yield well but if you need to go with an earlier variety expect your yield to drop quite a bit. And as always it all depends on rain for your fall over seeding of brassicas.
 
TimberHawk:

I plant soybeans in small plots and overseed with brassica in the fall. If you aren't able to get your hands on an early maturity bean (0.7-0.9) it really isn't worth it. I am in southern MN. and a 0.9 is fully mature early to mid September. If you are further south you will have a few extra weeks of growth to be had by the brassicas. If you are further north you will have to shoot for a little earlier bean. Around here .9 beans yield well but if you need to go with an earlier variety expect your yield to drop quite a bit. And as always it all depends on rain for your fall over seeding of brassicas.
Good to know. How far south are you? I’m on the southern tip of the Twin Cities metro area.
 
10 miles N of HWY 14 Rural Altura/Rollingstone area.
 
I've used Gallagher style ( 3 dimensional) e-fence for years. They work. They are labor intensive. I still plan to use them but wouldn't mind replacing some of my soybean ground with something a little less desirable (at young stage) in some summer plots.
 
I would do a search on here for some old posts about e-fencing. There is a ton of great information already all documented and I'm sure you will have most of your questions answered. I was in your position last May when we decided to fence in two, 1-acre bean plots. I'm sure I could have figured it out on my own, but there were a ton of tips and tricks others had mentioned which saved me a lot of headaches.
 
 
I've used Gallagher style ( 3 dimensional) e-fence for years. They work. They are labor intensive. I still plan to use them but wouldn't mind replacing some of my soybean ground with something a little less desirable (at young stage) in some summer plots.

I was able to get ahead of deer by planting more acreage. With my deer densities I had to plant between 5 and 7 acres before even forage beans would canopy and get ahead of deer. We thinned and burned our adjoining pine stand and a bad weed called Marestail sprung up in the pines and then invaded our fields. It is naturally gly resistant so planting RR beans was making things worst.

At any rate, I stopped planting beans and started planting a 50/50 mix of buckwheat and sunn hemp. It has worked out great. Deer uses it when they need it but don't tend to abuse it. Just one option for summer coverage.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Same here on the 3D fence works wonders. Poly tape on the outside at 18 inches two rows poly wire on the inside at 12 and 24. I think it was 3 feet between inside and outside wires. Hard to imagine keeping deer out of an area with a 2ft high fence.


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I'm planning on doing the same thing with 2 half acre food plots (separate locations).

My question is how big of a solar charger do I need to purchase to cover 0.5 acres of fence (600-700ft perimeter). Are the 2 inside wires hot as well, or is it just the outside tape that is electrified?
 
I'm planning on doing the same thing with 2 half acre food plots (separate locations).

My question is how big of a solar charger do I need to purchase to cover 0.5 acres of fence (600-700ft perimeter). Are the 2 inside wires hot as well, or is it just the outside tape that is electrified?
Click on my link of the other post above and you’ll get the specs of the solar panel / charger setup I built. They’re easy to build once you understand the few basic components. However, for 0.5 acres the parmak 12v will be more than ample.

As for lines to energize. I have my own opinion on that that I’ve developed through trial and error. As I built longer fences (bigger plots) my voltage got lower and a lower voltage is the #1 reason it will fail. I found that by design the outer strand is the most likely to get interference with growing weeds / grass.

My current design only energizes the inner two strands. I use metal T posts for the outside corners and use short jumpers from the outer strand to the T posts and a jumper to the ground on the energizer. This helps tremendously to create multiple ground rods around the field. When it get super dry this helps.
When a deer is shocked 1x it will never touch that outer strand again. It will step over it and then try to squeeze between the inner two strands and that’s when it’ll get shocked.
Doesn’t take much and they’ll stay away.
 
I'm planning on doing the same thing with 2 half acre food plots (separate locations).

My question is how big of a solar charger do I need to purchase to cover 0.5 acres of fence (600-700ft perimeter). Are the 2 inside wires hot as well, or is it just the outside tape that is electrified?

The Parmak 6-v is sufficient for the gallagher design on that size fence.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. My Father in law fenced off 1/2 acre in the middle of a 2.5 acre field last fall. The difference was night and day. Outside the fence it looked like a complete failure (they never allowed the turnips/radish to grow). Inside the fence he had baseball size bulbs.

Since you both recommend the Parmak brand I'll ask the question. Have you had better luck with those than the tractor supply or rural kind brands? I can get a Tractor Supply 2mile fencer for $119 or 5mile for $149. Is it worth the extra money for the Parmak?
 
Thanks for the advice guys. My Father in law fenced off 1/2 acre in the middle of a 2.5 acre field last fall. The difference was night and day. Outside the fence it looked like a complete failure (they never allowed the turnips/radish to grow). Inside the fence he had baseball size bulbs.

Since you both recommend the Parmak brand I'll ask the question. Have you had better luck with those than the tractor supply or rural kind brands? I can get a Tractor Supply 2mile fencer for $119 or 5mile for $149. Is it worth the extra money for the Parmak?
One reason I got the Parmak was that it was the least expensive with the capacity I needed. I think I only paid $160 for it.
 
My current design only energizes the inner two strands. I use metal T posts for the outside corners and use short jumpers from the outer strand to the T posts and a jumper to the ground on the energizer. This helps tremendously to create multiple ground rods around the field. When it get super dry this helps.
When a deer is shocked 1x it will never touch that outer strand again. It will step over it and then try to squeeze between the inner two strands and that’s when it’ll get shocked.
Doesn’t take much and they’ll stay away.
This is really interesting and the first time I've read it. I thought the purpose of the plastic insulator clips that connect the E-fence to the T-Posts were to prevent the lines from being grounded too much. Or are they to make sure your t-posts themselves are not carrying a charge for safety reasons? How is what you are doing any different than weeds grounding out the lines?
 
Thanks for the advice guys. My Father in law fenced off 1/2 acre in the middle of a 2.5 acre field last fall. The difference was night and day. Outside the fence it looked like a complete failure (they never allowed the turnips/radish to grow). Inside the fence he had baseball size bulbs.

Since you both recommend the Parmak brand I'll ask the question. Have you had better luck with those than the tractor supply or rural kind brands? I can get a Tractor Supply 2mile fencer for $119 or 5mile for $149. Is it worth the extra money for the Parmak?
I think they are all about the same, but I have only been doing this for one year. I bought a couple of Zarebas because they were the cheapest. The biggest limiting factor is the capacity of the charger, in my opinion. Just make sure that you know you will not be expanding your food plots in the future and need a larger charger.
 
This is really interesting and the first time I've read it. I thought the purpose of the plastic insulator clips that connect the E-fence to the T-Posts were to prevent the lines from being grounded too much. Or are they to make sure your t-posts themselves are not carrying a charge for safety reasons? How is what you are doing any different than weeds grounding out the lines?

With the 6-volt Parmak, even with a sub-acre plot, it is important to keep weeds from touching the turbo wire or tape. Connecting to a T-post without an insulator would ground it and reduce the shock. The higher power your fencer, the more weed contact you can get away with.

Thanks,

Jack
 
This is really interesting and the first time I've read it. I thought the purpose of the plastic insulator clips that connect the E-fence to the T-Posts were to prevent the lines from being grounded too much. Or are they to make sure your t-posts themselves are not carrying a charge for safety reasons? How is what you are doing any different than weeds grounding out the lines?
Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
3 wires. Most people energize all 3. That works fine. Through my observation I found that it’s not necessary to energize the outer single strand. I know that seems crazy but I’ve found it doesn’t need it. I originally just left it unhooked. Then I realized that I could actually get a little benefit out of the outer non energized strand so I use small jumpers (turbo wire) to connect this outer wire to the T posts and then a jumper from this outer strand to the ground on the energizer.

now you essentially have two inner strands that are hot and an outer strand that had multiple T post grounds. I’ve actually done several fields with no true ground rod near the energizer. The T posts are enough for small fields.
You could leave the outer strand completely unhooked from the ground system but since I’m hanging turbo wire anyway I figured I’d get some use out of it. With the ground tied into the outer strand I find the voltage stays higher on far side of the field.
 
Let me be clear. My outer single strand is NOT connected to the energizer. It does not shock. It does not need to be in my experience. After one shock the deer will be leary of the whole setup and if they attempt to get in they’ll step over the first strand and try to go between the inner strands... and pow.
 
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