Adventures in Paddocking

Before on top, 3 days later on the bottom.

So last year, before my lovely bride got here I tried to throw together some paddocks, and shift the cattle by myself. To be honest it was a failure. I didn't spend enough time researching best practices, but I learned a lot from that failure. Not running a ground wire allowed the cattle to walk through the fence when the ground got too dry. I didn't have a strong enough shock even when getting a solid ground from the .5 Joule charger. The fence is always going to be way longer than you think it is.

So this year, new start, lots of reading about how to build a fence that will work when it's super dry. I settled on more grounding opportunities. I broke down and bought the three galvanized, 6 foot tall rods that were recommended by Zareba https://amzn.com/B0079GH4HU on the 25 mile charger. Those were grounding rods were banged as far into the ground as I could, then an additional ground (-) line was run in the middle of the fence giving the opportunity to shock the cows twice, from both completing the circuit through the grounding rods if the cattle only tough the top or bottom wire, or if should they grounding rods are too dry to complete a ground if the cows walk into either top of bottom wire and the middle wire, they should, and so far have, receive a healthy shock. So much so that after just a few encounters with the wire, they're giving it a healthy respect.

11 days into this experiment, and I couldn't be happier with the fences, and ease of moving the cattle. After the first shift, they've figured out that the grass is always greener on the other side of the electric fence and run through the gate as soon as they're lowered. 

If you're thinking about buying the polywire, stop thinking and do it if you can afford it. So much easier to work with and visible to the cattle. And after buying 3 rolls at $44 at Tractor Supply of the 1310 foot variety, I found this deal on Amazon:  https://amzn.com/B01BQB5S8A which works out to $40 for the first 1310 feet and 2620 feet free. Best deal I've found.