FARM NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 214, 18 September 1940, Page 3

FARM NOTES

By C. R. Taylor.

STOCK MUST BE TRAINED

For the purpose of ascertaining the opinions of farmers on the merits or otherwise of the electric fence, I have contacted several users, and aIJ arc sati'hed with tlie results obtained with dairy cattle I havej not as yet met a farmer who has employed the electric fence with sheep, and only one who has used it to control; pigs. This man claims that it is a success if two barbed wires are used and the posts are spaced at fairly close intervals and are not too flimsy A more or less make-shift arrange ment is stated to be useless as wires soon sag and touch the ground and posts rot or are pushed over. Thus, pigs are badly trained from the start, and il" a proper clcctric fence layout is provided at a later stage much trouble is frequently encountered as a result. With dairy cattle, the general opinion seems to be that the electric fence is excellent if properly used. It has a great many uses on the average dairy farm, such as the rationing of grass, breaking-ofT root crops, protecting hedge rows, fencing off drains, hay and ensilage, sub dividing paddocks, either temporarily or permanently, and for quick ly constructed stock-holding enclosure?. It is insisted, however, that stock must first, be trained to respect the single wire fence by so constructing it that the maximum efficiency of "the controller is available at every point on the fence. This involves good insulation of the wire and a really good earth, not only at the controller point, but also along the whole length of the wire. Tf this •,vork—that is, the training of stock—can be undertaken during the time the soil is really moist then the effectiveness of the electric fence is much greater, as the shock is certain and of far greater inten-

sity. If, on tlie other hand, the dry summer months'are chosen for the. initial training, the efficiency of the fence is great] y reduced, and stock accordingly take little notice of the mild shock they may or may not get. Fence-breaking is then the result, and this is difficult to -remedy at a later stage. Once well trained,, animals respect the electric fence for all time, provided its efficiency is maintained by reasonable care and attention to simple details. I recently'witnessed a striking demonstration of the efficacy of thci electric fence with dairy cattle. A farmer had an acre and a half of pampas grass he wished to graze off, but was rather concerned for the safety of an excellent hedge of Cryptomeria Japonica which .surrounded the plantation but Avhrcli was unfenced from the pampas grass. To overcome the difficulty he procured an electric fence 'controller and ran one barbed wire around the area between the hedge and the pampas grass about three feet from the ground and supported on rough ly split stakes of batten size, pointed at one end and spaced approximately half chain apart. The pampas grass was fed off in sections by connecting a short length of barbed wire across the plantation to the two outside wires and moving ; this cross-link from time to timf as required. T visited the farmer when he Avas trying to persuade some dairy cows to proceed into a new section of pampas grass by stepping over a wire that had been disconnected from the controller and fowered to the ground from its supporting stakes. Without any exaggeration, the farmer, myself and a dog experienced a lively five minutes or mora "bullying" the cattle across a perfectly harmless piece of wire lying on the ground, and Avhen at last avo did manage to get them across most of them took it at the jump.