Advice Needed re: Confining Hogs with Electric Fencing

[George Collins]

Some time ago I purchased four pigs to fatten up. One of the four is for a paying customer and will represent my first foray into farming for money. I had a contractor hired to build me a hog pen my wife could live. The pen would have been on the uphill side of our garden spot, down hill from a water source, etc. I was feeling all permaculturally since my hog pen was intended to be a permanent modification that would have stacked useful functions including stacking bacon on the breakfast table.

However, . . . (I am coming to hate that word) . . . said contractor never showed up. The temporary housing temporarily housing said pigs is shrinking in proportion to the pigs daily. I find myself in need of alternate arrangements. My thoughts turned to electricity.

Recently Jack Spirco at thesurvivalpodcast.com interviewed a gentleman by the name of Mike Canaday. One of the topics they discussed was electric fencing. Mr. Canaday made some very specific recommendations such as his belief that has the best fencing on the market. Researching there I seem to be leaning toward the Pig QuikFence™ 6/30/12 Electric Netting ().

Appearances are that the company recommends using the Premier PRS 50 Solar Energizer which is rated at 0.5 joules.

However, researching other sources that do not sell equipment but rather have experience keeping hogs confined with electric fencing, I found they recommend hogs be kept in with no less than a 15 joule energizer.

There appears to be a massive difference between 0.5 joules that this charger puts out and the 15 joules recommended by those that actually keep hogs.

Do any of y'all have any experience keeping pigs confined with electric fencing and if so, what are the specs of your system?

Are there any 15 joule fence energizers that push 15 joules?

[matt walker]

George, I did hogs last year for the first time. I had a very easy time using my existing chargers, which are all between 3 and 6 joules. 15 is a LOT, but I would think that .5 is not enough. That said, I was using a single strand of hot wire about nose height, backed by field fencing. I think that the wire kept them from nosing up the field fencing, and the field fencing made it look like there wasn't any point in messing with the wire. When they were enclosed in a secure area, I would partition them off using a single strand of hot wire. It would work, but eventually they would spook or something and one of 'em would go through it. So, my advice would be to never trust the electricity alone to hold them if there isn't perimeter fencing to contain them should they get out. If you are going to keep them in one area, I would use field fencing to make the perimeter and line it with a hot wire at about their nose height. Then use the Premier netting to rotate them around that larger area.

I recently purchased Premier's 9/35/12 netting for rotating my sheep and have been really happy with it.

[George Collins]

Matt, luck favored me yesterday.

I composed and sent an email to Jack Spirco's guest Mike Canaday which included my phone number and danged if the gentleman didn't call me back almost immediately. The shock was such that surely he thought he was talking to a babbling fool. The kids were right in the middle of their been-penned-up-too-long-because-of-this-infernal-heat afternoon crazies. I was holding a hand over the mouth piece while kicking butts and pulling hair while silently mouthing nonverbal threats of flaying them alive while he attempted to communicat the technical aspects of advanced electric fencery.

At any rate, he recommended the Speedrite 3000 which I bought.
He said that the voltage is more important than the joules and the Speedrite 3000 provides 10 to 12 thousand volts which should turn a hog.

He also recommended the Stafix fence tester which is somewhere between here and there on a UPS truck.

Lastly, he affirmed using Premier's hog fencing even though he had never used that particular fence but rather he based his opinion on the quality of the other fencing he had bought as well as the reputation of the company.

There are still a few things that will have to be purchased like the ground rods and such but I can make a trip to the local feed store for those few items.

Mr. Canaday also gave the specs for converting the unit to solar power. As the hogs will initially be kept inside another, more substantial pen until they train to the wire, I will use that time to obtain the materials required to convert it to a solar powered system.

Thanks for your input. I'll post a pic when I get the thing set up. Surely more advice will be needed in the near future. Supposedly, all of the materials are due to arrive July 3rd.

Can you put up electric fencing and celebrate the 4th simultaneously?

I can hear it now. "A'IGHT, PLUG IT IN! Here . . . hold my beer."

Snap, krackle . . . pop.

[GrahamB]

George, your last post was so funny and also so frightening. I have phone calls like that. My three and the dog always seems to pick that moment to start WW3. I'm loving it today though. Clean your room or there will be no fireworks. Stop arguing with your sister or there will be no fireworks. Being a parent is not about diplomacy, but about scare tactics and dirty tricks.
I'm glad everyone is talking about Premier1 as I have been looking at their website to see what I need. I eventually want to pasture rotate a few goats with chickens behind them, kind of in a Salatin style. You guys are doing all my homework for me and I'm very thankful.

[matt walker]

Sounds like you are on track George. I agree with the advice you received. I had to go look at the joules of my chargers, but I do know that when I see the tester showing around 10kV I'm happy. Much less than that and I start to worry, so I agree completely with the recommendation. I think you'll have no problems containing the hogs with that set up.

[George Collins]

Due to unforeseen circumstances rearing their ugliness, I was unable to finish my hog pen while drinking celebratory suds on the Fourth of Julie.

However, as of today, Ham, Pork Chop, Bacon and Chitterlings have a new home. Three feet of encouragement were required to persuade them that their new yard was preferable to their old. Once in, the pile of pears made Ham's painful hams all better until he got brave and got zapped on the ham. The rest all took their turn with testing the new boundaries with noses, ears, and in one case, the very tipity tip-tip of the tail hair.

Once they got over the shock of being in much more commodious accommodations, they seemed to settle in to their new circumstances with typical shoat assuredness.



This new fence seems like it might just be the bomb. If it handles easily enough, tis foreseeable that these hogs with have their diet supplemented to a very large degree by mast crops. The live oaks, pecans and sawtooth oaks have all born heavily this year. Reading extensively about Jamon Iberico has whetted my appetite for some acorn fattened hogs. I wonder if heavy acorn supplementation will have a material effect on the taste of the meat?

The next project though is to convert this set-up to run on solar power. Right ow, it is plugged into Youngblood's house via five extension cords. Given the number of things that can go wrong with such a large number of cords attached to the grid, I am anxious to make the conversion.

[matt walker]

That looks perfect George, and good looking hogs too. Once they get used to that fence they won't test it again, just an occasional brush while they fight over snacks, which is a good reminder for them. I think a solar charger with it's own battery/panel is the way to go. They are fairly inexpensive, and the all-in-one aspect makes them really handy for rotational grazing. You probably can step the power down a bit once they are well trained to the fence.

Really glad to see the update, you are going to love the whole process, I'm sure.

[George Collins]

Matt, Youngblood has some half grown heifers that he is keeping in this pasture which I didn't really give much thought before a couple days ago. They have never been around an electric fence.

The hogs are well trained to the fence now but I'm afraid that as soon as the cattle and hog panels are removed, the cows are going to come in exploring, get into the fence and cause all manner of mayhem. Are those fears well founded?

If so, how do you suggest going about transitioning between that which is pictured above and a using just an electric fence to be moved about on a daily-ish basis?

[matt walker]

George, I find my cows are the most responsive to the hot wire of all the animals. Once they hit it the first time, they NEVER will again. I can contain mine with a single strand at nose height, and even if I had a bucket of oats on the other side they wouldn't go near it. So, if I were in your shoes, I would run a strand of hot wire, or a section of the netting, outside of the hog panels and let the cows learn about it. Do that while the hogs are still contained in the panels. If the netting is long enough, run a section of it outside of the hog pen, and make a little loop around some really nice grass or a bucket of grain or something. Get those cows to test it, and I think you'll be fine from then on moving the hogs around with just the netting.

[George Collins]

Matt, that is exactly what I'm gonna do. Thanks. I have some left over polywire from the fence constructed around the walnuts. In the near future, I'll construct a dummy fence from that polywire but still have it powered from the same energizer which has much excess capacity. That way if it gets torn down by something that gets hung up in it, any damage will be compartmentalized.