Ideas, News, Information, Stories & Opinions

Want more power AND smarts from your electric fence? Problem solved with Gallagher. Providing much more power to the back of the farm when and where it matters, the powerful new M5800i Fence Energizer includes a separate display that enables you to check your fence in the time it takes to read this sentence.

Here at our gallagher electric fence store, we are still busy selling electric fence items into november... Thanks to all our customers who are still upgrading or installing new fence with high quality gallagher electric fence products!!

Electric fence energizer is a device converting power to high voltage pulse shock, moderrn electric fence energizer uses a capacitor to store energy, which decides the distance the electric fence energizer can power. Engineer uses controlled circuit to charge the capacitor, then uses a thyristor to to discharge the stored energy through an isolated transformer , which transform voltage of the capacitor to very high output voltage. One of the output terminal conducts the ground rod , another conducts the fence. the power can be mains or battery, the pulse high voltage is thousands of volts, the period of the pulse is less than 1Hz for safety consideration

Source powered electric fence

The source to power the electric fence energizer depends on the condition it applies. Dry battery, acid-sealed battery, mains, solar and wind source, all is OK.
when the mains is available, people usually use mains to power the fence energizer, it is more cost efficient. The voltage of the mains can be 100volts in Japan, or 120 volts in America or 230volts in European. When use mains, for safety consideration, it is very strictly constructed, use isolated transformer to insulate the fence circuit from the mains. So the fence pulse voltage is insulated from the mains, it is safe for touch. International standards have very strict requirement on how to construct the mains fence energizer, so just use the CE marked or UL marked mains energizers, or you will have potential risks. Just buy from reliable and experienced company for your mains fencer.
When there is no utility available, battery is a normal choice. Lots of electric fence energizer company provide battery energizer. Depends on the size and location your perimeter is. Dry battery or big capacitance acid-sealed battery electric fence energizer you can choose. For pet or small animal control, portable fence normally used, the size of the fence is short, and the location often moved, so use a dry battery electric fence energizer will help a lot. The dry battery energizer can not power too long time, normally less than one month, it is OK for lots of pet , temporary electric fencing often help host a lot, and dry battery is available in lots of store, so it is a convenience choice. Lots of customer use big size acid-sealed battery also, The acid-sealed battery is chargeable, and the size can be up to 100AH, it is portable, and can power big storage energy energizer, so it is for professional customer, who has big farm or perimeter to fence. for lots of place, there is no utility, so charging is a big problem for lots of installer. People now use solar panel to charge the battery instead of utility, it is flexible, more and more people use it to charge their battery. If the power of the fence energizer is small, people use solar panel to charge the battery directly, but for big fencer, the solar panel need a controller to control the charge voltage, because the solar panel have it own characteristic, it have own MPP (Maximum Power Point) output, if it don’t work at its MPP, it will loss lots of energy , and it can not output all energy it can convert, cause energy loss and money loss, so we need a MPPT controller to help the solar panel output its full energy, the acid-sealed battery lifetime is sensitive for temperature, if charge voltage is wrong, it will decrease the lifetime of the battery, so when charge the battery, we need a temperature compensation.

Charge circuit

The charge circuit convert the source into a stable voltage on the storage capacitor, the charge method use art PWM method, the PWM is a commonly used technique for controlling power to inertial electrical devices, made practical by modern electronic power switches. The main advantage of PWM is that power loss in the switching devices is very low, so will help to save lots of energy, especially for battery electric fence energizer. The power consumption is a key issue to evaluation the electric fence energizer.

Isolated transformer

Isolated transformer transfer the voltage on the storage capacitor to high output voltage, the isolated transformer is a very key component for a energizer, lots of article and standards talk a lot about the construction, carefully design can make low impedance electric fence energizer. Low impedance means you can power longer distance, and can save more invest on electric fencing, lots of company mark their energizer as low impedance, it make people confused, you’d better ask the data of energizer under 500 ohms load to evaluate, for a low impedance fence energizer, the isolated transformer can transfer more energy to the output, have less self loss, so the output under 500 ohms have stronger power, normally the voltage is also higher, lots of manufacturer have data on web, so right now, it is easy to judge which is low impedance and which is not, it is a fast way to choose a good electric fence energizer.

The Gallagher M100 electric fence charger protects the bee hives! Great ideas to share here.

Electric fencing is a physical barrier that uses high pulse electric shocks to deter animals or people from crossing a boundary. The high pulse voltage is uncomfortable but nonlethal, normally for safety consideration, the pulse period of the shocks is less than 1Hz, for a good operation, the amplitude of the shock is thousands of volts.
Nowadays electric fencing is used for pet control, agricultural and security purposes.
For pet purpose, electric fencing is portable, help host to keep pet under control, the voltage is low and less powerful needed, it is uncomfortable when pet touched, so pet will not escape from the fencing barrier. 
For agricultural purpose, electric fencing is more simple and cost efficient than tradition physical barrier, the electric fencing voltage required for different animal is variable, people normally use the voltage under 500 ohms for operation evaluation, usually bigger animal needs higher voltage, thicker fur needs higher voltage, for example, cattle need bigger voltage than dog.

For security purpose, different from pet and animal purpose, when electric fencing is cut off or contacted earth, security fence will give warning signal, security fence also hang up high voltage warning board on the fence to warn the intruder. But the security fence is nonlethal; the fence will give intruder painful, deterring the intruder.

Fence energizer

Electric fence energizer is designed to converts power into a brief high voltage pulse. One terminal of the fence energizer releases an electrical pulse along a connected bare wire. Another terminal is connected to a metal rod implanted in the earth, called a ground or earth rod. A person or animal touching both the wire and the earth during a pulse will complete an electrical circuit and will conduct the pulse, causing an uncomfortable electric shock. The effects of the shock depend upon the voltage, the energy of the pulse, the degree of contact between the recipient and the fence and ground and the route of the current through the body; it can range from barely noticeable to uncomfortable, painful.

Fence chargers use a charged capacitor, the charge is then released using a thyristor or similar solid-state component. Voltage is consistent due to electronic output controls, within the limits of output power. Pulse width is much narrower. Depending on the area to be fenced and remoteness of its location, fence energizers may be hooked into a permanent electrical circuit, may be run by lead-acid or dry cell batteries, or a smaller battery kept charged by a solar panel.

Fencing materials

The electrified fence itself must be kept insulated from the earth and from any materials that will conduct electricity and ignite or short out the fence. Fencing must therefore avoid vegetation, and cannot be attached directly to wood or metal posts. Typically, wooden or metal posts are driven into the ground and plastic or porcelain insulators are attached to them, or plastic posts are used. The conducting material is then attached to the posts.

AN UPPER Hunter cattle backgrounding property that achieves annual beef production rates of close to 1000 kilograms a hectare has hit the market to enable its owner-developer to embrace a new rural venture.

Ken Arnott, the Southern Highlands-based principal of financial services firm Arnott Capital, has built up “Creswell Park” from a modest house block into a 10-property aggregation of 1741 hectares (4300 acres).

It was the fact that his father (also Ken) had once owned the original “Creswell Park” house block before heading to Moree to grow cotton, that inspired Mr Arnott to use it as the base of a serious aggregation.

During the ensuing 10 years since buying that original block, he has acquired nine further adjoining blocks (held under 20 titles in all) to bring the aggregation to its present substantial size.

In the process, with his manager Rob Scott, he has undertaken extensive development with investment in pastures, fencing, infrastructure and water, to bring the property to a high pitch of productivity.

This is the package now being offered for sale by expressions of interest (closing November 12) by CBRE’s Danny Thomas and Peter Etheridge.

Situated in a valley forming the head of the Pages River near Murrurundi, “Creswell Park” is highly productive country rising from rich river loams to slopes of heavy chocolate basalt.

Water is secured by a long double frontage to the Pages River and a reliable average rainfall of 1000 millimetres “plus”, assured by the property’s proximity to the Liverpool Range.

About 70 per cent of the area is cleared, of which some 520ha has been sown to a high-performance pasture mix and is intensively grazed using paddock cells and electric fencing with multiple water points.

This system has resulted in a five-fold increase in the country’s carrying capacity, enabling it to run 1400 yearling cattle on the developed country in a backgrounding operation with Allied Beef.

Cattle are introduced at about 300 kilograms liveweight and turned off at 450kg, achieving beef production rates of up to 1200kg/ha in good seasons, and averaging about 900kg/ha.

A further 620ha of country has been cleared and earmarked for similar development, with water supply and paddock mapping in place,

with a view to being sown in late summer.

In addition to the main cattle backgrounding enterprise, a flock of 1000 Dorper ewes is run on the hill country, with lambs sometimes fattened on the river flats, depending on cattle feed requirements.

Working improvements are mostly new, and include steel cattle yards with curved “V” race, steel sheep/goat yards with sheep handler, three-stand woolshed, hay and machinery sheds and a horse complex.

A brick homestead of four bedrooms, built about 20 years ago, is set in an elevated position with established gardens, gauzed verandahs, spacious living areas with vaulted ceilings, and an in-ground pool.

In addition there is a three-bedroom workers’ cottage and a lodge-style accommodation block formerly used as a monks’ retreat but now suitable for temporary workers or farmstay use.

The property manager, Rob Scott, who has overseen all the recent developments, has indicated he would be interested in staying on to continue the job, subject to negotiations with a new owner.

A new owner would also have ample opportunity to ramp up

the present operation, not only

by continuing the on-farm development work, but by annexing adjoining country recently listed for

sale.

For 25 years Jan and Marian Slomp have been making a good living harvesting grass with dairy cows at their farm east of Rimbey, Alta. “We run a grass and grain farm and we seldom need to buy any feedstuffs off the farm except a little protein concentrate. Our profit margin is up and we milk less cows than in the past. We use lots of old stored manure on our orchard grass pastures and we grow lots of straw for the dairy cows.”

When Jan and his family moved to Canada from Holland he got involved with the Grey Wooded Forage Association, a group of farmers interested in growing forages, where he learned a lot about pasture management in Alberta. On his farm, he grazes a high density of cows rotating them to fresh forage twice a day. He has low capital investment in his operation as he farms with a minimum of equipment, usually used machinery in good condition.

Jan wanted to retire and was hoping that his son Paul would come back home and take over the farm. Paul, a civil engineer in Ottawa basically said, Pa, your farming and grazing operation is working so well there are no challenges for me. So he rented 100 acres of pasture in the Ottawa area to graze yearling and sell his beef directly to local consumers.

Paul also became involved with Community Supported Agriculture.

Jan has always farmed intensively in Holland and in Rimbey and over the years has paid off lots of debt. However, Paul wanted to farm without a lot of capital debt so he pre-sold his beef to the Ottawa public before he bought his yearlings in the spring. In the first year he spent $3,000 on fencing and scavenged materials for corrals. Then he attended a stockmen’s school and learned how to sort cattle on foot.

Paul now sells his organic grass fed beef for about $9.50 a pound to 180 Ottawa families and keeps in touch with his customers through his website at www.grazingdays.com. His clients are a closely knit group and Paul keeps them involved in the grazing operation by hosting field days and family events on the farm. When Paul was having difficulty making ends meet he held a meeting of his buyers group. They agreed to stay with him and pay a little extra for his beef which he delivers right to their door on a regular schedule.

More from the Canadian Cattlemen: Strong demand for direct-marketed, grass-fed beef

With pre-ordering and set delivery dates, Paul is able to run a very efficient operation. He keeps track of everyone’s previous orders and arranges to provide different cuts so each family over time gets a fair distribution of prime cuts. He is in the process of buying a farm about an hour’s distance from Ottawa in Quebec where he feels there is a real opportunity to continue raising grass-fed beef yet still be an easy drive for his Ottawa customers.

“A beef farmer can learn a lot about grazing from a grass-based dairy farmer,” says Jan, “Dairy cows can tell you in 24 hours what they think of your grazing management. It’s all in the pail. If I have quack grass in my pasture and I force the cows to graze it, the cows will let me know if they don’t like it. My pastures are mainly orchard grass, with some blue grass and legumes. I cannot keep it as a monoculture as other grasses keep coming in. I don’t worry about dandelions as they don’t amount to much in my well-manured pastures.”

Jan keeps his pastures in top condition by cutting a crop of grass silage or hay from each paddock every other year. This helps get rid of perennial thistles and other perennial weeds. His forage regrowth provides excellent grazing and he harvests his silage or hay clipping when he sees a stretch of good weather. He finds that this is extremely important for his grazing management. He adjusts his harvesting time so he can meet his future grazing goals or needs. In any particular paddock, he will graze first then take a silage cut followed by grazing the regrowth. It’s a method that really works for Jan. He knows where his cows will be grazing six weeks from now. Well-rotted manure is spread in alternate years on the grazing paddocks after the first graze or second cut for hay or silage. This is key to Jan’s grazing operation.

Dr. Neil Harker, a weed scientist at Lacombe Research Centre, has found that farmers can almost eliminate their wild oat problems by harvesting several consecutive silage crops as compared to harvesting the crop for grain. The effect was especially pronounced when the silage was cut a little earlier than normal to prevent the wild oat from producing viable seed. He sees the advantage of farmers having a mixed-farming operation where silage is involved as a means of lowering production costs and reducing dependency on expensive herbicides as weeds are developing resistance to several popular products. This is a major concern.

Jan feels beef producers can make big gains by grazing high-quality forage regrowth from the middle of August to November. On our visit to Jan’s farm in late September his pastures were lush and green with lots of forage regrowth while other pastures in the region were brown and grazed down to the ground. He thinks beef cattle could gain an extra 100 pounds at this time of year on high-quality forage.

“Calves will suck if the grass isn’t good. Fall gains are very important and the beef producer needs to know where his gains are coming from. Quality is the most important factor to consider at this time of year for grazing beef animals. I move my cows in the paddocks using tumble wheel fences. They look like combine reels but use no fossil fuel. With shorter days the animals are getting ready for winter and the animals are putting on more weight.”

Jim Stone, a grazing mentor involved with Canada’s Grazing Mentorship Program and former teacher at Olds College, stresses that paddocks for grazing yearlings or beef calves should be small enough that you have to move the animals frequently to gain full value from high-quality grass regrowth.

Jan looks at his farm as a natural system. “It’s been a paradigm shift for me. The sun is what I am working with and grass harvested by my cows is the core of my business. Does it still make sense for farmers to be producing more by buying more cows and land? Is producing more still sustainable in these economic times? I want to see what I can do through better management instead of buying more land and increasing debt load. I want to be sustainable with little outside inputs.”

If he was to give any advice to young people hoping to take over the family farm it would be “build on experience.”

“Work with what you have. Find out which grass species gives you the most intake in the fall. Never borrow money to purchase big new machinery. This takes discipline.”

“The biggest concern I have for the future of agriculture in Canada is there is no generation jumping up to take over the family farm.”

Jan and his wife Marian were nominated as Western Canada’s representatives for the 2013 Dairy Farmers of Canada Sustainability Award.

Duane McCartney is a retired forage beef systems research scientist from Lacombe, Alta.

Bet you didn't know that during a rainstorm, cows will walk directly into the rain as far as their fences will allow and stand in a row facing into it? Or that cattle are family-oriented and will gather in clan clusters every evening? They even have something akin to a nanny system, with baby calves gathering at night around a single female relative, farmer Buck Holsinger says.

But one thing you probably did know: Farming is not for the faint of heart. It is hard work, unpredictable. And young Americans are increasingly opting out.

So where does the U.S. Department of Agriculture go to find that rare breed of practical, no-nonsense, get-the-job-done-type person needed to fill the shoes of retiring farmers?

Try the growing cadre of unemployed veterans coming out of more than a decade of war with military skills that don't necessarily translate into civilian jobs.

"We think veterans are a very good fit in agriculture," Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Krysta Harden said in an interview. "Many have the skills needed: Strong leaders, they are used to hard work, and they are going to work until the job is done. Farming is not 9-to-5, and they are used to that."

Under the 2014 Farm Bill, the Agriculture Department began giving veterans preference for National Resource Conservation Service programs to protect or enhance the environment. The service offers financial incentives - and know-how - to farmers willing to implement its programs. Veterans get preference. So do new farmers.

Air National Guard C-130 pilot Buck Holsinger was both when he tapped into the service's incentives pool.

The Shenandoah Valley farmer flew transport planes for the Air Force for 12 years when he decided to get out and return with his wife and young children to his family farm here, north of Harrisonburg. Holsinger, who was being activated for a second deployment in Iraq, wanted a more stable life and healthier food for his family.

He bought cattle, read books and figured out trial by trial and mistake by mistake how to breed them, graze them on rotating fields and keep his pastures thick and healthy for them. His cattle are grass-fed and hormone-free, and they live in the open on his 72-acre farm.

Though he still works from home as a computer engineer for IBM, he hopes one day to support his family on farming alone.

He jumped on the government incentives to improve sustainability on his land. The first one: creating a buffer between his cattle and the stream that runs along his farm - even though that meant Holsinger's cows no longer could drink from that obvious water source.

"We are part of the Shenandoah River, which feeds into the Potomac, which feeds into the Chesapeake Bay," Holsinger said on a crisp September day while trudging through his fields. "In an effort to clean it up, they helped me fence out my stream."

In a 15-year program, the government paid him $95 an acre for 10 acres - essentially renting the land so he wouldn't use it. It also helped him plant saplings along the stream to develop a wildlife habitat. Now he has young deer and mallard ducks living there, he said.

Giving up his cows' main water source also meant giving up their access to the majority of shade trees on his farm. So he applied for money for other uses: to pipe in water to each grazing area and to plant hardwood trees in sections across his land - a project known as silvopasture - that ultimately will provide some shade in each 10-acre paddock while protecting the soil.

The projects were time-consuming and hard. But they made sense to a guy who believes in the holistic health of his farm.

"Grass is a good sustainable food source," he said. "God gave us cattle that eat grass, and they take grass and make it into food we can eat.

"I want to grow good, sustainable food, for my family and friends and customers now."

The Agriculture Department is working with its Defense Department counterparts to get the word out to veterans that, should they choose to go into farming, there are government packages available. The government won't help buy their land, but it promises to rate them high on the priority list for money to improve environmental practices on their farms.

Still, not all veterans who apply for incentives will receive them. There are more than 2,500 Natural Resources Conservation Service field offices across the country - each representing a different farming district and getting a portion of the overall pot of money.

In Virginia alone, there are 42 districts, said Cory Guilliams, the conservationist for Holsinger's Harrisonburg district, which reaches from the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia over to Fredericksburg.

Guilliams explained there are a number of different types of "fund pools" for farmers, depending on the types of farms and the problems they are dealing with. The rankings for applicants also vary, based on environmental benefit and types of concerns ranging from national priorities to state to local issues.

Holsinger was one of just two applicants in his district who benefited both as a new farmer and a veteran, he said.

But Guilliams noted there just aren't enough resources to go around. "Funds are very limited in Virginia," he said. "Over the past couple of years, we've taken cuts in our funding."

The Virginia office of the conservation service had hoped for $20 million for the environmental quality incentives program this past year. But the state was allocated $13 million. Meanwhile, funding requests exceeded $62 million.

"And I think it's similar nationwide," he said.

Holsinger was lucky. But his friend Paul Dorrance, a farmer in Chillicothe, Ohio, producing grass-fed, nongenetically modified, hormone-free meat, fell through the cracks.

Dorrance, also an Air Force pilot, left active duty in 2013 and jumped whole hog into farming. He raises cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys and pigs on 111 acres while living off the nest egg he and his wife had saved.

Dorrance applied last year for an environmental quality incentives program grant to build fencing to keep his animals away from a creek. He was declined without explanation, he said.

With the new defense-agriculture push, he applied for another grant this year to run water to his fields, the same way Holsinger did. He's still waiting for an answer, he said.

As the only natural farmer in his district, Dorrance wonders whether his chemical- and hormone-free approach is not popular in a region of commercial farms or whether approval depends on how proactive his district representative is.

So he's frustrated. "I think veterans and ex-military are exactly what agriculture needs," he said. "But what the government and the USDA need to do is get out of the way."

Conservation service officials in Ohio declined to comment on the specifics of the case, citing the privacy of the application. But an official in the national office said that requests for money under the conservation programs far exceed the money available, noting that in 2013 fewer than half of the qualifying applications were funded.

Holsinger stood recently in the middle of a pasture, talking about the rotational grazing he's implemented and how it helps force his cows to eat more than just their favorite foods "at the buffet" - i.e., clover. By using electric fences, he can keep cattle in smaller areas, ensuring they eat not only their first choices, but also second and third favorites.

He's developed a strong relationship with Guilliams and with district farmers who work for the USDA and have been sounding boards for the young farmer as he works out his system.

He pointed past his land at a subdivision of houses, built on what used to be his neighbor's farm. A developer paid top dollar for that land, making it close to impossible for a young person with limited means to buy a farm.

But if the stars align, and the land is yours, and the incentives are granted, Holsinger believes farming can bring both healing and sustenance to veterans.

"There's a therapy to growing and seeing your product every day," he said.

And when he grows the farm big enough that he can leave his job with IBM and hire a hand to help him out, Holsinger knows exactly who he is going to seek: a veteran.

"If you have made that commitment to our country, there's no question they've instilled that work ethic in you that I feel the farm gave me many years ago," he said.

"We understand hard work. We understand taking a plan and executing it, having a desire to make it happen, no matter what."