The first-ever prosecution under a two-decade-old law has resulted in a jail sentence for a man who set up an electric fence that killed a neighbour's pregnant sheep.

Chan Hon-Kay, 51, was jailed for two months yesterday after earlier being found guilty by Fanling Court of failing to prevent an electrical accident, an offence under the 1990 Electricity Ordinance.

As well as killing the ewe, the fence left a neighbour who tried to rescue the animal, Yan Hau-ming, unconscious and injured two other sheep, the court head.

Prosecutor Francis Ngan told the court there was no precedent for a prosecution for the offence, which applies to owners of electrical devices which harm others, regardless of the owner's intent or presence at the scene.

Deputy Magistrate Cherry Hui Shuk-yee said: "Not only did the sheep die, the two lambs it was pregnant with also died … Chan, as the person who deliberately set up the device, must be held responsible.

"[Chan] set up a dangerous device while knowing there was considerable risk" of death, Hui said. She cited the comments of an engineer, who told an earlier hearing that "if a sheep or a man comes into contact with electrical wires of 220 volts, the sheep or man may be electrocuted".

The defence had earlier denied all knowledge of the fence, which was placed in a bushy area in Lok Ma Chau between land owned by Chan's family and land belonging to Yan's family, which owned the sheep.

The court heard that Chan's family had a series of disputes with Yan's family, who ran a farm and were rearing 22 sheep.

Yan earlier told the court he had rushed to the scene when he heard the ewe moaning, only to find wiring wrapped around its neck. After passing out from an electric shock, he said he awoke after two minutes and saw Chan collecting the wire.

Chan had told the court he was working with his brother-in-law in Yuen Long at the time of the accident on July 29, an alibi Hui dismissed as unbelievable.

The magistrate said yesterday that there was no precedent for the offence, but that the law allowed for a maximum fine of HK$50,000 and up to six months in prison. She rejected defence counsel Felix Hoe's plea for a suspended sentence or fine, as "Chan's background reports showed no remorse or reason for commutation of the jail term".

The defence immediately applied for leave to appeal against the conviction. Hui granted the application and released Chan on bail of HK$30,000.

Outside court, Chan's family said they would not give up the fight to prove his innocence.

The only 100% deer barrier is an 8 ft tall

woven wire fence or solid wall. But they are both

expensive and very permanent.

An alternative is electrified fences. They rely

upon a painful shock to persuade deer to neither

jump nor penetrate a fence.

Because they aren’t physical barriers, electric

deer fences rely upon key deer behavior aspects.

Where they choose to feed, rub, walk and breed

are habits learned over time—a habit reinforced

every time they do it safely.

Suddenly fencing a deer herd away from an

area or trail forces the herd to break a habit

(by a fence) is critical if the fence is to succeed.

Once a herd’s pattern is broken, the change in

feeding/walking location is easier to maintain.

feeding sites, trails and rubbing trees.

Electric fences use pain to raise the “cost” (the

degree of risk and effort to use an area) and

persuade deer that it is safer and less frightening

to feed, rub or trail elsewhere. When they are

desperate they may risk the pain—which is why

you can’t keep out starving deer with electric

fencing if the site is their only food source.

make a decision to avoid them.

That’s why it’s important to identify deer trails

entering a new exclusion area and interrupt them

with something physical (e.g. a brush pile) where

the trail approaches the fence. Do this when the

fence is installed.

Why? The trail change makes them tentative.

So they move cautiously.

Why not? Because frightened deer don’t make

normal decisions. As prey animals they are easily

spooked into leaping over or through fences.

And once deer learn that they can jump the fence

without pain, they’re more likely to do so when

not frightened, a habit that’s costly to break.

Why not? The intent is to first change the

herd’s “habits.” So install a new fence around

a small area first. The local deer herd will

encounter it, learn to avoid it and instead feed

or rub in adjacent areas.

Leave it in place for 2 weeks. Then

progressively expand the enclosed area until

100% is protected.

Their world is black, white and shades of gray.

Therefore, barriers that contrast with their view of

the world are the most visible to deer—and likely

to get their attention.

It’s been our experience that electric fences

that fail for deer are usually:

• Installed at the wrong time (after the herd’s

habit is deeply ingrained).

• Managed without an awareness of how a

deer herd interacts with fences.

• What are scent caps? Metal pop bottle caps

attached to the fence that are baited with

scent to attract deer. It’s a Premier invention

that’s been copied by others.

• How do they work? Experience has shown

that scent caps encourage deer to have an

initial painful interaction with a new electric

as easy to apply.)

• How many caps? One every 50 ft in heavy

traffic areas (or 100 ft in low traffic areas).

• Is it hard to rebait scent caps? Baiting

involves turning off the energizer; walking

or riding the fence; twisting the cap upward,

squeezing a few drops of apple scent onto

the cotton inside the cap; and twisting the

cap downward again.

The fence is as visible to hogs at night as possible (contrasting black and white).Because it’s so easy to use and adapts readily to most situations, netting has become the way to protect hives from bears, wildlife, livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs) and feral hogs.

A word of advice: Fence is unable to contain bees. But it does keep the hive safe from 4-legged pests.

Durability If used with care Premier’s nets will last up to 10 years. Don’t allow the grass around it to become overgrown—because folks tend to tear the net during removal.

By Rachel Gilker  /   March 17, 2014  / 

The Holter Family

Holterholm Farms has been in the Holter family since 1889. Now owned and operated by Ron Holter with the help of his son Adam, it’s one of the few remaining farms in Middletown Valley in Maryland, about an hour and a half from Washington, DC.  In the early days, the farm was diversified. Later it became strictly a dairy farm, and the herd moved into the barn.  But when Ron bought the farm from his dad 20 years ago, he realized that industrial-style dairy farming wasn’t going to do anything but burn out him and the farm. He looked deep inside, and he prayed, and he put the cows on pasture about a year and a half later.  (See Making the Switch to Pasture Based Dairying for more on how he managed the change.)

Since making that big move, Ron has tried lots of things, settling on a diversified farm with a grass-based, organic, grain-free dairy. His goal has been to reduce inputs and labor while increasing profits.  Each change Ron has made was with a lot of thought, and each has lessons for all of us.

Seasonal Dairying

After switching to grazing, the next of Ron’s big changes was to move the herd to seasonal calving. Even in Maryland, winter is cold, and grazing doesn’t provide much feed. With careful money management and reduced inputs, taking two months off from milk production was feasible.   Now they dry the herd off right before Christmas, and don’t ship milk again until February 24th. That means ten months of milk checks cover the whole year, and that the two coldest months of the year don’t involve milking.  My hands feel warmer just thinking about not milking in the winter!

Grain-Free & Organic

Ron Holter checks his pastures and herd.

In 2005, almost ten years after switching to grazing, Holterholm Farms was certified organic. Going organic fit with Ron’s low input management style, and it gave him some stability in milk prices when they signed with Organic Valley.

If you know much about organic dairy farming, though, you might know about the high cost of organic grain. Since Ron is all about reducing inputs, this meant that he began looking at going grain-free as well. It was something he had wanted to do since he started grazing, because as he says, with passion in his voice, “Cows aren’t created to eat grain. It lowers the quality of the milk.” Plus, he adds, “Not feeding grain makes the milk GMO free.”  Ron knew that New Zealand, farmers don’t feed their cows grain, so he figured Holterholm farm could do it successfully too.

It turns out that the switch to grain-free wasn’t such a big one. For years, they had been breeding their herd of Jerseys towards a herd that required less grain, and their animals had only been getting 4 lbs of grain per cow per day. In 2007, when they stopped feeding grain altogether, the drop in production was pretty much balanced by the cost of grain.

Because Ron and Adam don’t feed grain, pasture management became that much more critical. To make sure pasture quality is as high as possible, Ron tries to walk the pasture every week to plan the rotation. The herd is out on pasture year round, fed hay during the winter months. Ron explains they “hay some of the pastures and feed the hay back to the herd on those pastures to maintain and build fertility.” Ron and Adam work at increasing forage diversity as well. Pastures get over seeded regularly, working toward an herbal ley mixture, a complex mix of pasture forage plants. 

Healing the Land

Ron’s tried some other management tools as well. When he began farming, the land had been cropped for decades, and it didn’t have the biological diversity and soil health Ron was striving for. To heal the land, he gave it a break, fallowing 1/7th of the pastures each year. The grasses were allowed to grow up, ungrazed, until they were tall and brown, letting their roots reach deeper into the soil. After years of this, he found that it was no longer necessary, and in fact was causing some negative effects. Urine spots were visible, indicating low nitrogen levels in the fallowed pastures. Those pastures also lost biological diversity from not having animal impact on it for 6-10 months in a year.

Now that the pastures are healed, Ron says “because it’s a non-brittle environment, [they] don’t need the break when you’re not trying to heal the land. Taking 50 years of a cropped farm and getting it back to a biologically active soil, it needed the healing. Now that the wheels are turning [in the soil], the rest doesn’t seem as necessary.”

Ron and Adam have a cull rate of 3-4%. They do cull a few each year that don’t meet the pregnancy window, but those go to other farms as dairy animals. Their oldest cow is a young 14; until recently the oldest milker was about 17. They raise their calves using nurse cows. They find the nurse cows are a great addition, and a story for another time.

Tall Grazing

One more thing Ron and Adam tried was tall sward grazing. It just didn’t work for their herd of Jersey dairy cows. They were moving cows two to five times and up to 8x per day, but they couldn’t get the Jerseys to do more than pick at the green leaves. They followed the Jerseys (dairy) with Herefords (beef). The Herefords were getting fat, but the Jerseys lost condition, and with that came a loss in production. They tried tall grazing for a year and a half, but it just didn’t work for them. Now they put the Jerseys in  at 12-18″, not the fully mature tall swards they had been grazing.

So How’s the Bottom Line Doing?

The farm is also a place for other products. It’s not just a dairy farm anymore. The farm provides eggs and ground beef, and a few times a year, they sell beef by the quarter, half and whole. Ron and Adam hope to build a farm store one day, but not just yet.

All this works for the Holters, with numbers that might surprise you. Their rolling herd average milk production is only 6500 lbs. That’s per cow.  But they are profitable. In fact, their overall profit over costs is 30.1% for a three year average that includes two years of poor production when the herd was grazing the tall sward. The 30.1% of the milk check more than covers the family’s living expenses with some left over.

Holterholm Farms is profitable because their production costs are kept low, very low. By focusing on costs of inputs, not just on volume of outputs, Ron and Adam have made the farm work for them, not just the other way around.  It’s a lesson that could serve us all very well.

If you've decided to raise goats to green up your lifestyle, you need to provide good fencing to keep them in and to keep predators out. You can also use fencing to protect your trees and shrubs from goats. Adequate fencing means different things in different situations. If you have kids and adult goats, you need to make sure the kids can't get through the fencing and the adults can't get over it.

Goats love to rub on walls and fences. If you put in new fencing, make sure you set your fence posts deep enough. Wooden posts need to be at least two feet deep. If you're using metal T-posts, make sure to pound them in past the V at the bottom that holds them in the ground.

If you have an area with existing fencing, walk the fence line and

• Inspect the fence for holes in or under it: Patch holes in the fence and fill or block holes under it.

• Check each fence post to make sure it's solidly set: Replace, add a new post, or solidify the weak one.

• Measure to see whether the fence is high enough: A 4-foot fence is adequate in most cases. If it isn't, add a strand or two of electric wire or fence it higher.

• Determine whether any trees need to be fenced out or around: Keep goats away from trees you don't want eaten or that are poisonous.

If you need to put in new fencing or replace fencing, you have a variety of fencing types to choose from:

• Field fencing: Field fencing, or woven wire, attached to metal T-posts is probably the most common type of fencing for goats. It's moderately expensive and is sturdy if installed properly. A four-foot-high field fence will keep miniature goats in but isn't high enough for a determined bigger goat. A strand of electric wire along the top and 10 inches off the ground usually keeps all goats in.

• Cattle or hog panels: Galvanized cattle panel with graduated spacing makes excellent fences for goats. The panels are 50 inches high. You can add a strand or two of electric wire along the top for larger goats. To keep in miniature goat kids you may need to reinforce with chicken wire or woven wire along the bottom.

• Electric wire: Electric wire is an excellent addition to any of the other types of fencing. The wire and insulators are inexpensive; the biggest cost is the charger and ground rod. A strand along the top helps keep predators out and goats and livestock guardian dogs in.

  Use a 4,000-volt charger for goat fencing. If your fencing isn't near a power source, get a solar charger. Place the grounding rod in a location that is as dry as possible. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations for grounding and charger placement.

Avoid using barbed wire or wood fences for goats. Goats can get injured by the barbs.

Gallagher Electric Fencing from Valley Farm Supply

Free Fence Tester and Free Shipping on Gallagher Electric fence Chargers in USA!

Free Gallagher Baseball Cap with $500 Order!

We are Valley Farm Supply and we were established in 2004 as a source for quality farm supplies. We offer Gallagher electric fence products to professional farmers, ranchers as well as hobby farmers. Valley Farm Supply is one of the largest Gallagher electric fence dealer in the U.S.A. , which means we can pass along savings to you.

We are a direct source for your Gallagher livestock electric fence needs, Miraco livestock waterers, and Gallagher Cattle and Livestock Scales. We also handle other brands of farm supplies, cattle drinkers, electric fence products, electric fence chargers and electric fencing items. We sell electric fence chargers, solar chargers battery chargers, energizers, wire, netting, fence insulators, hardware, poliwire, politape, hi tensile wire, wildlife fence, horse fence, gates, electric fence tools, strainers, polirope, equibraid, reels, fence testers, grounding parts, solar panels, fencing materials, seed, equine items and farm supplies. Please ask if we can supply your farm or ranch with the things you need to be successful.

WE SHIP WORLDWIDE!!! International Customers, Please Email us for a shipping quote at sales@valleyfarmsupply.net

Please order online 24/7 or call VALLEY FARM SUPPLY at 717-786-0368 or email us at sales@valleyfarmsupply.net for help or advice.

Gallagher Electric Fencing from Valley Farm Supply

Free Fence Tester and Free Shipping on Gallagher Electric fence Chargers in USA!

Free Gallagher Baseball Cap with $500 Order!

We are Valley Farm Supply and we were established in 2004 as a source for quality farm supplies. We offer Gallagher electric fence products to professional farmers, ranchers as well as hobby farmers. Valley Farm Supply is one of the largest Gallagher electric fence dealer in the U.S.A. , which means we can pass along savings to you.

We are a direct source for your Gallagher livestock electric fence needs, Miraco livestock waterers, and Gallagher Cattle and Livestock Scales. We also handle other brands of farm supplies, cattle drinkers, electric fence products, electric fence chargers and electric fencing items. We sell electric fence chargers, solar chargers battery chargers, energizers, wire, netting, fence insulators, hardware, poliwire, politape, hi tensile wire, wildlife fence, horse fence, gates, electric fence tools, strainers, polirope, equibraid, reels, fence testers, grounding parts, solar panels, fencing materials, seed, equine items and farm supplies. Please ask if we can supply your farm or ranch with the things you need to be successful.

WE SHIP WORLDWIDE!!! International Customers, Please Email us for a shipping quote at sales@valleyfarmsupply.net

Please order online 24/7 or call VALLEY FARM SUPPLY at 717-786-0368 or email us at sales@valleyfarmsupply.net for help or advice.

The right fence charger is the heart of your electric fence system. Finding the best-matched charger for your fence is imperative to successfully contain/exclude animals. 

• Powering your fence charger. The recommended and most reliable choice is AC-power. If you need to power your fence from a remote location, DC or Solar powered fence chargers are an excellent choice for remote locations. Solar powered fence chargers feature the benefits of charging your battery using solar power.

• Type of fence line. Steel wire creates less electrical resistance than poly wire, rope or tape, which draw more power. If you are using poly rope or tape, we recommend a low impedance fence controller. Aluminum wire has less resistance than steel wire.

• Number of fence wire strands. As a general rule for multi-wire fences, divide the charger’s distance rating by the number of strands, then select a charger with a mileage rating that meets those needs. NOTE: 1 square mile = 4 mile perimeter = 640 acres. Remember that poly wire, rope and tape have a higher resistance rating and thus will need a charger with a higher distance rating.

• Amount of weeds. The more weeds touching your fence line, the more draw from your charger. If you have light to medium to heavy weeds near your fence, we recommend a low impedance fence controller as they can maintain high energy on the fence even as power is drawn by weeds.

• Area to enclose. Give some thought to the possibility of your fence area expanding (which may require a more powerful charger). Gallagher chargers list a mileage rating, but keep in mind that rating is for a single strand of steel wire on a weed-free fence.

• Type of animal controlled. Large animals with thicker hide, hair, hooves or foot pads require a stronger shock. Also, determined animals like bulls or stallions require a more powerful fence charger.