# Boys are gonna get a surprise



## mlappin

With Father laid up this spring I didn't get a chance to spray under the fencelines, so the fence was working poor at best. Walked the entire thing with the weed eater cutting weeds/grass back, even did the cross fences. Took two full tanks of gas. Fence still didn't work worth a crap and we have three bulls that people will be picking up next month and they were walking right thru it to get to the cows. Of course once the steers seen the bulls do it, they just had to follow. The year old Zareba charger wasn't putting out enough (again) even with the fence unhooked.

Ordered the Power Wizard PW12000 from Bale Supply Tuesday night, and had it show up yesterday. Spent the rest of the day installing new ground rods, replaced a few sections that weren't exactly rusty, but weren't shiny either, then walked the entire fence again looking for anything. Have it hooked up now and the very last part of the fence has 8.2K on it at 12 joules. The Zareba even brand new would barely get 6K at the end of the fence and only had 1 joule output.

The bulls and steers are all separated back out now and I have em locked in the barn till they settle down a bit, if it quits raining today I'm going to get a lawn chair, a six pack and watch the fun as they discover the fence is working again.


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## urednecku

Sounds like fun. If it wern't so far off I'd bring over a cooler & join ya.


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## hayray

Glad to hear it. How are you testing Joules?


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## mlappin

hayray said:


> Glad to hear it. How are you testing Joules?


I might have been a bit misleading. Rated output of the Zareba is one joule, the Power Wizard is rated at 12 joules output. I also have the Smart Fix coming from Gallagher, maybe it will measure actual joules on the fence.

http://www.gallagher...?mktprodid=1358

The Power Wizard is putting out 8.3K at the charger with the fence unhooked, getting 8.2K at the very end of the fence by the steer/bull lot. I'd say I have it working pretty good.


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## Gearclash

Aahhhh . . . the satisfying sound of a bovine bellow when they "discover" a good electric fence and get their electron imbalance corrected







. We have 30 acres of floodplain pasture that we stock with replacement Holstein heifers, so I know that feeling . . . I havn't decided what is dumber/more obnoxious: Holstein hfrs or steers.


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## mlappin

Gearclash said:


> Aahhhh . . . the satisfying sound of a bovine bellow when they "discover" a good electric fence and get their electron imbalance corrected
> 
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> . We have 30 acres of floodplain pasture that we stock with replacement Holstein heifers, so I know that feeling . . . I havn't decided what is dumber/more obnoxious: Holstein hfrs or steers.


A mix of Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn calves can be pretty stupid at times.


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## Vol

There was a reason for the Biblical reference of bovine as "Beast of burden".

Regards, Mike


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## mlappin

Checked the pastures this AM, the calves are all where they belong and the bulls are staying a respectful distance away from the fence (at least 3 feet) but are trying to talk the cows into coming over to their side


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## Gearclash

Is there anybody here that thinks that bovines "know" if a fence is hot without actually touching it? It sure seems like it.


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## swmnhay

_Yea I've seen them many a time put there nose a couple inches away from it but not touch it.I think they can feel it??_


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## mlappin

They can sense it. Cows are much more sensitive to electricity than people. I've seen stray voltage in a waterer and they'd all stand around it, raising holy hell but not a one would get closer than six inches to it yet I couldn't feel a thing but a very good multimeter would show current when one lead was placed in the water and the other was grounded.


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## Bob M

Even though we all love our cows, i too enjoy seeing them test a newly fixed electric fence. I guess it is pay back for all the times they get out!


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## mlappin

If you don't have one, get one, those Smart fence testers are well worth it. The gallagher is sensitive enough it will even show a current drop from an old, sun ate plastic insulator on a steel round post.


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## slowzuki

My sister just picked up the same fencer to teach her goats about electric fence. The old one is a strong one, was keeping sheep with full fleece in but the goats just laugh at it in the dry weather we are having.


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## Nitram

Bob M said:


> Even though we all love our cows, i too enjoy seeing them test a newly fixed electric fence. I guess it is pay back for all the times they get out!


AND HOW !!! you hit the nail on the head there!


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## mlappin

You know, we had pigs on the farm at one time and pastured them on the corn stalks in the winter, the only thing better than watching cows discover how good the fence is working is watching a pig discover what a electric fence is for the first time when they try to sniff it.


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## urednecku

mlappin said:


> You know, we had pigs on the farm at one time and pastured them on the corn stalks in the winter, the only thing better than watching cows discover how good the fence is working is watching a pig discover what a electric fence is for the first time when they try to sniff it.


YEP!! We had a pet pig that liked to just crawl under the fence. Put that 1 wire up..........I can still see him running backward squealing after the nose ring hit the wire.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

I have a neighbor who's cattle get out all the time. Everyone thinks they are mine and come see me. I have helped him get them up last Saturday and then again this am. This crap is getting old but he is young and has poor fences. Mike


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## Nitram

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> I have a neighbor who's cattle get out all the time. Everyone thinks they are mine and come see me. I have helped him get them up last Saturday and then again this am. This crap is getting old but he is young and has poor fences. Mike


Looks like Mike is going to be helping make fence before long! Martin


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## mlappin

The Power Wizard is still going strong. Moved the cows from the winter pasture to the summer, pretty funny in a sick and twisted way  to hear a calf finding all the cross fences in the summer pastures. Especially when you can hear the "snap" from a over a hundred foot away.

Only thing I have decided, the next one will have the remote capability. Can't see what would be slicker than checking fence and being able to turn it on and off remotely.


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## slowzuki

My sisters is out on warrantee repair right now, days before the warrantee ran out. I'm not sure why the fencers don't last well on her farm. No lightning strikes, ground rods are good, the sheep keep the grass trimmed from fenceline.


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## Waterway64

With 12 j the bear and deer should leave it alone to!! I have a couple fencers from Powerflex, one is 6j and the other is 12j. I use electric fences all the time and have been well satisfied.

Mel


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## mlappin

slowzuki said:


> My sisters is out on warrantee repair right now, days before the warrantee ran out. I'm not sure why the fencers don't last well on her farm. No lightning strikes, ground rods are good, the sheep keep the grass trimmed from fenceline.


I have mine plugged into a surge suppressor as well. New fence chargers are just like PC's anymore and need protection from voltage spikes on the supply.


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## Chucktown

swmnhay said:


> Yea I've seen them many a time put there nose a couple inches away from it but not touch it.I think they can feel it??


Watched a bull inch up to "smell" the fence and it "reached out and touched him", when he was about an inch away, lol. Looked like some striking an arc on a welder. A couple of months later I took the hot fence gap down to let the bull in with the cows. After three days he still hadn't crossed the gap into the other pasture. I finally had to walk the cows thru the gap into the pasture with the bull and then walk all of them back out (yes, my cows follow me around like a puppy).


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## mlappin

Have a stray tomcat show up, it's a miracle the thing is still alive as it's gotta be the dumbest thing on four legs I've ever seen. Anyways decided to try and sniff the bottom hot wire, was three days before I seen it again.


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## R Ball

My fence charger is a Panamark 50 mile .. It has a digital meter on it. It pretty much stays between 17.5 -18.5 . The one thing for sure is that it's hot. I only use electric for my cross fencing. I can turn it off and they still don't mess with it. 
My dog took a sniff of it and wouldn't go back in the pastures for a couple weeks. Took him 
~5 seconds to yelp and run off. It really lit him up with a big snap on his nose.


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## mlappin

We got the temporary fence up around the winter pasture a few weeks back, next day I had to repair one of the portable feed bunks I built last winter. Earlier in the summer a smaller steer got his head stuck in the front half between a drag link and a brace, fought the dumb sob quite awhile trying to get his head out and finally gave up and got the 18v sawzall and cut the brace enough to bend it out. Grabbed that feeder and ran it up to the shop to fix, taking it back to the lot and drove over the fence and a fitting on bottom grabbed the hot wire, stopped and bumped the wire with my foot to get it uncaught. Got shocked, went up my leg, across um well you know then down the other leg.

Have since bought another fence charger with the remote capability. The original Power Wizard I had bought earlier in this thread is still working just fine and will be stored until it's needed as a spare. Couldn't get the new one with remote in the same size so being a good american I went bigger, bought the Power Wizard/Farm Pro FP24000XR and the remote/fault finder. Pretty slick to be able to turn the fence off any where with the remote. Even with a top speed of 42 mph the Polaris has still is time consuming to have to drive from the back of the farm, up to the barn to shut the fencer off then drive back again. Will be well with it this winter when feeding in the winter pastures, don't know how many times over the years have dropped a wire then have it get hung up on a tire or a hitch pin while driving across it, then wander around looking for something hopefully dry enough to get the wire unhooked without getting shocked.

Was late in the day when I first installed it and had a little under 10K at the end of the fence, next day drove the wire and a deer blasted thru it and had about 75 feet laying in the mud, take the remote and shut the fence off, rehung the wire and turned back on with remote. Checked the end of the fence again and have about 15K on it now, the sadistic side of me can't wait till the new crop of calves find the hot wire this spring.


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## Msch2112

Interesting they call the pw12000 'ultra low impedance' charger. I think of ultra as in meaning it works great on wet ground but not dry. When my pastures dry up, like now, in NV, it's harder for the cows to get shocked because of less grounding.

I have a big solar energiser on because power is difficult to obtain.

Mike


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## Waterway64

Have any of you experienced a difference in. conductivity of different brands of Polly cord? I am using some that doesn't seem to work as well as another brand. Mel


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## mlappin

Msch2112 said:


> Interesting they call the pw12000 'ultra low impedance' charger. I think of ultra as in meaning it works great on wet ground but not dry. When my pastures dry up, like now, in NV, it's harder for the cows to get shocked because of less grounding.
> 
> I have a big solar energiser on because power is difficult to obtain.
> 
> Mike


I've had the same problem on dry ground and frozen ground.

When I installed the first Power Wizard I redid my ground rods. Three of em ten foot apart just like recommended. The I ran another strand of hi-tensile between the two hots I already had, and used that for a ground wire, installed another three ground rods in various places along the ground wire. Last one is furthest from the charger right next to a creek. Haven't had a problem with poor grounds since.


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## Nitram

Waterway64 said:


> Have any of you experienced a difference in. conductivity of different brands of Polly cord? I am using some that doesn't seem to work as well as another brand. Mel


Tried some cord. Worthless IMO. Went back to wire do not use the cheep thin stuff won't carry the charge as well.

Ps now use the poly to tie along the wire for visual. Martin


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## swmnhay

Nitram said:


> Tried some cord. Worthless IMO. Went back to wire do not use the cheep thin stuff won't carry the charge as well.
> Ps now use the poly to tie along the wire for visual. Martin


A tried some poly tape and after a few yrs the little wires in it broke.One day the cattle were chewing on it and I thought the fencer was off but it wasn't.I just use it for visual also now,or threw it out,


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## mlappin

I have a stubborn one, separated him from his momma, both are extremely unhappy.

Little shit goes up and down the fence line three of four times then turns and blasts right thru it, todays the fourth time he's done it, have 14.5K on the wire, the rest are staying a respectable distance from it including momma. Four strands of high tensile, all hot. It's nailing him as I've seen him twitch and jerk as he goes thru, starting to piss me off, already took his jewels so not sure how to break his spirit.


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## Nitram

Miles away!!! If he can't hear smell or see her...perhaps a friend has a coral for a month or so?


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## mlappin

I'm adding a few more strands tomorrow so he even tries to get his nose thru he's gonna get a zap. If that don't work I'll get a nose ring for em and let mamma wollop him a few times when he tries to nurse.


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## mlappin

Two more strands of hot wire and a few tenths of a inch of rain. Knocked the little shit down this time, has stayed put since.


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## mlappin

Not sure what happened but had to send the big boy in for repairs, didn't have any recent storms or anything when I noticed it had quit working. Took it apart and had a bad spot in a circuit board, couldn't have been lightning nor a power surge as the surge protector is good. I've taken apart chargers that got hit by lightning and its more like a M80 was strapped to the circuit board instead of just a bad spot.

Called the number on back and it's Agratronix in Ohio, nice lady that answered the phone instead of making me dig up a receipt just went off the date code on the rear of the unit and it was still in the three year warranty, all I had to pay for was UPS to Ohio, the repair and shipping back was free, took about a week and it was back, they even upgraded it to the latest version. I sorely missed the remote function that the backup doesn't have.


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## Vol

Agratronix is a excellent company that makes great products.....many companies used to be that way. Now, it's all about how much you can get out of someone.

Regards, Mike


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## Swv.farmer

You hit the nail on the head vol.


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