2016 Premier Fence

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BEFORE YOU BUY OR BUILD 09
Q. Will heavy snow or ice occur?
A. Ice can bring down the strongest power
lines so all fences are vulnerable to it.
Some cope better than others.
The question is—are your animals
likely to challenge the fence before the
ice melts?
Q. Are dry periods common?
A. Electric fences typically rely on soil
moisture as a conductor. When the soil
is dry or covered in dry snow, normal
electric fences and low-impedance
energizers may not work effectively to
keep animals in/out.
Solutions for this are:
1. Use a wide-impedance energizer.
They’re less affected by dry soil.
2. Integrate ground-return wires
(connected to energizer’s negative
terminal) into the fence. Animals
must touch 2 strands (a negative
and a positive) but it works well.
Q. What’s the cost if the fence fails?
A. The higher the potential cost (in time
and money) of a failure, the more
reliable the fence design should be.
Examples:
• Along public highways. In some
states the landowner is liable for
damages to vehicles and humans.
• Around stored feed. If animals
gorge on grain,
death may occur.
• High-value
protection,
e.g. gardens,
evergreens; or
livestock from
predators.
• Fences with
animals on
both sides.
Mix-ups are
time-consuming
and costly.
Neighborhood relations can be
strained. Unpleasant lawsuits (aren’t
they all?) may occur.
Q. How visible should a fence be?
A. It depends upon the species. Horses,
deer and antelope move at high speed
and have restricted color perception
(compared to humans). They often fail
to see small or dark fence wires like HT
wire, MaxiShock and some polywires
and charge through them.
That’s why it’s wise to include one or
more strands of bicolored rope or tape
(both highly visible) in fences.
We cannot stress visibility enough. Even in daylight a
black/white net color is significantly more visible than
orange or red against most backgrounds.
Orange net
Premier’s
white net
Some advice for
folks new to farming
and fencing—
Animals…
• Will at some time get sick or hurt.
• You cannot save every animal that
gets sick or injured.
• If you own animals you will need
a veterinarian at some point. So
establish that relationship before an
emergency occurs.
• You must train animals to know and
respect electrified fences.
• Animals can get caught in nearly
any type of fence and may become
injured when they do.
• If you do not keep a fence energized
at all times your animals will lose
fear of it. Then they will go over or
through it. Retraining is difficult.
Heavy ice/snow can weigh down electroplastic
conductors. When this occurs, turn off the energizer
and break ice off the conductor. Sagging stretches
and wears the plastic and metal filaments.
A. White/black provides contrast against all
backgrounds 24/7 and is therefore more
visible to humans and animals.
Orange/red is visible to humans in
daylight but not at night. To most animals
these colors appear gray in daylight and
are nearly invisible at night.
Yellow, like white, is visible to both
animals and humans—but less attractive.
Hi-Tensile Wire Fence vs Rope Fence
HT wire fences (above left) like these are not
easily seen and therefore not advised for horses. By
comparison the rope fence (above right) is visible and
critical for animals that move at high speed (e.g. horses,
deer) and/or have poor depth perception.
Q. Why are lane and corral fences
considered special situations?
A. Animals are often forced into contact
with these fences. Therefore, they need
better visibility, more strength and, if
possible, no energized wires.
Q. How visible is Premier’s white/black
net (and now also yellow) compared to
orange or red nets?