How much power is needed to protect and deter animals?
Hello There Lovely Readers How much power is needed to protect and deter animals?
We get asked this question a few times by people checking they have enough power on their fence, how much power do I need on my fence to keep x animal in or x animal out?
Below we go through what you need. Whether you are either protecting your animals/garden from predictors or keeping your animals in for their safety.
What we will go through in this blog is the recommended Voltage per animal, recommended heights and earth and live lines also a quick guide line to field sizes.
I hope you find this helpful.
The recommended* Voltage to keep animals in/out is as follows:
| Keeping Animals In | |||
| Bulls | 4,000 Volts | ||
| Dairy cattle | 3,000 Volts | ||
| Beef cattle | 3,000 Volts | ||
| Horses | 3,000 Volts | ||
| Deer | 3,000 to 5,000 Volts | ||
| Sheep | 4,000 to 5,000 Volts | ||
| Goats | 3,000 to 5,000 Volts | ||
| Pigs | 3,000 Volts | ||
| Pets | 3,000 Volts | ||
| Keeping Animals Out | |||
| Foxes | 4,000 to 5,000 Volts | ||
| Deer | 3,000 to 4,000 Volts | ||
| Nuisance pests | 3,000 Volts | ||
| Wild Hog | 5,000 Volts | ||
As you can see they are all over 3,000 Volts, we recommend the use of a fence tester to check the voltage on you fence the KV10 is a great piece of kit.
If you are showing 2,000 volts or below we recommend you have a look at the below link for some advice. We say that you should see approx 6,000 to 8,000 Volts from your energiser when fitted correctly. Regular maintenance of your fence will allow the smooth running on a day to day basis.
https://www.electricfencing.co.uk/electric-netting-tips-advice-and-problem-solving/
So now you have an idea on what Voltage you need to keep the animals in/out you will be looking at the fencing heights for each animal.
Fencing heights
The grey lines in the fox picture at 70cm and 120cm and in the rabbit picture at 5cm, 25cm and 40cm these are earth lines.
Fences for keeping foxes and rabbits out – both earth and live wires are required
If a fox or rabbit is scrabbling up the electrified fence (so is not touching the ground) and he only touches a live wire he will not get a zap.
To make sure the fox or rabbit gets a shock even if he’s not touching the ground you need to position the earth wire and the live wire running close to each other – about an inch apart (but not touching) .
The earth wire is simply a length of your poly wire and it can be pushed down into the soil at one end of your fence and buried a few inches.
Check out our posts and insulators
How far apart your posts should be really depends on 2 things your ground: is it undulating or flat? and also how good your escape artists are... they should be no further that 8 meters apart
Quick area size guide
* these are guild lines used by Electric Fencing Direct for our products
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- Call: 01620 860058
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