vt_mountainman
Chillin' with the herd
I have been an enthusiastic ElectroNet user, ever since purchasing my sheep last fall. Specifically, my sheep are 1 year old Shetlands, and I am using ElectroStop 10/42/12 with a 6 joule charger.
The animals are trained to the netting, and I have never had any problems associated with using it at all. It's easy to move, and very effective at keeping sheep in and predators out. I take them out of the ElectroNet fencing at night, and I never leave them in there when I am not home either. The fence is always powered, and I use fiberglass posts in between the ElectroNet posts to keep the mesh from sagging.
Yesterday evening I went down to to put the sheep in the barn for the night. I was horrified at what I saw as I approached the pasture. One whole 82' roll of ElectroStop was pulled down, and one of my ewes was tangled in the netting. At first I thought she was dead, because she wasn't moving at all. As I got closer, I could see that she was still alive, but was twisted so tightly in the wire, that she couldn't move a bit.
We shut off the power, and two of us spent a long time untangling the twisted mess so that we could free her. In some places it was twisted around her so tightly, that I couldn't get my fingers between the wire and her body. We finally got her out of it, and she stood up, then ran to the safety of the barn with the other sheep. Her ear tag had ripped her ear completely in two, but there were no other visible injuries we could find.
This morning she seems to be eating a little bit, and appears to be acting somewhat normal. We will never know why she got tangled in the ElectroNet, but we are fortunate that she is alive. I am posting this as a warning to others about using net fencing of any type. Even if you install it correctly, and are careful about how you use it, your animals CAN still get tangled up in it and be injured or killed. I know that a lot of people use it, and it does work well, but I will be rethinking my pasture system, and phasing out the ElectroNet fencing as soon as I am reasonably able to do so.
The animals are trained to the netting, and I have never had any problems associated with using it at all. It's easy to move, and very effective at keeping sheep in and predators out. I take them out of the ElectroNet fencing at night, and I never leave them in there when I am not home either. The fence is always powered, and I use fiberglass posts in between the ElectroNet posts to keep the mesh from sagging.
Yesterday evening I went down to to put the sheep in the barn for the night. I was horrified at what I saw as I approached the pasture. One whole 82' roll of ElectroStop was pulled down, and one of my ewes was tangled in the netting. At first I thought she was dead, because she wasn't moving at all. As I got closer, I could see that she was still alive, but was twisted so tightly in the wire, that she couldn't move a bit.
We shut off the power, and two of us spent a long time untangling the twisted mess so that we could free her. In some places it was twisted around her so tightly, that I couldn't get my fingers between the wire and her body. We finally got her out of it, and she stood up, then ran to the safety of the barn with the other sheep. Her ear tag had ripped her ear completely in two, but there were no other visible injuries we could find.
This morning she seems to be eating a little bit, and appears to be acting somewhat normal. We will never know why she got tangled in the ElectroNet, but we are fortunate that she is alive. I am posting this as a warning to others about using net fencing of any type. Even if you install it correctly, and are careful about how you use it, your animals CAN still get tangled up in it and be injured or killed. I know that a lot of people use it, and it does work well, but I will be rethinking my pasture system, and phasing out the ElectroNet fencing as soon as I am reasonably able to do so.