Electric Fence Guide

An electric fence system has 4 components:

An energiser which generates regular pulses of electrical current.
One or several wires to transport the current.
Plastic insulators to prevent the current from being branched off into the ground.
The earthing of the energiser should be as deep as possible in the soil, where it is most moist.

 
When an animal touches the wire, the circuit is closed allowing the current to flow through the animal and soil back to the energiser. Therefore the animal experiences a harmless electric shock and backs away. Most animals will receive a shock within a week of the fence being erected, from then on they will avoid it, they will see the fence as a physical and a psychological boundary. A properly installed electric fence system is the safest, most visible method to keep your animals contained.

Electric fencing costs less, is easier to install, portable, unobstructive, requires less maintenance and can control animals more effectively than barbed wire or many other types of fencing. In addition, animals are often injured by barbed wire and will damage woven-wire fences by leaning on the fence. 

Because of the uniked sensation felt by the animals, they will avoid contact with an electric fence. Therefore it will last longer than other types of fencing.

 

Not only does electric fencing keep domestic animals or livestock contained, it has various other uses, including:

Recommended minimum voltage on fence lines:

 
Pets: 2,000 - 3,000 Volts

Horses: 3,000 Volts

Cattle: 3,000 Volts
Pigs: 3,000 Volts
Nuisance pests: 3,000 Volts
Deer: 3,000 - 4,000 Volts
Sheep / Goats: 3,000 - 5,000 Volts
Bulls: 4,000 Volts
Foxes: 4,000 - 5,000 Volts