Drought fencing tips

It has been very dry throughout much of the country. Many of our incoming calls entail this question, "my fencing was working but now that it's dry it's not, why?" When the soil lost moisture it also lost conductivity. It is harder for the positive charge to travel from the fence, through the animal, ground and back to the energizer. Here are a few tips to help make sure your fences are up to the task. 

Make sure you have enough ground rod(s). A ground rod completes the electrical circuit between energizer, fence, animal, ground rod and energizer. Adding an additional ground rod can increase a fence's effectiveness. Soaking the area around the ground rod aids in conductivity as well. This can be done with a garden hose or a bucket with a small hole in the bottom. The slow leak from the bucket will seep into the ground over time (that way you won't have to stand around holding a garden hose. 

For those with short lengths of fence, it is helpful to walk along the fence and water it. This is a more time (and water) consuming option but it does help. 

Wide impedance energizers are able to deliver high-pulse energy levels and high voltages through a wider range of fence situations. This includes those with high total fence circuit resistance due to inferior polywire/netting; dry, sandy, rocky soils; dry brown grass; and fewer ground rods. 

Positive/Negative netting is useful for sites where soil resistance is high (brown grass, dry soil, snow). The horizontal strands of the netting alternate pos/neg. An animal needs to touch two strands, a positive and a negative, in order to receive a shock. Care must be taken to ensure that nothing is touching two wires at once (brush, grass, sticks) as this will render the net ineffective. 

In some cases an all hot (positive) fence will need to be converted into a pos/neg fence. it may be necessary to add wires to the system and ground them or change positive wires to negative wires in the system. Please call Premier 1-800-282-6631 if you have questions on this. 

Mad dogs and englishmen

The high heat and humidity is not only making us feel sluggish but our flock as well. The sheep do not enjoy grazing in the heat, thus their intake decreases and gains are not as significant as they are in cooler weather.

To beat the heat, the flocks spend a lot of time in the shade and close to their water sources. We also avoid working the animals to reduce the amount of stress they are exposed to during the heat of the day. If we absolutely have to work the livestock, we do it early in the morning to avoid the hotter parts of the day. Soon the heat will break and things can go back to normal. Until then we will have to be vigilant in providing cool drinking water and shade for our flocks.


As the saying goes, "only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the heat of the midday sun".

Garden fencing

It seems that raccoons raid a garden just before it is ready to provide the first ear of corn or cucumber for the season. Many folks combat these pilfering pests by trapping, baiting and other means of discouragement. 

At Premier we respond to such situations with our answer to just about everything—electrified netting. In this case, RaccoonNet™and VersaNet®.

For specifically deterring raccoons, we like to use RaccoonNet. Its low height is easy to step over when going in and out of the garden. 

VersaNet features tighter spacings, multiple heights (20" and 30") and is available in white or green. Green VersaNet blends in nicely with the background which is more aesthetically pleasing to some. It is not as visible as white VersaNet.  

VersaNet is able to guard against a wider range of critters. The tighter spacings help ward smaller pests such as skunks and rabbits. White VersaNet is much more visible than its green counterpart, both humans and animals see it better. For areas that will experience high traffic (human or animal) white VersaNet is recommended. 

Making Small Squares

Last week we made small square bales from a clover field on our home farm. The bales will be used this winter to feed ewes in our lambing jugs. Their size makes them easy to handle, a bale fits well in our drive-by/walk thru feeder or a flake in one of our single or double sided hay feeders. 

Danny and Adrian were on the rack while Carl drove the tractor. When the rack was full it was hauled to the hay barn. When the rack was unhooked, Carl and Danny returned to the field with an empty rack and back to baling.

Adrian went to get the tractor with the bucket to push the rack into the barn. To be productive while waiting for Adrian, I tried pulling the rack into the barn by hand. It was 1/3 of the way in when Adrian arrived to push. As it turns out, it's easier to use the tractor to push the wagon than it is to pull it by hand! We brought the wagon into the barn front end first because it allows us to unload directly into the hay mound (instead of working around the gallous on the back).

While unloading, Adrian placed bales on either side of the tongue and onto the tongue. This formed a ramp/bridge. Adrian would drop bales onto the ramp and they rolled to where I was stacking. When the rack was emptied we would haul it back to the field and trade for the rack Danny and Carl just filled.

When we finished, the barn had an additional 4 racks of hay stuffed inside and we were ready for an iced tea!

Processing Lambs 2012

The other day Carl poked his head into Graphics and asked for some help processing lambs. Since it was a beautiful June morning, I did not hesitate in offering my assistance. After a quick change into "chore clothes" plus a short drive to the North farm, I was ready to process lambs.

Processing involves running the ewes and their lambs through the handling system and pulling out the lambs. At Premier we dock tails and castrate the males. To dock and castrate we use a Ring Expander (also known as an elastrator) and O Rings. If a tail is particularly thick we may use two rings. After the rings are applied, we pour a Pine Tar and Triodine-7 mixture on the rings to prevent infection and to ward off flies. 

Ear tags were also applied and documented during processing. Ear tags allow us to immediately know sire data, age of the lamb and whether it was a single, twin or triplet. An ear tag can tell us all this by color, which ear it is placed in as well as the data included on the tag. We plan to track the weight and performance of our lambs to determine which sire produced the best lambs. After the tag is applied, we spray Catron IV onto both sides of the tag to keep the flies from bothering the wound. 

For instructional videos on tagging, docking and castrating, visit the video section of our website http://www.premier1supplies.com/videos/index.php. 

There were four of us involved in processing lambs. It seemed to be the right amount. Each person had a specific job:

Carl: Castrate lambs, apply pine tar and spray with sprayline if needed. 

Mike: Dock tails and apply pine tar. If a twin born ewe, notch the ear. 

Joe: Tag and document the ear tag. Spray Catron IV on the ear. 

Adrian: Catch and hand off the lamb. 

We were able to do about a lamb per minute (112 lambs in 2 hours). This also included bringing the sheep in from the field, setting up the handling system and running the flock back through the handling system. 

Clipping and Shearing

We receive a few calls/emails throughout the year on what clippers or shears folks need for their livestock. The answers depend on what the individual is shearing/clipping and for what purpose (ex. range shearing or show shearing/clipping).

(photo above) A Premier 4000c Clipping Machine.

(photo below) a Premier 4000s Shearing Machine. 

Sheep:
Farm/range flocks for meat or fiber have their wool removed via shearing. We recommend a Phantom R comb for folks just starting out with shearing. For intermediate shearers, the Spirit or Blackhawk 92 are advised. Professional shearers tend to use a flared comb based on the bevel needed or a 9 tooth comb (Apache) with the Storm cutter.

Show stock—meat lambs are slick shorn to accentuate their muscling. Slick shearing (slick clipping) is done with a set of clippers with Fine, Surgical or Super Surgical blades.

Fiber animals and some breeding animals are blocked with a shearing machine. Since blocking occurs off the skin, a Phantom S comb is recommended.

Goats:
Meat goats in the show ring should have their hair removed with a clipping machine rather than shears. Typical blades are the Fine, Medium or XtraCover.

Goats raised for the fiber- use a shearing machine with the Phantom R or Mohair combs.

Cattle:
For blocking cattle use a Phantom S comb with a shearing machine.
Peeling is usually done with a Medium or Coarse set of blades on a clipper. If using a shearing machine, the Phantom R should be used.
Shaving is usually done with a clipping machine with Fine or Medium blades.

Horses:
Horses can be clipped with either Fine or Medium blades.

Swine:
A clipping machine with XtraCover blades should be used.

Guard Dogs:
We typically clip our dogs with Coarse blades and a clipping machine.

Llamas and alpacas:
When clipping llamas and alpacas use Coarse blades.
When shearing the following combs can be used: Spirit, Camelid, Mohair, Phantom R and Blackhawk 92. If more fiber is to be left on the animal, a Comb Lifter can be used to keep the comb off the skin.

Terminology—
*Blocking: Removal of wool or hair off the skin. The comb or cutter of the shearing machine does not touch the animal.
*Peeling: Removal of dirty body hair with clippers or shears.
*Shaving: Removal of hair from the head, brisket and tail.
*Clippers/Clipping machine use clipping blades (Super Surgical, Surgical, Fine, Medium, Coarse and XtraCover).
*Shearers/Shearing machines use combs and cutters. The combs are Spirit, Camelid, Apache, Mohair, Blackhawk 92, Blackhawk 94, Phantom R and Phantom S. The cutters are the Spitfire, Storm and Ceramic cutter.
All combs except for the Apache should be used with the Spitfire cutter. For efficient shearing, we recommend using the Apache with the Storm Cutter, but only if you are an experienced shearer.

Netting tips

During this time of year we receive a number of questions on how to (and how not to) use electrified netting. Here are a few of the tips we provide:

How to connect two separate rolls…

The end posts of the two separate rolls should be inserted into the ground next to one another. With one of the provided strings (used to tie the roll together), tie the end posts together near the top.

Clip the metal clips together or use a PowerLink to connect the clips (this makes a handy gate option).

What to do with the metal clip…

If you have a length of net that has an unused clip (one that is not carrying power to another fence), it can be connected to one of its strands. This keeps the clip from potentially contacting a grounded wire or fence.

Do not attach clip to an un-energized fence for support. This will cause a dead short.

What to do with extra netting…

If you find you have a few extra feet of netting and need to terminate your fence, guide the extra length around a PowerPost or FiberRod (1/2" to 11/16") to make a U-Turn .

Common mistakes:

More often than not, when someone returns a roll of net, it has been rolled up incorrectly. Some folks roll the entire net (like a carpet) instead of folding (via the posts) then rolling the net. Folding then rolling is faster and easier than rolling. An improperly rolled net causes numerous (avoidable!) headaches.

Not energizing the net. Electrified netting must be properly electrified in order for it to be fully effective (and safe). Un-eletrified netting encourages bad habits in livestock and can be lethal.

Sometimes the bottom electrified strand (2nd horizontal wire from the bottom) can get caught around the ground spike of the net post. This causes an instant dead short in the fence. Make sure when installing netting, that the spikes haven't caught any errant strands.

Make sure the fence is well tensioned (by hand). If not, sagging can occur which may lead to the lower strands causing the fence to short out.