recommend mains electric fence

Dunedin

My old fencer has packed in .

any recommendations as to best model.

covers about 70 acres in one full block, no idea of overall distance.

what's the cost of them these days

agriman27

I bought an elephant m85 a couple of years ago for a bit more acreage than you, it's the biggest elephant model you can get. I find it very good there's a good whack out of it, and it keeps up the power even with a lot of vegetation on it in summer. It cost around €400 but I'd recommend getting a big one for the odds of the few euro.

C4d78

Thinking of buying a new Cheeta here. The Gallagher seem very expensive

sandydan

would go for cheta biggest model i think its around €800 ,but its a real stopper and has no bells and whistles (as the saying goes) to give trouble, had a loan of one last year to control neighbours horses and sucklers./ theres not much difference between price of relevant models of Gallagher and Cheta, at end of day you will give within 200 euro for next model down and the difference is enormous,you have choice of output as well. the most important feature of fencing is number of earth bars and spacing between them and paddocks and a return earth if possible from paddocks

larthehar

I bought a pel 820r a few years ago.. a serious crack off of it.. I actually brought it to another mans field to get in a mad bullock from a 40ac open prairie, two fences in parrell each side, no bother in getting in once he decided to try run the 1st one!
I.m working fulltime so keeping the bushes under control can be an issue.. This fencer wil burn through and light stuff!

Regardless of your choice of fencer bear in mind a fencer is only as good as its earth.. used galvanised bars 1 metre bars drove almost flush to ground level and use the correct wire to inter connect. Unfinished steel bars with Cooper wire and the fence will be useless after 6 months

sandydan

one thing to keep in mind is you need an electrician to verify fencer is installed correctly now if its a certain output and i think bars of of 1.5 m are available now giving better earth, still cant whack a return earth wire from field though

frazzledhome

sandydan wrote: »

one thing to keep in mind is you need an electrician to verify fencer is installed correctly now if its a certain output and i think bars of of 1.5 m are available now giving better earth, still cant whack a return earth wire from field though

What's a return earth bar? I've 7 galv earth rods but not heard of return

5live

larthehar wrote: »

I bought a pel 820r a few years ago.. a serious crack off of it.. I actually brought it to another mans field to get in a mad bullock from a 40ac open prairie, two fences in parrell each side, no bother in getting in once he decided to try run the 1st one!
I.m working fulltime so keeping the bushes under control can be an issue.. This fencer wil burn through and light stuff!

Regardless of your choice of fencer bear in mind a fencer is only as good as its earth.. used galvanised bars 1 metre bars drove almost flush to ground level and use the correct wire to inter connect. Unfinished steel bars with Cooper wire and the fence will be useless after 6 months

A great fencer but serious money, iirc i paid over 900euro for it and the auto turnoff somw 10 years ago.

I agree with you on the earth bars, no point in spending a lot on a good fencer and ignoring the earth. And don't forget to keep the bars moist in this weather. A few buckets of water in the evening a few times a week will make a big difference to the current you put out.

sandydan

frazzledhome wrote: »

What's a return earth bar? I've 7 galv earth rods but not heard of return

sorry meant return earth wire . its a wire running along fence usually in between two shock wires and earthed intermittently in field with a wire returning to earth of fence , im fairly sure if you get Gallagher or Cheta fence booklet its shown in fairly good detail,ive seen a farmer use a wire along stream going through farmyard to run one increases speed of shock and probably strength too. i have to use one as some of ground is gravelly underneath and shock deteorates usually around August, September if dry Summer

Justjens

Have had reason to replace two Cheetah E2 fencers in the past year, both with a Super (M550) which gives a great shock compared to the smaller E2, even with a fair covering of weeds

Cost less than 300 notes and well able to cover your area of ground.

http://www.cheetah.ie/index.php/products/mains-controllers/

sandydan

Justjens wrote: »

Have had reason to replace two Cheetah E2 fencers in the past year, both with a Super (M550) which gives a great shock compared to the smaller E2, even with a fair covering of weeds

Cost less than 300 notes and well able to cover your area of ground.

http://www.cheetah.ie/index.php/products/mains-controllers/

my land is like a string of sausages strung out with 4 streams and 3 roads in between with gravelly subsoil in some higher ground, which requires return earth. i had a super cheta and for 30 years have Gallagher Super 60 great for dairy stock,switched to drystock and you would know if anything weakened shock within 1 hr,I borrowed 3 new fencers last year to control wild cattle grazing neighbours land.and best of were Cheta G303 and Gallagher(2500 i think), both were priced around €700 at time ,id prefer Cheta ,its simpler has 3 output levels,Irish made and easier to get fixed. the price difference between best and next is only around 300-400 Euro and divided by number of years service is around €10-€15/year.anyway good luck with whatever you decide to buy:)