Electric Fence Netting

[HundyMundy]

are people using electric fence netting for sheep. Good or bad idea? Tried lambs with poly wire last year and to many liked walking through it. Wondering if nets might be a better idea for weaned lambs.

 

[yoki]

are people using electric fence netting for sheep. Good or bad idea? Tried lambs with poly wire last year and to many liked walking through it. Wondering if nets might be a better idea for weaned lambs.

Had a few of them a year of two ago which we used regularly when we were getting in to sheep.

Have moved away from them for various reasons and now it's proper fences on field boundaries with plastic posts and wire for any subdividing required.

They need a lot of power, and are difficult to keep taut so sheep can either jump them or push through below them. Also awkward what to do with the excess when as very few fences are in perfect multiples of 50m.

 

[Welderloon]

Best avoided.
Sheep always seemed to be wrapping themselves in electric nets creating a comical jolting suicide blanket, usually somewhere the townie walkers can see & photograph them.

 

[yoki]

Best avoided.
Sheep always seemed to be wrapping themselves in electric nets creating a comical jolting suicide blanket, usually somewhere the townie walkers can see & photograph them.

Fortunately we never had anything like that happen with them.

But I can every easily see how it could happen.

 

[andybk]

waste of time , nets catch / strangle sheep sooner or later , you want 3 strand poly , and have at least a 2j fencer on maybe even bigger to teach them , only good use for nets is loading sheep to make a funnel

 

[MJT]

Use flexi nets for nearly all our grazing of roots with ewes and fattening lambs. Important bit is not letting battery go flat.

 

[neilo]

Use flexi nets for nearly all our grazing of roots with ewes and fattening lambs. Important bit is not letting battery go flat.

Likewise, we had everything behind nets for many years at home. As above, never let the battery go flat, or use a low powered unit.

Not the original ‘flexinet’ stuff though, we ALWAYS used a product called Livestok netting, which has rigid plastic uprights and is far less likely to get tangled, either when handling it or around sheep.

Livestok Sheep Netting

Livestok Sheep net with more rigid risers is the most stable available. Highly effective against foxes.

www.agrisellex.co.uk

Now have a quad, and gone to two strands of polywire (again) and a RAPPA winder. Works well with a decent fencer and making sure sheep have been trained properly.

 

[David.]

We borrowed a nice cup once, he was penned with some ewes, behind some Flexinet.
Can you guess which of the sheep was found dead one morning, wrapped up like a silkworm in the netting, and still sparking on the dewy grass?
I paid for the tup, chucked the net in the skip, and never went there again.

 

[britt]

are people using electric fence netting for sheep. Good or bad idea? Tried lambs with poly wire last year and to many liked walking through it. Wondering if nets might be a better idea for weaned lambs.

Use braded steel rather than poly wire. It shock s much better. Usually just the bottom strand is enough.
As said above netting is good until the power supply is insufficient or too many shorts.

 

[wr.]

We strip graze around 1200 ewes, half of them Welsh on beet through the winter. Much less problems with the netting than five strands of plain wire.

 

[yoki]

Use braded steel rather than poly wire. It shock s much better. Usually just the bottom strand is enough.
As said above netting is good until the power supply is insufficient or too many shorts.

I've an entire reel of braided steel wire that father-in-law gave me yonks ago, goodness knows what age it is, forty years old or more.

Never considered using it, but maybe I should!

 

[David.]

I've an entire reel of braided steel wire that father-in-law gave me yonks ago, goodness knows what age it is, forty years old or more.

Never considered using it, but maybe I should!

Probably full of straighten out kinks

 

[yoki]

Probably full of straighten out kinks

I'll tie an end and start reeling it out and see how it goes.

Even enough for a bottom row with new lambs as mentioned above could be worth a try as I have noticed that they don't always get a jolt at first touch.

Be no dead spots on steel wire that's for sure!

 

[Chicken richard]

What ever electric fence u use is is good to train animals in a fenced field I've a field with a free range chicken unit so the birds are fenced in the middle with 9 stands running on mains unit never drobs below 7kv to keep fox and his black and white friend out,

I graze around the out side of the birds keeps the grass short around so less for the afore mentioned to hide in.
new sheep or thick lambs soon learn respect for it

 

[Paddington]

We inherited some fencing when we moved in here, presumably the previous owners had found it satisfactory. Soon went over to three strands for ewes as our sheep just walked through it, the netting needed a lot more power, difficult to strim along it as the droppers get cut and if they did walk through it the whole fence went down, unlike a strand fence where usually only one post gets knocked. Getting horned sheep, the netting was left in the shed. We use poultry netting for the hens but not electrified, with a separate three strand electric fence to keep the sheep of it.

 

[mixedfmr]

Best avoided.
Sheep always seemed to be wrapping themselves in electric nets creating a comical jolting suicide blanket, usually somewhere the townie walkers can see & photograph them.

Just use them to go around silage bales, first time for years last year, all ok
This year is TOTALY diffrent, big fencer on one net and they keep getting tangled, Everything as you describe, except their my customers. And so now ive replaced with pig net

Use flexi nets for nearly all our grazing of roots with ewes and fattening lambs. Important bit is not letting battery go flat.

Used to do this years ago on roots and no problem, perimeter was wire though

Likewise, we had everything behind nets for many years at home. As above, never let the battery go flat, or use a low powered unit.

Not the original ‘flexinet’ stuff though, we ALWAYS used a product called Livestok netting, which has rigid plastic uprights and is far less likely to get tangled, either when handling it or around sheep.

Livestok Sheep Netting

Livestok Sheep net with more rigid risers is the most stable available. Highly effective against foxes.

www.agrisellex.co.uk

Now have a quad, and gone to two strands of polywire (again) and a RAPPA winder. Works well with a decent fencer and making sure sheep have been trained properly.

I remember those rigid uprights, ok untill rabbits or sheep bite through them
Flexinet easier to repair after damage on a wet winter day

 

[Hesstondriver]

we use it , but put it behind three strands of braided wire and it acts as a visual deterrent, rather than using it as electric .

also handy when gathering in if you need to funnel them in to a pen