Electric net for training young lambs?

CFMF

Member
Location
Wiltshire
We buy ewe lambs(North country mules) which we put into a triangular well fenced field. When they have settled down an electric polywire 4 strand fence is erected across the top end.They stay in there until the grass is all eaten.With a good fencer it does not take long for them to respect it .We graze sheep on Salisbury Plain so make sure they are electric fence trained!! So much so that the electric fence has to be opened as no sheep will go over a pegged down fence .
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
We buy ewe lambs(North country mules) which we put into a triangular well fenced field. When they have settled down an electric polywire 4 strand fence is erected across the top end.They stay in there until the grass is all eaten.With a good fencer it does not take long for them to respect it .We graze sheep on Salisbury Plain so make sure they are electric fence trained!! So much so that the electric fence has to be opened as no sheep will go over a pegged down fence .

That's the way to do it!

Last year I did quite successfully break improved Welsh straight off the hill by putting them behind 3 strand Rappa (1 metal 2 poly). They went into it from the lorry. As long as the battery was charged and they had grass in front of them there were no problems, till some twit let his dog in them...
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
We buy ewe lambs(North country mules) which we put into a triangular well fenced field. When they have settled down an electric polywire 4 strand fence is erected across the top end.They stay in there until the grass is all eaten.With a good fencer it does not take long for them to respect it .We graze sheep on Salisbury Plain so make sure they are electric fence trained!! So much so that the electric fence has to be opened as no sheep will go over a pegged down fence .

I've never understood the idea of pegging a fence down to run sheep over it. Surely that's about the best way to train them to go over a live fence? Madness.:scratchhead:

Agree on your training method. I just put a fence inside a good boundary so they can find it and learn that it bites, without fear of them getting out.

@Sw beef farmer , I wouldn't train them to netting and expect them to immediately respect 2-3 strand polywire. It looks very different.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
I've never understood the idea of pegging a fence down to run sheep over it. Surely that's about the best way to train them to go over a live fence? Madness.:scratchhead:

Agreed, I can't stand it! I have considered if pegging down the fence and covering it with a mat (possibly AstroTurf?) as a way of walking sheep over fences without them learning to cross the wire...
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Would you put ewes with baby lambs straight into paddock with poly wire rather than behind net for a day or two first

The reason we started using electric nets, is when we used to put ewes with newborn lambs out in polywire paddocks (on a pokey means fencer). It was a good way of training young lambs to run under polywire, which they remembered for life.:(
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Would you put ewes with baby lambs straight into paddock with poly wire rather than behind net for a day or two first

We had 2 flocks this year which had come straight off a mountain somewhere lambing with us on 4 strand, after 4-5 had lambed we'd put them through the gate to the next field which only had 4 strand between it and the previous field they were in. Didn't have any problems at all! We did have a ESB325 on it mind :/
 

twizzel

Member
My ewes and baby lambs went straight out into a field with 4 strand polywire to keep them off a really poached headland that the heifers had ruined over winter. Never had an issue with lambs going under the wire in fact the whole time they were here not once did one escape :D
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
My ewes and baby lambs went straight out into a field with 4 strand polywire to keep them off a really poached headland that the heifers had ruined over winter. Never had an issue with lambs going under the wire in fact the whole time they were here not once did one escape :D

Now that you've said that you're officially f cked for next season...
 

AvonValleyFarmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Leicestershire
Electric net and young lambs;there's going to be a hanging...or three.
This.

Nets are horrible things, though some are slightly better than others. I've never failed to stop young lambs with 3 or 4 lines of wire. Just make sure you have a powerful unit and NEVER let the battery drain. The buggers will know if it has.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Electric net and young lambs;there's going to be a hanging...or three.

Prior to 2008, when I moved to outdoor lambing in bigger paddocks, I turned newborn lambs out into electric net paddocks for about 20 years. I don't think we ever had a newborn lamb get hung in it. That was with Livestok (rigid uprights) netting though, never that awful Flexinet stuff.

Older sheep that had never seen it before, especially if some tw*t disconnected the fencer then remembered to turn it on later, that's a different story....
 

Old Tip

Member
Location
Cumbria
Can you explain a bit more re the Livestock v Flexinet
We are going to split some of the fields next year and was going to but some netting as never used electric and will have young lambs in the fields
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Can you explain a bit more re the Livestock v Flexinet
We are going to split some of the fields next year and was going to but some netting as never used electric and will have young lambs in the fields

Livestok netting has rigid plastic uprights, so it stands up better and is far less prone to tangling, either round the sheep's head or when taking it up/erecting it. IIRC it was designed by the guy that invented Flexinet, after he sold the rights to that product, then he sold Livestok to the same company (that's the way to make money :D), but now made by a German company.
https://www.agrisellex.co.uk/livestok-electric-sheep-netting.html

Flexinet has flexible uprights, so it is more of a flexible net. If a sheep (or other animal) gets into it, it tangles around them, just as a net used to catch something would. It is the work of the devil compared to Livestok IME, and has given plenty of farmers a bad experience with netting and put them off for life.
https://www.agrisellex.co.uk/flexinett-electric-sheep-netting.html

Whichever you use, you need a strong fencer on it though, as you would with stranded polywire. Young lambs need to learn that it 'bites' when they first go up and sniff at it.

I lamb outside in parkland these days, so don't use electric fence paddocks for young sheep and use a RAPPA system for older sheep now. I still use nets on occasion, and they can make a handy temporary funnel to gather sheep to a pen. I have plenty of spare rolls of Livestok still, from when I used to use it exclusively. I sold a bunch of it off last winter, and was going to advertise it again this year, to move some more. PM me if you're interested in some at £25/roll.:)
 

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