Farmer Writes: less of a buzz off my new electric fence

I had a bit of fencing work carried out recently by my usual contractors - 700m to be exact.

A new fence usually brings a bit of joy to my life for one reason or another.

I swear my life is not nearly as sad as that statement makes it sound!

Who doesn’t like something new? Also, a bit of new fencing usually means less likelihood of the torture of stock breaking out or it could mean being able to make better use of grass by splitting a field into smaller paddocks.

There’s usually some kind of good reason that allows you to offset the monetary cost in your head.

No feeling of joy

Unfortunately, I got no feeling of joy this time, as the whole thing felt like a bit of a waste of money. I was re-fencing off waterways for buffer strips as an ACRES measure. All these waterways have been fenced off for years.

They were originally fenced off during my time in REPS and would have been kept maintained during the GLAS scheme.

But when they were put up, I only had cattle on the farm, so one strand of mains electric fence was sufficient. But now that we graze store lambs during the winter, that is no longer the case.

The one-strand electric was upgraded to three-strand electric when the sheep came on to the farm, but trying to keep scrub and grass off the fence was proving to be impossible.

Also, the 1.5m distance from the top of the bank would have been fine in places and questionable in others, so I just took the decision to re-fence it all with sheep wire and mains electric on the top.

Cost

I was conscious of the cost of the job and had toyed with the idea of doing it bit by bit over a few years, but eventually decided to lower the spec of the fence and do it all in one go.

All the sheep wire fencing on the farm is done with 2ft 8in sheep wire, with two rows of barb on the top and round posts holding it up.

This time I used 2ft light sheep wire, with one row of mains electric on the top and split post holding it up. This reduced the cost considerably and, to be honest, I’m very happy with how it has turned out.

I used very good strainers - if the strainer stays up then the fence stays up, it’s not hard to replace an odd post when needed and I’ll be disappointed if the light wire doesn’t outlast me.

Unfortunately, I’m not getting my usual new fence buzz because apart from the fact that my mains fencer is not being drained of power from scrub and grass anymore, the new fence is not really benefiting me in any way over the old fence.

I know that the knowledge that I’m doing my bit for the environment and helping to protect water quality and support biodiversity on the farm should be reward enough, but, to be honest, I think I would just rather have the money I spent in my bank account!