First … ditch the help! I had Blue and his Mouth who thought it was a great lark to play with the wires.
“You should have waited for the men” says The Big Dog.
“Sod that” says Author, back on form, minus a uterus and following me everywhere.
Hmm, say Miss C, it seems we have a wee bit of a tangle.
Oh dear” says Sheila, (I think! It is hard to tell who that is with all the mud) “A snarl is what that is.”
After some gentle untangling and frequent repostitioning of the puppy I did get the first roll unraveled and laid out. I checked the instructions again and it said “Do NOT get the fence tangled.” and later,” It is a fence best put up by two people.” Well there is only one people and a pig I thought, so I unwrapped the second roll with much more care, profiting from my experience and it came apart beautifully and went up without an problems. Not exactly quickly but practice makes perfect.
Once it was all stood up and attached to the solar charger then out came the somewhat bemused group of large animals. Now they have a proper, cattle fence to enable me to graze them a little more intensively down the fields.
When shifting the fence, the idea is to walk down the fence line and gather up each of the poles into one hand, letting the fence drape like a concertina to that side, I then walk to the new line and reposition them in the reverse order. This is where the ‘quick’ of the quick fence comes in. I am going to have to grow some muscles if I am to do that every day. I also need the grass to grow, it is very slow. We need a few showers.
Rather delightfully it said in the instruction booklet that the Quick Fence is easy to set up for people who read the instructions. It is only hard for the people who think they don’t need to read instructions, it reads. My Dad always said, when all else fails – read the directions. That always made me laugh. My Dad would have read the instructions thoroughly before beginning.
Kupa is out now. It looks like the girls are too young to lay eggs so he is allowed out to play. The peahens can stay in the penthouse a little longer. But I did miss Kupa.
Good morning. I hope all is well with you. My fence is still standing and Daisy is waiting at the gate for the milking. So I had better get busy. The weather is still just right to work in. The growers are driving their tractors at speed up and down the country roads, tilling and planting their corn and beans. Dust mixed with sprays is in the air. They are late this year. I can hear them out there already, a steady drone of large engines. Our fields have been sprayed with round-up already (sigh) and I am sure that the corn will go in soon.
You all have a lovely day.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
73 responses to “how not to put up an electric fence”
Ah yes… when in doubt read the destructions… The moment between Daisy & Queenie with Hairy looking on is priceless. I love how the cast was there to lend Miss C their own particular brand of support, the job got done and everone felt good about their contribution 🙂 I’m glad Author is ok, her sweet face looks at me each day from my computer screens in the office.
In our old Wirehair Pointing Griffon’s younger days he used to walk with me. Being a whistle-trained hunting dog I let him off leash. One day we passed a previously empty field to find they’d strung up a single hot wire to fence in some steers. Poor old Tsar went into the ditch in the water to cool off and his ear touched that hot wire. After that every time we passed those steers he had to stop and give them the hairy eyeball along with a fierce growl. I assume he figured the steers somehow zapped him! As far as getting things done, for many years before I married I lived on acreage by myself with various critters. It totally takes feminine ingenuity to get two+ people jobs that require more brute strength and four+ hands done by one single female. My money’s on that single female!
Trust Eha to read the heading, and after recent sad happenings say aloud ‘Oh no, now Blue has electrocuted himself’ 🙂 ! But that pile IS funny [sorry]!! Author, poor baby with a hysterectomy! Can’t believe it! But don’t talk to me about Roundup: don’t know whether it is still available here [thankfully ‘organic’ is increasingly the word!] but I thought it was the most horrible poison in the world and have not had to nor used it for a decade or more!! Sleep well . . .
Thank goodness people are starting to go back to the organic ways, all the food was organic pre 1940’s or something like that, this is all so recent no wonder there is so much illness – both physical and mental. Our poor wee bodies need clean food to thrive.. c
But guess who has the millions for the coverups of the harm generated now and passed onto untold generations . . . ni ni!!
When I was 14 in 1969 and we had moved to a country suburb there was a place up the road from us that had an electric fence for two horses.I decided on a ride with friends and brothers to test it out.Rode my Schwinn Stingray right into it in a pasture and was knocked on my ass.The Two Horses looked at me like I was an idiot!
Good for you on putting up the fence Celi and how lovely (NOT) to have such an enthusiastic pup to help you.
🙂 Mandy ox
My dad always taught me to read instructions too. Well done with the fence. You are as good as two persons, and you certainly had an audience.
I like my movable solar electric fence. WARNING: If you ever get the poultry fence to keep your chickens out of the vegetable garden, then do not try to install it wearing muck/gum boots!
TRUE STORY: I was out moving the fencing with Bob’s help, when suddenly my foot got tangled in the netting and I went down. Hard. Bob uttered some version of unkind chastisement. 😦 Five minutes later HE went down. 😉 We have decided that no matter how careful you are that poultry netting will jump out and grab your gumboots, and never letting go it will throw you down every time!
It sounds like you were the farmy entertainment that day, having everyone’s attention.
In my experience I always found working with multiple people to put up a fence works the best. I won’t ever build a fence by myself again. Thought the farm animals in the pictures were a good addition. Thanks for the read!
you can get a great fence at http://www.redstonesupply.com/rf=b. they have lots of stuff the have polyester wire so you wont hurt your animals and electric fences that also wont hurt the animals