Farm Equipment

Four Tips for Maintaining Electric Fences

Article written by Career advantage portal

Livestock fencing is an art as much as it is an essential skill. Last year, the U.S. cattle inventory hovered around 95 million, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a figure that’s larger than the population of California, New York and Texas combined. That’s a lot of cattle to care for. And whether you’re transitioning from traditional wood and wire fences or looking for new ways to improve your fencing techniques, an electric fence requires a few different strategies that you might not be accustomed to.

The 1 to 1 Ratio

An electrified fence needs power. Too much can prove harmful to soil and vegetation while too little can hardly scare a 1000-pound cow. The guideline is always the same, no matter how many strands of wire you use—1 joule for every 1 mile of fence. If you’re attempting to power 10 miles of fence, you’re looking for at least 10 joules.

Laying The Ground Rules

Let’s say you bought a Gallagher fence—six miles of it. From the 1 to 1 ratio, you know you need at least 6 joules. According to Beef Magazine, you also need 3 feet of ground rods for every output of joule. So those 6 miles of fencing will require at least 18 feet of ground rods spaced at least 10 feet apart. Positioning the rods too close can cause the electrons flowing from energizer to the rod to interact negatively with the soil.

Even the type of material proves essential as well. If you use galvanized rods, your system, wires, rods and connections, all must be galvanized too. Mixing copper with galvanized materials will usher in unwelcomed results.

Fence Flexibility

Next, the wildlife surrounding your land should determine your fencing setup. If elk and moose roam your grounds, you want fencing that allows these animals to move about freely. A strong, stout fence with high tensile and T-posts will prove more troubling than useful. Why? Wildlife like elk and moose can trample over insulators and bend fencing posts. Instead, building a lower-profile fence with fewer wires can allow wildlife to move about freely while still keeping livestock safe.

Check Your Grounding System Seasonally

That nice fence you purchased and grounded during summer needs to be checked again in winter. During the driest and wettest seasons, you’ll want to check the grounding system and voltage to ensure no unnecessary changes have occurred. Neglecting either can lead to outages and damages to your fences.

So while caring for your livestock proves essential to your livelihood, so too is ensuring your fencing setup remains adequate.

Finding used grain augers

If you are starting out your agricultural business, you might have considered acquiring second hand farming equipment. Buying second-hand farm implements can be a good investment and can help you find quality materials at a relatively low price. If for instance, you are looking for grain augers or farm tractor parts you might consider buying secondhand.

Predictable lifetime

Most agricultural equipment have a predictable lifetime. This means that you would have easy access to used equipment. As a matter of fact, several lending institutions have preferential policies for farmers buying used machineries. Machine experts can provide estimates on the remaining life of a used machine, facilitating agricultural companies in their decision to choose used farm equipment.

Cost effective

Used machines are naturally cheaper. Some stores provide refurbishing services of secondhand farm equipment. This is good news for customers as they would be able to make stress-free purchases. Farmers would find it better to buy seasonally-used equipment secondhand. Since these would not be used the whole year round, secondhand equipment are wise investments. The same would apply for repairs. As a reflex, several agricultors tends to go for new parts. Used and refurbished parts would be cheaper alternatives. You might also think to combine parts to restore a machine.

Tried and tested

Several tests have demonstrated that older machine parts have almost the same functionalities than their more modern counterparts. This can be attributed to the fact that these equipment have been tried and tested over several years.

Agricultural equipment online

There are several benefits that can be reaped from purchasing your agricultural equipment online. The most important reason is that you might find parts that might not be available in your locality or they might require you to wait for a certain amount of time before the parts get delivered to you. Buying your agricultural equipment online might also be cost-effective, especially if the website offers good deals on shipping prices.

If you are starting out your farming business, buying your farm implement might help you cut a lot of cost out of your initial investment. Depending on the nature of your farm and on your products, you might find affordable used parts that are in great conditions online. Some online agricultural equipment shops also service the parts before they put it online for sale. Customers would thus be reassured that the parts that they are purchasing are ready for service right away.

Moreover, when starting out an agricultural business, you lender might insist that the funds should be used to purchase used equipment. You would thus be able to respect your contract by purchasing used parts online at a low cost. If you already own a fully-operational farm, you might buy parts online to complete a grain auger, for instance, that has not been repaired for a long time. This would allow you to keep backup equipment.

Stocking up on spare parts on your farm equipment

Let’s face it, we live in a finite world that’s bound by the laws of gravity and inertia. What this means is that the products that we use are eventually going to break down and malfunction. Farming equipment, just like any other product, is not exempt from these laws. Being a farmer, it would be prudent as well as reasonable for you to have spare parts for all the equipment that you use in your farm. It could be used combine partsor used tractor parts, or just about any other spare part that you would need. Sure, it may be expensive to have them lying around, but do you honestly have to wait for your equipment to break down before you go out to buy replacement parts? That does not sound like a good idea, and rightly so because it really isn’t a good idea. Imagine the amount of time you stand to lose if your equipment breaks down and you don’t have the parts to replace the busted ones. Your harvest could be delayed by a few hours to a couple of days depending on the availability of the equipment you’re planning on buying. That’s literally hundreds and thousands of dollars lost due to machine breakdown. So let’s see, having spare parts at the ready where you can have repairs done in minutes or hours, or having to buy spare parts when your equipment breaks down which could take days. What do you think is the better choice?