3 Reasons to Choose Electric Fencing for Your Farm (Especially If You Have Livestock Guardian Dogs)

10 February 2020
 Categories: , Blog

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Fencing your farm is one of the most practical ways to keep your livestock safe and contained within your farmland. However, fencing alone won't deter predators. This is where livestock guardian dogs come in handy. These dogs are generally aggressive towards predators and will protect your livestock even during the night when most predators are lurking. If you have livestock guardian dogs, it's imperative to keep them from harm's way too. However, the challenge here usually exists in finding the fencing that will keep both your livestock and dogs safe. That's because the dogs can make it across fencing that would generally stop sheep, goats, and other livestock. Electric fencing can solve this problem, and here's why.

Electric Fencing Offers Higher Level of Safety

Generally, electric fencing comes with higher safety levels compared to conventional options. For instance, barbed wires pose scraping, gouging and cutting risks to both your livestock and livestock guardian dogs. Such injuries could leave you with not only production losses but also high vet bills. Electric fencing, on the other hand, is designed to give animals a light shock when they get closer to it, which is effective in deterring predators outside your fencing perimeter too.

Electric Fencing Is More Effective

Animals can be determined to cross most types of fencing, such as wooden fencing, especially if the animals are strong enough. Electric fencing is designed to act as a psychological barrier. Over time, your livestock will learn to keep within their fencing perimeter to avoid the electric shocks.

Electric Fencing Comes With More Flexibility

Flexibility is imperative when choosing rural fencing. You need to invest in fencing that accommodates your changing farming needs. Electric fencing performs well in this regard in many ways. First, the fencing can be installed on all types of terrain. Therefore, if your land is hilly, rocky or uneven, the fencing can still be installed on it without hassle. It is also easy to move electric fencing even after it's been installed. This will come in handy if you practise rotational feeding for your livestock, as it would allow you to move the electric barriers to different pasture areas on your farm whenever necessary.

One thing worth noting is that your livestock guardian dogs will, in most cases, attempt to chase the predators beyond the fencing. Therefore, to prevent them from getting regular electric shocks, consider training them to stay within the fencing perimeter when chasing away predators.

Contact a fence company to learn more about your options for rural fencing.