Have you ever been doing a little DIY electrical work and got a little zap? If so, I understand.
If you’ve been following along with my stories over the last year you may recall we have a couple calves that are about a year old now. One of my rancher friends warned me that if you’ve got a “jumper” you’ve got to get rid of him. You might describe one of our calves, Wenceslas (Wencey for short), as a “jumper”. Or you might describe him as a “through-er”. He’s never seen a fence that he didn’t like to either jump over or plow through. Fence around his pasture? Jumps. Fence around the garden? Through. Electric fence? Time will tell.
After chasing the calves down the road on their last escape my friendly neighbour suggested we try some electric fence. A few days later Wencey plowed through his regular fence again, snapping a 4-inch fence post like a toothpick on his way out.
Electric fence time. Honestly, I was a bit intimidated by this project. It sounded pretty fancy and hi-tech and I’m no electrician. So I went to my favourite teacher, Professor YouTube, and enrolled at the school of electric fence. After watching a few real farmers install some fencing I realized it wasn’t as complex as I first thought.
When I asked the kids, “Who wants to go to town?” many hands went up. I selected a few volunteers and we were off. Six-year-old Arrow came in the store with me and the nice lady there knew all about electric fence. She said it’s so easy and they use it to keep their small herd of cows contained. Good news for me! This not-farmer was feeling quite confident about his project now.
Back home, we brought our rolls of wire, fence posts, and a pile of tools to the back of the property. In a couple hours we had it up and ready to test. The kids were pretty energized about trying it out. I’ve never heard the phrase, “I dare you to touch it,” so many times in one afternoon. They realized that if they jumped in the air and touched the fence they wouldn’t get a zap. There were kids all over the place jumping and grabbing that fence. At some point they realized that if you hold your brother and touch the fence he gets zapped instead of you. Much grabbing and running ensued. Holding a fresh piece of grass on the fence also results in a less-intense zap so there was some grass-zapping too. Much laughter and zapping all around. I’m happy to say that Dad made it through the whole afternoon without a single zap. I’m not touching that thing!
It’s been a week of cows in the electric fence and it didn’t take long for them to figure out how it works. They’re happily grazing and don’t go within a foot of the fence. Wencey hasn’t been a jumper or a “through-er” so I hope we’ve solved our calf-containment crisis. Time will tell. And time flies, dad! Make every moment count! Even the zappy ones!
Jason Weening carefully installs electric fence with his 10 kids and 1 electrifying wife. Read more in his new book, “Yes, Dear…I’m Watching Them”, on Amazon.