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To understand grass fed beef a little more, in this video I discuss the basics to intensive grazing. I break down my daily routine with the herd moving them from paddocks to paddocks, keeping the herd in fresh grass. I explain all the benefits for the land and cattle.
The energizer is the heart of any electric-fence system, so select it carefully. A good unit will provide years of service if it is properly installed and maintained. Price should not be the determining factor. Many operators have started with farmstore specials that ended up crashing. The cost to purchase two or three cheap models is as much or more than the cost of purchasing a good one initially.
Purchase a low impedance Energizer with a minimum 5,000-volt output. It should produce 35-65 pulses per minute with each pulse lasting not more than 0.0003 seconds. Each pulse also should have an intensity of less than 300 m Amps.
Seek advice about energizers from experienced graziers, from sales people and from NRCS personnel. NRCS employees cannot recommend specific brands, but they can offer general advice. One of the best methods is to look at several operations similar to yours, and find out what those grazers are using and if they are happy with their units.
Consider the type of livestock to be controlled. For example, containing sheep, goats or horses may require special considerations for charger size and fence construction to ensure that the animals receive adequate shocks when they contact electric fences.
Purchase a larger unit (energizer) than you think you need because graziers usually expand their systems as they realize the benefits of modern electric fencing. Also increase the size of the energizer if you anticipate a high weed load near the fence. All energizers should come with manuals that explain installation and operation. Study the manual carefully.
Keeping accurate weights is an essential part of keeping good records and making key management decisions.
Producers who work their cattle in a portable corral, pasture setup or even an older facility can still capture weights without the hassle of electricity.
The load bars/cells are connected to the indicator with a 16-ft cable – no electricity is needed! The scale indicator has a rechargeable internal battery, and a charger is included with the indicator purchase.
Livestock scales are available in a wide range of sizes, capacities, weighing technologies and specifications to suit the varied needs of different farmers. Common types include:
Beam platform scales – These mechanical scales are not sold often and can be costly to install or repair, but some livestock farmers still prefer to use them.
Flat livestock scales – These are great for weighing cattle, since they are designed for use with large animals, and may include battery-operated systems for mobility.
Single animal scales – Available in different sizes and load capacities, these systems include enclosures to hold and weigh one animal at a time with extremely accurate measurements.
Portable and mobile livestock scales – These portable weighing systems are perfect for farmers who sell cattle in lots, since they can weigh multiple animals at the same time.
Stationary livestock scales – These load-cell weighing systems are highly accurate and durable even in extreme working environments. They are available in various sizes and capacities.
Livestock truck scales – These are also available in various sizes and capacities to suit different weighing applications, and they are low maintenance for cattle farmers.
Livestock ring scales – These are custom designed as comprehensive systems that can be installed in existing barns and processing plants for livestock weighing.
Kinds of livestock scales are available at speedritechargers.com
Livestock scales are an excellent investment for ranchers and farmers, allowing them to improve efficiency and productivity while minimizing the time, cost and effort of weighing cattle. Look at some of the reasons why cattle scales are so popular in the livestock farming sector:
Accuracy – It’s crucial for your weighing equipment to yield accurate results, since it will be used at every stage of production and output, and hence affect your profits. Livestock scales can help you ensure that you receive consistent and highly accurate measurements, especially if they are properly calibrated and maintained.
Durability – Since livestock scales need to handle heavy loads on a daily basis, as well as harsh cattle country environments, they are designed to be extremely durable. Unlike scales designed for other industries with controlled environments, they can take the stress of multiple large loads as well as conditions like dust, rain, animal waste, etc.
Performance evaluation – The use of livestock scales allows you to measure cattle weights at different stages of life. This data in turn can be analyzed to evaluate feedlots, gain and related factors like adjusted weaning and yearling weights, as well as average daily gain (ADG) and weight per day of age (WDA).
Feed or medicine calculation – Livestock scales play a huge role in ensuring that your herd is getting the optimum diet and medication (such as antibiotics and deworming), which are based on the animal’s weight. If the dose or feed is too high or too low, you could end up with poor performance or even lose animals, which will affect your bottom line.
Ease of use – Livestock scales normally feature flat wood or concrete decks that allow for easy loading and unloading of animals, but also include other user-friendly features. For instance, advancements in technology have led to the inclusion of memory components in many scales, which reduces the need for separate equipment to collect weight data.
Customization – Many kinds of livestock scales can be custom built to suit your requirements and may include accessories like gates, load bars, digital weight indicators, etc. These can help streamline your weighing processes even further, as well as reduce your time and labor investment.
The same 'circuit completion' (second diagram above) is necessary before the animal gets a shock. An animal standing on the ground and touching the electrified wires (shown right) will complete the circuit like the closed switch in the second diagram above.
For example, a bird sitting on the wire will not receive a shock (shown left). It is not touching the ground so the circuit is not completed. A person wearing insulated footwear will only receive a small shock because all the current cannot pass through the insulated soles.
Dry, sandy or pumice soil is a poor conductor of electric current, so it is a good idea to add an ground (negative) wire into the fence. The animal must touch both a hot wire and ground wire to feel an effective shock.
Once you have decided what type of electric fence you want for your property, you will need an energizer also known as a fence charger to power it. The correct energizer size for your property is determined by the type of animal to be fenced, distance of fence to be powered and the number of wires in the fence.
There are two types of energizers:
In this diagram the current cannot flow from the positive terminal to the negative terminal because the switch is open.
In this second diagram, the switch is now closed, allowing the current to flow from the positive terminal through the light bulb (lighting the bulb) to the negative terminal.
Grounding is perhaps the most neglected component of many fence systems. We recommend three ground rods, 6’ deep and spaced 10’ apart are the minimum recommendation. Never attach copper to steel. Electrolysis can occur and result in corrosion which weakens shocking power. Use galvanized ground wire and grounding rods to avoid this problem.
Consider that most energizers use galvanized or stainless steel terminals – not copper. Think of your ground system as an antenna that gathers electricity in order to deliver the shock to the animal. Modern satellite receivers can tune in to more television channels than the “rabbit ear” antennas of the past. A hose clamp holding a piece of copper wire to a rusty t-post has been the weakest link of many electric fence systems.
