Foals and electric fences

[janeh]

If you have to use electric fencing for mares and foals, what is the best sort ? My mare and foal due in April will be on their own in a large field, the other half done for haylage. It would be good to control the area of grazing, the mare is quite used to it, but am worried the about the foal. Your experiences would be welcome !

[bmrh]

i would not reccomend eletric fencing , after a few years ago a foal of ours got tangled up in it and strangled herself and very saddly died.! the worst thing was the field was a short drive from the house and the people who lived next to the field said they saw the foal caught up in the rope/wire of the fence ... still lost on how they never managed to go and help her .!! but personally i wouldnt reccomend it !

[holiday]

We do have electric fencing it can be an absolute nightmare!!!! We have had foals go through but have since now we have ours on close wooden posts and four strands of rope and have had nothing go through since.

Our newly born foals do not go out in just electric straight away and have a small paddock with just one short length which they have so they know what it is!!! They then go into the bigger paddock once up and running and are aware. Most of my mares do keep the foals away from the fencing by pushing them away but it is always a worry.

I would definately not just have two strands and have had foals go through three, but have had a good success of nothing going through the four. If it can be avoided I would do!!!

I am on the yard 24/7 and wouldnt have the foals out overnight until they are a few months old then they are much wiser. Ours all come in at night until at least August time then only have a few weeks out 24/7 until they are weaned then come back in again at nights for the first Winter.

[karynk]

Feb 22, 2010 15:57:30 GMT janeh said:

If you have to use electric fencing for mares and foals, what is the best sort ?

Mine are in post and rail until they are a couple of moths old as they have no respect for the electric fence and are inclined to go though it as in the above tragedy. I begin to introduce them to electric from early days as it is along the post and rail. I then have some inside their field so that they get to respect it.

I have found that the best electric fence is the 5 strand wire and the very thin tape as a visual aid, this has always broken under pressure and if the foal gets where it shouldn't the dam can and will break through to get to the foal.

I would never use the thick tape or rope for horses of any age and have seen some horrendous injuries from the rope in particular.

When the foals are 4 months or older they go out into the other fields that are fenced by electric wire and some old tape for vision. They spend the autumn strip grazing and the winter out with their dams in the big field, then in early spring they are weaned the other side of the electric fence to their dams staying in with their friends and are able to touch their dams over the fence but not feed. This system works very well for me.

What you could do as a temporary barrier is buy chicken wire and use the cheaper thin posts to divide the field temporarily until the foal gets older.

Hope that helps.

[tigger]

I've tried thin wire, thin tape, thick tape and now will only use the thick good quality electric rope - however mine is run off a very powerful mains unit and gives off a very strong shock!
The trouble I found with a lot of them is that the wire strands can break down quite easily and either not pass a current through or be very intermitant, if the foal doesnt get a shock straight away the fencing instantly becomes a play toy!
I have also got 4 strands up, with the bottom strand much lower than you would just for horses or ponies, and I also use proper wooden fencing posts as they are much more stable.

Electric fencing can be very effective but it must be properly maintained - checked regularly with a tester to make sure the current is getting through.

Any type of fencing can be hazardous if not well looked after though!

[ferret]

i had a foal go through it and get stuck in it , luckily he was ok , but he didnt go back into it until he was 5/6 months old and it was 4 strand and only on one side , we endede up paying out to post and rail their small paddock after he got stuck as i just couldnt risk it

[janeh]

Thanks for all the comments and advice. I have never used electric fence with foals before, and can see the problems involved. If I really have to, will wait until baby is older and introduce carefully first in a small area. They will be in at night until the flies are really bad during the day. The field is next to the yard and I can keep a close eye.
I have used one strand of tape for ponies on diets etc, but after one galloped through have always have one place where the tape would part from the fixing easily or under pressure would pull through.

[holiday]

Feb 22, 2010 21:39:47 GMT tigger said:

I've tried thin wire, thin tape, thick tape and now will only use the thick good quality electric rope - however mine is run off a very powerful mains unit and gives off a very strong shock!
The trouble I found with a lot of them is that the wire strands can break down quite easily and either not pass a current through or be very intermitant, if the foal doesnt get a shock straight away the fencing instantly becomes a play toy!
I have also got 4 strands up, with the bottom strand much lower than you would just for horses or ponies, and I also use proper wooden fencing posts as they are much more stable.

Electric fencing can be very effective but it must be properly maintained - checked regularly with a tester to make sure the current is getting through.

Any type of fencing can be hazardous if not well looked after though!

This is also how we do it, well explained Tigger!!! I wouldnt have the rope that would break away easily as if the foals run into a tight electric fence of four wires they will "bounce" back off it snaps you would have a mess both with baby and fence!!! The four strands have been successful for us and we dont have any other "unknown" horses at the other side of the mare and foal paddock so no falling out over fences.

[boothsdale]

Might sound a daft question but what are you breeding? I think the smaller pony breeds are more together from a young age and cope better with the electric than their larger ganglier counterparts.

[holiday]

We breed sports ponies up to 14.2hh but also breed some horse foals as well, the horse foals have been much easier to deal with than the ponies, ive also had more try to jump the post and rails or actually run into them and smash them (pony foals) than ive had problems with the four strands of rope. We find tape of no use on our yard as it is very windy and tends to stretch and sag so stopped using that years ago.