In the warm season, cattle spend up to 14-15 hours in open pastures. Pasture grazing has undeniable advantages:

  • green grass is the best food for livestock;
  • animals move calmly and unhurriedly, which favors the correct development of organisms;
  • fresh air, sun - promote the growth of animals;
  • the cost of grazing is much lower than the cost of grazing.

Electric Shepherd

It is unacceptable to enclose a summer pasture with a permanent permanent fence for many reasons. Expensive, unresolved issues with land ownership, the impossibility of moving the fence if necessary ... And light temporary barriers will not help - the animals will either demolish them or simply will not notice. Hire a shepherd? Again costs, and it is not so easy to find a reliable employee.

In this case, an electric shepherd for cattle will become a reliable assistant. A simple device will allow you to create an inexpensive, lightweight, mobile fence.

Electric Shepherd

Scheme and principle of operation

An electronic shepherd for cows and other livestock is a light hedge, a chain of posts installed around the perimeter of the pasture, on which a conductive tape, metal mesh or just bare wire is stretched. With a frequency of about once per second, a short electrical high voltage pulse is applied to the conductive part from a special generator

An animal touching the fence receives a light electric shock, the strength of which is calculated so as not to cause any harm to the livestock. In this case, the blow produces an unpleasant, irritating effect, scaring away the animals. After a while, the cattle develops a conditioned reflex and they begin to avoid approaching the fence.

Electric shepherd cost

How much does an electric shepherd cost for cows and other animals? The cost of an electric shepherd depends on the following factors:

  • Country of Origin;
  • generator power;
  • perimeter of the fenced area (number of supports and length of the conductive fence);
  • material of manufacture.

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Important! On the one hand, the generator power affects the maximum perimeter of the fence, on the other hand, larger or longer-haired cattle will also require increased power.

For comparison, the cost of an electric shepherd from different manufacturers:

  • made in Russia can be found for 13,500 rubles with a fence length of 400 m;
  • production of the Republic of Belarus - 500 m for 5300 rubles;
  • Finnish company Olli - 10,750 rubles for 1 km of the fence.

* - prices are in Russian rubles, relevant for the fall of 2018.

For the rest of the characteristics, the device must be selected for each specific case.

Self-made electric fence

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the device of an electronic shepherd for cows. If a farmer or his relatives know how to work with his hands and head, making an electric shepherd for cattle with his own hands should not present any significant problems.

Self-made electric fence

So, the three main components of an electric cow shepherd are:

  • columns (supports);
  • a fence made of electrically conductive material;
  • pulse generator.

The posts can be made from available materials at the rate of one post per 10 meters of hedge for small animals or 7-8 meters for large ones.

Supports can be made of metal, wood or plastic.

  • Metal supports are durable, they are easy to drive into the ground when arranging a fence. But they require protection from corrosion, are relatively expensive, heavy, and insulators must be installed on them (purchased or homemade).
  • Wood poles are lightweight, inexpensive, but more difficult to install. It is imperative that you need protection from decay, it is desirable to install insulators or measures to exclude impregnation with water (painting, impregnation with drying oil) - a tree swollen from water has bad insulating properties.
  • Plastic poles are lightweight, cheap, do not require additional insulators, you can use cuttings of plastic pipes left after the arrangement of a water supply system, but it is even harder to drive them into the ground than wooden ones.

Important!Some types of plastics (polyethylene, some types of polypropylene) are unstable to ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) and can collapse after a short time in an open space. Fiberglass has proven itself well in these conditions.

The fence can be made from any uninsulated wire, it will work in any case, but remember:

  • steel wire is susceptible to corrosion, its service life in the open air is short;
  • copper wire is expensive, tends to stretch over time under its own weight;
  • the best option is galvanized steel wire: it does not stretch, does not rust, it is inexpensive.

Important! To enhance the visibility, the wire should be highlighted with bright colors - for example, flags or pieces of heat shrink tubing. This will help develop a conditioned reflex in animals. Warning signs for people on the outside of the hedge will also help.

Remained, perhaps, the most difficult section - making a pulse generator. On the Internet, at different addresses, you can find a lot of circuits for such devices. We can recommend the following:
The advantages of this scheme:

  • simplicity;
  • accessibility of components (three inexpensive 555 series timers, a few more details);
  • ease of setup;
  • as the most responsible and laborious part in the independent manufacture of a part - a high-voltage transformer - an industrial ignition coil from a carburetor car is used.

The power supply of the generator can be organized through an adapter from a 220 V network, from a battery, from solar panels. As a grounding, you can drive a metal pin into the ground (a piece of fittings, a pipe, a corner).

Pros and cons of using an electric shepherd

The disadvantages of using an electric shepherd include:

  • poor sensitivity to electrical impulses of animals with thick wool (sheep);
  • the need for a power source;
  • it is required to periodically mow the grass along the fence;
  • if the device has electrodes made in the form of a tape, repair in case of breakage is rather laborious.

For the rest, farmers who have bought or made an electric fence for cattle give the device only positive characteristics: ease, mobility, budget, autonomy of work.