If mainline power is available and dependable, 110 or 220 volt AC (plug it in the wall socket) energizers are usually most practical for permanent fences. Will they raise your electricity bill? Well, depending on the size of the unit, they typically draw 2 to 25 watts. The operational cost of an energizer drawing 17 watts would be about $1.50/month (assuming an electrical rate of $0.12/kilowatt hour).
How dangerous are they? Energizers (chargers) are usually rated in “joules.” (pronounced the way a West Virginian pronounces jewels.) This is a physics unit for measuring energy. It is directly related to the “kick” the fence gives the animal (and human) that shorts it to the ground. My daughter worked in the cardiac care unit of Ruby Memorial Hospital at one time, so I asked her how many joules were used to revive someone whose heart had stopped. She said 450 joules. So I don’t think there is much danger of heart stoppage with a properly grounded commercial charger. But 4 or 5 joules from the fence will “really get your attention,” as they say. I know, because I have been hit many times.
At this point I need to introduce a couple of terms. A capacitor (also called a condenser) is a device for storing electricity. That’s what a battery does, too, but the capacitor is able to let its contents go almost instantly, were a battery stores a lot of electricity and takes some time to let it go.
Volts is a measure of how hard the electrons are pushed through the wire. The more volts the more electrons are pushed through a particular resistance (the animal, or you, if you are not careful).
The way a fence charger works is to take 110 volts (or 220 volts if so wired) off the high line, step it up to several thousand volts to load the capacitor (sometimes more than one) in the charger. This takes about three-quarters of a second, then it switches that line off and hooks the capacitor to the fence. When this happens the fence shares the load with the capacitor. At this point the fence should read a few thousand volts on your meter.
That sounds pretty scary if you don’t know the details. The function of the capacitor is to limit the number of electrons at this high voltage. That much voltage off the high line would “fry” you. In fact, 110 can fry you too, if you are sufficiently grounded so the current of electrons can flow through you. The high line is effectively an unlimited supply of electrons.
The charger lets the charge on the fence drain off to ground within a few thousandths of a second after it starts. The intermittent nature of the charge on a proper electric fence is an important safety feature. Most of the time there is no charge on it, just very briefly for a few thousandths of a second about every three quarters of a second. The intermittent nature of the shock increases the element of surprise too, increasing its effectiveness
If there are weeds on the fence, they drain off the electrons, and so reduce the kick. Fortunately, their resistance is rather high, so some weeds can be tolerated. You need to keep the bottom wire about 17 inches or slightly more above ground, so cattle can eat under it, which helps keep the weeds down. It pays to have the area under the fence properly limed so you have palatable grass there, too.
The resistance in the “voltmeter-fence tester” is very high, so not many electrons drain through it. It does not “short out” the fence.
A good ground for the energizer (fence charger) is important. It will interfere with a telephone cable for several tens of yards. Be careful where you place it. The standard grounding rod, half inch in diameter and six feet long works well. It needs to be down to moist ground, no matter how dry the surface is. The dryer the surface is, the more kick you need in your fence. The rods are made so long to get down to moist earth. Use a steel fence post driver of the type that is a tube with handles on each side to get the rod down as far as you can, then use a sledge hammer. The preferred method is to take it below the surface, and use a clamp to attach a large diameter copper wire, which is also kept below the ground to where it can go straight up to the charger. Use several, preferably four hooked up with the same large diameter copper wire as the first one. Steel fence wire should not be used, particularly below ground – it rusts.
Insulators are made for steel posts, but steel posts should not be considered permanent. You find this type of insulator at feed stores. They soon age. Use treated wood for permanent posts, or locust. Locust serves well if you can find good trees, with no fungus infected wood. Both locust and treated posts have considerable conductivity, so insulators are needed. Get polyethylene or polypropylene plastic insulators. Also don’t use fine wire for permanent fence, deer will break it in no time.
Use “string fence” with polypropylene cords and fine stainless steel wires woven in for temporary fence. Just tie it for connections. Use lots of wrapping in your knots so the tiny stainless wires will come in contact with the steel wires. Get good spools to wind it on, ones designed to roll up extension cords. Take care of it, and it lasts for years. Don’t use the fancy plastic fence posts for permanent fence, they age very fast, and you can’t keep the wires tight. If you plan to reuse temporary posts, get fiberglass. I have used some for ten years. I like three-eights inch round posts which you can get from some fence supply houses and add two adjustable holders for the string fence. This is called “Spider Fence.”
An electric fence is not a physical barrier, like barbed wire and woven wire. It is psychological fence. Animals avoid it, but learn to eat inches from the wire. Animals unfamiliar with it can stumble through. Under extreme conditions predators can drive them through, and baby calves do not understand it the first time they come in contact. They seldom go through twice.
We keep a road wide enough to run a four wheeler along the fence through the woods and where ever we can. Like any fence, they need to be checked often. The four wheeler makes checking fast and makes access for the few needed repairs easy. We keep a few tools with us on the four wheeler any time we go into the pasture so that repairs can be made without a return to the house for tools.
Finally, the electrons repel each other, because they have negative charge. Most of the charge when it moves is carried in the outside layer of the wire. Rust is an insulator compared to the steel or its zinc galvanizing. Wire needs to be changed when it guts rusty. An electric fence will last far longer than barbed wire, though.
Some don'ts for electrical fence: 1. Don’t hook to the high line directly, without a charger. In other words, don’t provide the legal profession with another lucrative case to litigate at your expense. 2. Don’t use barbed wire. The animal needs to get away from the fence. 3. Take the time and go to the trouble to build a good ground. 4. Don’t get cheap plastic stuff. The insulators sold by fence supply houses have additives which make the insulators last and last. 5. Don’t use metal posts for permanent electric fence.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Genomes for Agriculture
One of the most important things for agriculture that happened the past year not mentioned in the usual farm papers was the arrival of several farm animal genome studies. The one nearest to most of us is the genome of the cow, published in the journal Science for the 24th of April, 2009.
Cattle, Bos taurus (European type cattle) and Bos taurus indicus (India derived breeds) are not closely related to humans in their genetics, compared to many other species. They are specialized for converting low-quality forage into energy dense fat, muscle and milk. They were domesticated 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Near East. There are presently about 800 breeds. This variability allows study of genetic and variable traits, including milk production economic gain and tenderness. The most detailed sequencing was done on a Limousine, with comparison to other breeds.
They have 26,835 genes, somewhat more than humans, including about 22,000 genes responsible for coding proteins. It was observed they have many more genes for lactation and immunity than humans. The greater number of immunity genes may be the result of the huge number of different microorganisms in the rumen (which present greater opportunities for infection) or due to the herd life habit of cattle. Another important difference is that in humans passive immunity is gained by placental transfer, but in cattle it occurs by ingestion of immunoglobin IgG in colostrum. Core metabolism is very similar among all mammals
A second article in the same issue studied genetic variation in breeds. It conclude that variation was at least a great in cattle as in humans, in spite of constraints imposed by domestication and breed development. European and indian type cattle diverged 250,000 years ago and the Indian type have somewhat greater genetic diversity. European breeds are now so standardized they might have been breed from 200 to 300 cattle 200 years ago. This is believed to be to breed selection pressures and subsequent selection for milk or beef. Loss of diversity should be of concern to animal breeders, the authors suggest. Statistical evidence shows some of the highest selection pressure was in the genes affecting double muscling, milk yield and composition and intra- muscular fat content.
The genome of the horse, Equus caballus, was published in November. The horse was tremendously important most of recorded history for transportation, draft animals and for warfare from before the time of Alexander the Great to World War II. It is now primarily relegated to recreation, but is of interest to science and medicine because so many of the diseases of man also occur in horses.
Horse DNA is more similar to human than Cattle DNA, and we share many communicable diseases and at least 90 hereditary diseases with them. The most detailed sequencing was done on a Thoroughbred with comparisons to most of the world’s other horse breeds, including American quarter horse, Andalusian, Arabian, Belgian draft horse, Hanoverian, Hakkaido, Icelandic horse, Norwegian fjord horse and Standard bred. The horse genome is smaller than the cattle and human genomes, but larger than the dog genome. One of the remarkable characteristics of the horse genome is how few chromosomal rearrangements there are between it and the human genome.
A second article shows that horses were domesticated in and around Kazakhstan some 5500 years ago. Colors developed rapidly after domestication as the result of selective breeding by ancient farmers.
Cattle, Bos taurus (European type cattle) and Bos taurus indicus (India derived breeds) are not closely related to humans in their genetics, compared to many other species. They are specialized for converting low-quality forage into energy dense fat, muscle and milk. They were domesticated 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Near East. There are presently about 800 breeds. This variability allows study of genetic and variable traits, including milk production economic gain and tenderness. The most detailed sequencing was done on a Limousine, with comparison to other breeds.
They have 26,835 genes, somewhat more than humans, including about 22,000 genes responsible for coding proteins. It was observed they have many more genes for lactation and immunity than humans. The greater number of immunity genes may be the result of the huge number of different microorganisms in the rumen (which present greater opportunities for infection) or due to the herd life habit of cattle. Another important difference is that in humans passive immunity is gained by placental transfer, but in cattle it occurs by ingestion of immunoglobin IgG in colostrum. Core metabolism is very similar among all mammals
A second article in the same issue studied genetic variation in breeds. It conclude that variation was at least a great in cattle as in humans, in spite of constraints imposed by domestication and breed development. European and indian type cattle diverged 250,000 years ago and the Indian type have somewhat greater genetic diversity. European breeds are now so standardized they might have been breed from 200 to 300 cattle 200 years ago. This is believed to be to breed selection pressures and subsequent selection for milk or beef. Loss of diversity should be of concern to animal breeders, the authors suggest. Statistical evidence shows some of the highest selection pressure was in the genes affecting double muscling, milk yield and composition and intra- muscular fat content.
The genome of the horse, Equus caballus, was published in November. The horse was tremendously important most of recorded history for transportation, draft animals and for warfare from before the time of Alexander the Great to World War II. It is now primarily relegated to recreation, but is of interest to science and medicine because so many of the diseases of man also occur in horses.
Horse DNA is more similar to human than Cattle DNA, and we share many communicable diseases and at least 90 hereditary diseases with them. The most detailed sequencing was done on a Thoroughbred with comparisons to most of the world’s other horse breeds, including American quarter horse, Andalusian, Arabian, Belgian draft horse, Hanoverian, Hakkaido, Icelandic horse, Norwegian fjord horse and Standard bred. The horse genome is smaller than the cattle and human genomes, but larger than the dog genome. One of the remarkable characteristics of the horse genome is how few chromosomal rearrangements there are between it and the human genome.
A second article shows that horses were domesticated in and around Kazakhstan some 5500 years ago. Colors developed rapidly after domestication as the result of selective breeding by ancient farmers.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tips for Efficiency
1. When driving the tractor some distance, try to make use of the trip in both directions. If you are on the hill to feed and have a little time, pick up downed limbs and move them to a place to burn or otherwise dispose of them. You can pick up rocks at a remote area and drop them in a road to fill a hole. If you need large rocks to make check dams, carry them off the hill when you return from feeding, don’t make special trips.
2. Store bales near where they are grown, then feed them back on the meadow. Use temporary string fences to protect the bales when you pasture the meadow. Do this if the mud doesn’t get to be a problem.
3. Large trees of useless species or otherwise unsuitable for timber can be removed by burning brush around them.
4. Someone who cuts firewood can be given rights to cut up downed and carry away unusable trees. They can also help clean up after timber cutting operations.
5. If you have pole timber you can cut (or can buy cheaply) pole sheds are a very cheap way to build storage sheds. Use locust poles in the ground. White oak poles or maple make the best rafters. Avoid using hickory, because it rots so easily and there are insects that burrow in the dry wood.
6. If you pick up small rocks in one place, that improves the pastue. They then can be used in roads in place of purchased gravel. Have your children pick them up. Creek gravel is illegal if taken from streams under the control of the Army Corps of Engineers.
7. All lumber should be “sticked up” and kept in the dry with a roof. Have the sawyer make sticks one inch thick and two or three inches wide to use for this purpose. Poplar lasts well in use, but piles of it are subject to boring insects which weaken the lumber and make piles of dust. It is best to use poplar within a year or two of the time it is sawed out.
8. Decking screws now available are much better fasteners than nails for gates, especially, and about every thing else. Also, use the appropriate screws for metal roofing.
9. Keep the tools necessary for what you can do. Don’t be in the position of having to borrow or buy them when a crisis occurs. If you are in the farming business for the long haul this is one of the best investments you can make. Have fencing tools, convenient tools for the mechanic work you will do on your machinery, simple woodworking tools at least. They save time and when you can do it yourself it saves money.
10. Maintain good relations with your neighbors. It’s worth the extra effort to avoid a perpetual fight. Be a good neighbor. Stop and talk occasionally, plow out their driveway when it snows if you have equipment, let them hunt, pick mushrooms, cut wiener sticks, etc. It helps when the cows are out or you accidentally spill dirt or hay on the road, when the odors get strong or other unliked things characteristic of farming industry occur that you don’t have control over. Pulling their car out of the ditch requires a little more care, because a tractor can damage the car. I mention that damage might occur if it is not hooked right, and insist the other man hook his car up. If it is a woman, custom pretty much demands you get down in the dirt, but be careful what you connect to. After a while being a good neighbor gets to be a habit and doesn’t cost any effort. They will pay you back in the same way.
11. Borrow only for things that will make you more money than the borrowed money will cost. Sometimes the benefit is hard to figure out in advance, be careful. Particularly, don’t run a big, expensive truck for personal transportation.
12. Feed cattle in the late afternoon or evening. If you feed in the morning 60-65% of the calves come in the dark. If you feed in the evening 60-65% come in daylight. If you are able to attend them, you have light. Even if you do not, it helps with the predators.
13. Unless you trade a lot, hire your trucking. Put the capital elsewhere.
14. Look for drains, pipelines and other buried stuff when there is a slight skift of snow on the ground, not enough to cover it. The depressions will catch blowing snow and become more conspicuous.
15. Breakers across roads need a little more stone than the rest of the rock based road. If you just put soft dirt from the ditch across the lower side, it will be broken down in a short time. When the breaker gets leveled out and won’t divert water add a three or four inch high row of stone about the size of one or two fists along the lower side and shovel soft dirt from the ditch over it to seal it. After you drive across it a few times it will not seem too high, because the rocks will be driven into the road base below and the soft dirt on top will be forced into the cracks between the rocks.
16. When building a culvert only the downstream side of the fill around the pipe needs to be secured, unless it is two and a half feet high or more. Use a wall of rocks, a concrete wall or some such on the lower side. The reason is that the stream only pushes gently on the upper side. What washes it out, if not properly constructed, is the current down from the top to stream level on the downstream side. When you build a culvert you must constantly watch for sticks that wash downstream and block the entrance to the pipe. Unless you must have a high quality stream crossing, fill in some with stones and be sure to have a stone area below the drop off to rceive any water fall to prevent it from washing out below the crossing. Once again, this applies to intermittent (dry up in a dry time) streams only. Streams with continuous flow are controlled by the Crops of Engineers. See your Natural Resources Conservation Agent about crossings, etc. of these steams.
17. Never hit the same stone twice with a mower or brush hog. Dump stones you pick up in the field into gullies or other spots where they will help, or use them for check dams in runs to prevent rapid runoff. Small rocks make road material.
18. Keep a barrel or two of diesel fuel and equipment to take it out of the barrel by hand in case of power outage or delayed delivery of a new tank of fuel.
19. Keep you fences up in fairly good shape. It’s better than chasing cattle. Use high tensile electric and keep the bottom wire about 17 inches above ground, to keep the grass off. They won’t crawl under that height.
20. Maintain a supply of bolts, nuts and small parts you use often. Don’t have to run to the store for small parts. Same for lubricants like SAE 85W-90, or WD-40. You loose time and money running to the store.
22. Check over machinery before you use it. Seasonal equipment should be repaired and good shape before you put it in storage or during the storage season.
23. Sheds are far cheaper than buying new machines. Don’t let machinery stand out in the weather unless you have it covered. Acid rain isn’t talked about as much as it once was, but it is still with us.
24. Keep a list on your computer of where you buy things on the net. Keep all the information needed for ordering, such as parts numbers, and the internet address.
25. Where possible, make trails along your fences so you can ride the four-wheeler to check fence.
26. Avoid culverts as much as possible. Use rocked stream crossings. Culverts are a nuisance because they stop up all the time. It takes only a few floating sticks to block the opening of a small culvert.
27. The two most convenient ways to thaw frozen locks are: a) Hold the lock in your hands for a minute or so. This is for young, warm-blooded guys, and it is good for a few degrees below freezing. b) For the rest of us and for really cold temperatures take a container of hot water from your house and pour half a glass or so on the lock. Water has about ten times the heat capacity as steel and it doesn’t require huge amounts of hot water.
28. Just as snow can help you find depressions caused by pipe ditches and other recent ground excavations, heavy rains can help you find seeps in your fields. Drive around after a heavy rain and keep your eyes open for unusual wet spots, or water draining down a low place in the hillside. This indicates the water table is above ground while it is rainy, and it means the water table will be nearer to the surface than other places in the field at other times, as well. In heavily traveled places it may be worth a drain.
2. Store bales near where they are grown, then feed them back on the meadow. Use temporary string fences to protect the bales when you pasture the meadow. Do this if the mud doesn’t get to be a problem.
3. Large trees of useless species or otherwise unsuitable for timber can be removed by burning brush around them.
4. Someone who cuts firewood can be given rights to cut up downed and carry away unusable trees. They can also help clean up after timber cutting operations.
5. If you have pole timber you can cut (or can buy cheaply) pole sheds are a very cheap way to build storage sheds. Use locust poles in the ground. White oak poles or maple make the best rafters. Avoid using hickory, because it rots so easily and there are insects that burrow in the dry wood.
6. If you pick up small rocks in one place, that improves the pastue. They then can be used in roads in place of purchased gravel. Have your children pick them up. Creek gravel is illegal if taken from streams under the control of the Army Corps of Engineers.
7. All lumber should be “sticked up” and kept in the dry with a roof. Have the sawyer make sticks one inch thick and two or three inches wide to use for this purpose. Poplar lasts well in use, but piles of it are subject to boring insects which weaken the lumber and make piles of dust. It is best to use poplar within a year or two of the time it is sawed out.
8. Decking screws now available are much better fasteners than nails for gates, especially, and about every thing else. Also, use the appropriate screws for metal roofing.
9. Keep the tools necessary for what you can do. Don’t be in the position of having to borrow or buy them when a crisis occurs. If you are in the farming business for the long haul this is one of the best investments you can make. Have fencing tools, convenient tools for the mechanic work you will do on your machinery, simple woodworking tools at least. They save time and when you can do it yourself it saves money.
10. Maintain good relations with your neighbors. It’s worth the extra effort to avoid a perpetual fight. Be a good neighbor. Stop and talk occasionally, plow out their driveway when it snows if you have equipment, let them hunt, pick mushrooms, cut wiener sticks, etc. It helps when the cows are out or you accidentally spill dirt or hay on the road, when the odors get strong or other unliked things characteristic of farming industry occur that you don’t have control over. Pulling their car out of the ditch requires a little more care, because a tractor can damage the car. I mention that damage might occur if it is not hooked right, and insist the other man hook his car up. If it is a woman, custom pretty much demands you get down in the dirt, but be careful what you connect to. After a while being a good neighbor gets to be a habit and doesn’t cost any effort. They will pay you back in the same way.
11. Borrow only for things that will make you more money than the borrowed money will cost. Sometimes the benefit is hard to figure out in advance, be careful. Particularly, don’t run a big, expensive truck for personal transportation.
12. Feed cattle in the late afternoon or evening. If you feed in the morning 60-65% of the calves come in the dark. If you feed in the evening 60-65% come in daylight. If you are able to attend them, you have light. Even if you do not, it helps with the predators.
13. Unless you trade a lot, hire your trucking. Put the capital elsewhere.
14. Look for drains, pipelines and other buried stuff when there is a slight skift of snow on the ground, not enough to cover it. The depressions will catch blowing snow and become more conspicuous.
15. Breakers across roads need a little more stone than the rest of the rock based road. If you just put soft dirt from the ditch across the lower side, it will be broken down in a short time. When the breaker gets leveled out and won’t divert water add a three or four inch high row of stone about the size of one or two fists along the lower side and shovel soft dirt from the ditch over it to seal it. After you drive across it a few times it will not seem too high, because the rocks will be driven into the road base below and the soft dirt on top will be forced into the cracks between the rocks.
16. When building a culvert only the downstream side of the fill around the pipe needs to be secured, unless it is two and a half feet high or more. Use a wall of rocks, a concrete wall or some such on the lower side. The reason is that the stream only pushes gently on the upper side. What washes it out, if not properly constructed, is the current down from the top to stream level on the downstream side. When you build a culvert you must constantly watch for sticks that wash downstream and block the entrance to the pipe. Unless you must have a high quality stream crossing, fill in some with stones and be sure to have a stone area below the drop off to rceive any water fall to prevent it from washing out below the crossing. Once again, this applies to intermittent (dry up in a dry time) streams only. Streams with continuous flow are controlled by the Crops of Engineers. See your Natural Resources Conservation Agent about crossings, etc. of these steams.
17. Never hit the same stone twice with a mower or brush hog. Dump stones you pick up in the field into gullies or other spots where they will help, or use them for check dams in runs to prevent rapid runoff. Small rocks make road material.
18. Keep a barrel or two of diesel fuel and equipment to take it out of the barrel by hand in case of power outage or delayed delivery of a new tank of fuel.
19. Keep you fences up in fairly good shape. It’s better than chasing cattle. Use high tensile electric and keep the bottom wire about 17 inches above ground, to keep the grass off. They won’t crawl under that height.
20. Maintain a supply of bolts, nuts and small parts you use often. Don’t have to run to the store for small parts. Same for lubricants like SAE 85W-90, or WD-40. You loose time and money running to the store.
22. Check over machinery before you use it. Seasonal equipment should be repaired and good shape before you put it in storage or during the storage season.
23. Sheds are far cheaper than buying new machines. Don’t let machinery stand out in the weather unless you have it covered. Acid rain isn’t talked about as much as it once was, but it is still with us.
24. Keep a list on your computer of where you buy things on the net. Keep all the information needed for ordering, such as parts numbers, and the internet address.
25. Where possible, make trails along your fences so you can ride the four-wheeler to check fence.
26. Avoid culverts as much as possible. Use rocked stream crossings. Culverts are a nuisance because they stop up all the time. It takes only a few floating sticks to block the opening of a small culvert.
27. The two most convenient ways to thaw frozen locks are: a) Hold the lock in your hands for a minute or so. This is for young, warm-blooded guys, and it is good for a few degrees below freezing. b) For the rest of us and for really cold temperatures take a container of hot water from your house and pour half a glass or so on the lock. Water has about ten times the heat capacity as steel and it doesn’t require huge amounts of hot water.
28. Just as snow can help you find depressions caused by pipe ditches and other recent ground excavations, heavy rains can help you find seeps in your fields. Drive around after a heavy rain and keep your eyes open for unusual wet spots, or water draining down a low place in the hillside. This indicates the water table is above ground while it is rainy, and it means the water table will be nearer to the surface than other places in the field at other times, as well. In heavily traveled places it may be worth a drain.
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