Do I really?

[Alleyyooper]

Do I really need three 8 foot  ground rods 10 feet apart in read clay for my electric fence?

I picked up the guide at TSC put out by Zareba. Back when I was a kid on the farm I sure don't remember having more than one ground rod and I don't even remember it being over 4 feet long and we ran a lot more fence around the 160 than I am around my part of 3 acres I want fenced.

My charger is rated for 60 acres and 15 miles.

    Al

[pistolpete]

I did some research on this a while back.  The level of grounding required has a lot to do with how dry the ground is.  Moist soils ground the animal itself quite well, but with dry soils the conductivity is very low and you need a lot of grounding.   I also read that several ground rods spaced evenly around the perimeter the fence work better than all rods in one location.   I would not be taking chances, for bears you want the strongest punch possible.

[lazy shooter]

Grounding has become more extensive in the oil patch.  We ground everything that has, or can have an electric motor attached to it.  Over the past decade the ground rods have become larger in diameter and longer.  Typically, we use 17 to 20 ground rods a drilling rig.  It's also one of those err on the long side things, as too little grounding is worthless, but there is no such thing as too much grounding.  The lawyers require us to do more.  If we don't ground deep enough we may kill someone, but no one will be hurt if the ground rods are too deep. 

I suspect this same philosophy has spread to the electric fence suppliers.

[riverbee]

what pete said, and like he said, don't take chances when it comes to fencing for bears.
i have 4, they are not 10 feet apart, but they are 8 or 10 ft down. all in the same area, where the rain runs and collects. 

what are you keeping in or out al?  what fencer are you using?

when it comes to bears what the fence is rated for on acres and miles means nothing. you want to be looking at joules and voltage, the more the better.
mine runs about 13,000 volts.  i hit that fence about a month ago.....yep, she works 

[Alleyyooper]

First time in 29 years I am having deer trouble in our gardens. My charger is a patriot branded unit.

  Al

[riverbee]

29 years with no problems from the deer?  where you live?.............

for us they are always a pita, and the woodchucks, raccoons, rabbits, and other critters.  one year the bears decided they liked watermelons.........
sweet corn has to be electrified and we gave up for the time being.  we get our sweet corn from a near by neighbor.

the deer don't need much of a zing, not like bear fencing. 

patriot, never used them. i use a parmak solar unit for the hives and what we will use in the future if need be for the gardens.  if you had said you were using a zareba solar unit, it will die the first year or beginning of the second year. they are worthless, and nothing but junk.

good luck on your garden and deer troubles!

[Alleyyooper]

http://www.electric-horse-fence.com/chargers/patriot-pMX50

Like I told the wife they eat my veggies and Now I am going to eat them. When the season arrives I can get 5 tags a day over the counter till the end of the 30 day season.
Gonna thin the heard out.


   Al

[apisbees]

For deer you need the fence to be 8 feet high. And I have seen them clear that height when spooked. In the orchards around here they use 8 Ft woven wire. electricity in a fence is useless to ward off deer. buy the time they are going over the wires they are not touching the ground.
here is a link to a pdf on what the BC Agriculture suggest orchardist use. http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/resmgmt/publist/300Series/307251-1.pdf most use an 8 ft wire with out the extra strands on top.

[LazyBkpr]

I have a ten mile fencer, and about a miles worth of fence up.. I have always used one ten foot copper ground rod, with about ten inches left sticking out of the ground. As stated, if the ground is dry it will be more effective with better grounding, but in the last ten years we have not had enough of a drought to test the theory...

[Alleyyooper]

  Well for a single strand of electric fence only thigh high it sure has did some thing to the deer . They have not been seen in the garden since the 1st day it was up and running. Ya they did walk into it and learned quick . Even watched a mom swat a hoof at a fawn that had strayed in that direction.

   Al