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  • From: Barking Cat Farm <barkingcatfarm AT mindspring.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Deer Control
  • Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:06:37 -0500

So here, 9 months after the fact, I have a few questions about your gates,
Richard Stewart.

- First, pardon my ignorance, but by "off charger side", do you mean the
ground terminal?

- Are you using regular gate handles similar to this
<http://www.amazon.com/Zareba-GHPB-Z-Plastic-Handle-Black/dp/B000AYFV00/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1365631004&sr=8-2&keywords=electric+fence+gate+handle>?

- At 8', 5', and 30", have you found a clever way to store the gate strands
when the gate is open, any kind of easy off/easy on type of scenario? We
have 7 strands on our gates on our current 2 layer deer fence, and while
we've not put a lot of thought into it yet, we're looking at a better way to
take down/put up the wider equipment gates, where each strand is a separate
piece. We're about to fence a new section using the 10' t-posts as you
describe here. That fence will have 11 strands -- one at each foot for the
deer and additional strands at 4", 8", and 16" for smaller animals. We are
struggling with how to make it such that taking down the bigger gates to
bring tractors and equipment in will not turn into a nightmare. We're also
just wondering how that will work logistically with the upper strands.
Tractor to stand on? Anybody else besides Richard have a good "working" gate
design and ideas about how to manage take down/put up, we'd love to hear them.

Best regards,
Laurie Bostic
Barking Cat Farm

On Jul 14, 2012, at 3:23 PMJul/14/12, Richard Stewart wrote:

> 10' t-posts. Run every 20'. We use a medium 14ga electric fence wire at
> 8', 5', and 30" approximately (nothing is flat around us so we sort of just
> count studs on the posts). The forest edge is on an uphill slope and the
> deer loathe to jump it I think because of the change in elevation. We also
> have started running mints, spicebush and dense thickets of dead honey
> suckle in diagonal patterns between their movement patterns (which become
> fairly standard and set) and the food plots.
>
> We have three "gates" in the fence that are simply wires from the off
> charger side that disconnect using the spring handles. Foil and peanut
> butter as per this:
>
> http://www.wvdnr.gov/Hunting/DeerConHomGar.shtm
>
> Our hunters took 32 deer total last year (we are in a mixed urban rural
> area so the limits in our region are the highest in Ohio I think, could be
> wrong about that). Not even a dent in the population though, BUT it means
> there aren't
>
> We don't have any issues with smaller animals. We have a lot of cats that
> hang out in our stables that manage the rabbit population (as do the Red
> Tails). We have issues with Raccoons, mainly because folks trap them and
> then release them "in the country", which is ignorant and illegal and put
> hteir problem on us. They are more of a grain and horse problem and the
> prevention of EPM. We have good ways of dealing with them as well.
>
> Richard
>
> On Jul 14, 2012, at 3:44 PM, Barking Cat Farm wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Jul 14, 2012, at 10:22 AM, Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> That said we've put up a fence. Its a one acre fence and about as cheap
>>> as you can get using three strands up to 8' high with foil hologram ties
>>> on it and peanut butter/foil strips. Fence posts are cheap metal T-posts
>>> which should last you a decade or two if treated properly. They are easy
>>> to put in and we do huge spacing with 1 post every 20'.
>>
>> Richard,
>> Can you please describe how you're getting to 8' with t-posts? And at what
>> heights are you putting your three strands on the 8' posts? Maybe it's in
>> your original complete post here, but I'm not quite seeing it. Or it could
>> be that I've been in the heat too long.
>>
>> We've got two layers 4' tall 3' apart with 3/8" fiberglass posts at 20'
>> spacing and t-posts corners and gate posts, powered by a 12kv 25 mile
>> solar charger. 4 strands 1' apart starting at 1' off the ground, 3 strands
>> at 4", 8", and 16" on the outer layer for all the smaller animals (but
>> armadillos, doesn't work on them). We keep it baited with cheap deer bait
>> (peanut butter works of course too) year round. 5' landscape fabric around
>> the perimeter for weed suppression.
>>
>> It's effective (so far), but as you can probably surmise, it's not really
>> easy to
>> put up or take down. We'd really like to go to a single layer design >= 8'
>> tall for future expansion if we can find a good design. Yours sounds like
>> it might be a bit easier for us if I can understand the details of what
>> you're describing. You don't have to draw me a picture, but it helps. :-)
>>
>> Thank you in advance,
>> Laurie
>> Barking Cat Farm
>> Zone 8 NE TX where it's really hot with a chance of very hot with no rain
>> for the forseeable future
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Thank you for supporting local agriculture and floriculture!

Laurie Bostic
Owner/Farmer
Barking Cat Farm
Heath & West Tawakoni, Texas
barkingcatfarm AT mindspring.com
www.barkingcatfarm.com
follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/barkingcatfarm
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  • Re: [Market-farming] Deer Control, Barking Cat Farm, 04/10/2013

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