Dear Curiosity Journal,
I’m not sure why I chose one of the hottest days of the year to finally set up the electronet fencing, but the important thing is that it worked. I’ve made several unsuccessful attempts to bring this fence into the grazing scheme, which failed on the counts of poor electric connection and pure frustration (possibly fury) with entanglements. This time, we took a couple of extra steps, which made the process go more smoothly. Rufus weed whacked the fence line, which gave us a clean boundary and reduced the number of places where the fence could short out. I also strung a single line of hot wire, pretty low to the ground, and about a foot inside of the electronet. This is to help train the flock to electric fence, giving them a warning shock before they walk into the netting. This is especially important for horned sheep, who can become easily tangled up. We pulled a large wagon into the temporary paddock for shade, which they used to the utmost to shelter them from both the sun and the mystery shock, running underneath every time they got zapped. I felt bad about them getting smacked with electricity, especially the lambs, but thankfully they figured it out pretty quickly and kept their distance. Of course, the goats had to test it a few more times than the sheep. Even under the wagon, they were panting pretty hard at midday, so we ended up moving them back to the barn to cool down, but I’m hopeful that I can get into a steady routine and finally make friends with the mobile fence.
~Joy
