If you have experience with cattle, you might think the fence height of 900 mm, as seen in Figure 1 is too Iow. However, if you train British breeds of cattle for electric fences they won’t attempt to jump them. In some parts of Australia a four wire fence only 760 mm high is used for sheep and cattle.
Tropical breeds are an exception. They have been known to jump a fence cleanly without knowing it was electrified. Train these breeds in a paddock with a high electrified wire—if they are frightened of the fence they won’t jump it.
Animals rarely try to jump a fence at first; they usually have a go at pushing their way through. Once they receive a shock they give away any ideas of jumping. Animals that are notorious fence jumpers have often been cured by electrifying the top wire of a standard fence.
Length of Strain
It’s easy to strain around corners on insulation reels and it’s an advantage to have long lengths of unjoined wire. But make sure the wire is free running on all fence posts. When you apply the tension be quite certain the wire is free moving along its length.
In practice, strains are usually less than 1.6 km because of obstacles such as gates.
Figure 1 Indications of fence heights suitable for different enterprises from the Waratah Fencing Manual
