Session Summary:

Low-impedance electric fencing is a technology that has helped drive the expansion of management intensive grazing throughout the Midwest. It is a valuable tool that has allowed livestock farmers to not only reduce their cost of production but also to reduce soil erosion and non-point surface water pollution while at the same time building soil organic matter.

The purpose of this session is to learn the suggested best management practices in applying low-impedance fencing, what mistakes are commonly made, and how to trouble shoot and fix possible problems. This session will include:
• Discussion of recommendations conventionally given to customers regarding fencer and trainer installations.
• Discussion of each of those recommendations, the basis for each, and present measurements made on operating farms as improvements are made for each recommendation with the changes that result. (For example, demonstrate how removing the grounding from the panel to a dedicated rod reduces levels, then move rod away from the buildings, and then add rods reduced the voltage levels.)
• Discussion of how fencers are constructed and how they operate.
• Discussion of how the voltage waveform actually changes as the circuit is changed (open circuit vs wire added), and how those waveforms actually are what would be predicted by the circuit design.
• Discuss of the performance of various meters in their ability to detect voltage transients that a fencer would put out.

About the Speaker:

Tom Cadwallader is the UW-Extension Agricultural Development Agent for Lincoln and Marathon Counties and helps coordinate the largest farmer run grazing network in Wisconsin. Tom has worked with low-impedance electric fence energizers and high-tensile electric fencing on university research
stations and private farms, including his own, for over 25 years. He drew on these experiences to set up the first fencing and grazing systems workshops in Wisconsin 12 years ago that have since been used as models for workshops in Michigan and Minnesota. Tom has also authored and co-authored several publications on electric fence construction, including the MREC publication “Installation and Operation of Fencers, Cow Trainers and Crowd Gates."

About the Speaker:

Tom Seidl is a Principle Engineer (Field Applications) with We Energies, where he has been employed for the past 27 years. For the past 19 years he has been involved in various field investigation activities, including stray voltage investigations on farms throughout their service territory.

About the Speaker:

Mr. Eake is the owner of Tom’s Fencing & Agricultural Service in Sheboygan Falls, WI. He has extension experience in the installation and servicing of electric fences.