Electric fence school
Shock level requirements—how much do I need?
Different types of animals require different voltage levels to control them.
- Most short-haired animals require a minimum of 700 volts.
- Long-haired animals need at least 2,000 volts.
- Some larger wild animals such as brown bears require between 5,000 and 7,000 volts.
Comparing the output of electronic fence chargers under varying loads
Several years ago, Canada's three prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) created a greatly-needed farm machinery testing facility known as PAMI (Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute). PAMI periodically issue well-conceived and factually-presented reports on the equipment they test. For electric fence chargers, PAMI introduced a simple chart concept to display the various shock levels under varying loads.
The closer the fence charger's output line is to the top of the chart at any point, the more powerful the output is. It is an excellent way to compare two fence chargers, providing you have the PAMI-style charts for the fence chargers in question.
Shown below are two PAMI-type charts, both for the same fence charger. One chart is for 3.3 miles of fence, the other is for 10 miles. The shock line (or 'curve') is higher for the shorter fence.
- Always be sure the charts for the fence chargers you are comparing are for the same length of fence or they are meaningless.
- Reading from left to right along the bottom of the charts are the green growth and insulator conditions, with the poorest insulators/thickest growth at the left end of the line.
- There are horizontal lines at the 700 and 2000-volt
levels. The lines represent the minimum animal control voltages for
short-haired and long-haired animals respectively.