Hot Wire Tutorial

Enough of the goofy precognitive dream stuff and depressing childhood memories........let's get back to THE FARM:

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To keep our bovine critters confined to their assigned pasture area, we use a "hot wire", otherwise known as an electric fence. There's an intermittent pulsing of electricity moving through the wire you see in the photo.

The fencepost is a metal rod, with the wire running through the yellow plastic holder which grips the rod. The plastic acts as an insulator, of course.
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Using the above information, can you deduce whether or not something is wrong with this next scene?

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That's right.........the heifer should not be able to lean against the wire without getting a shock, if the jolts of electricity are passing through it properly. Either this wire is not hot, or this heifer is a numb one! I noticed this the other day and had to tell Husband about it right away, before the entire herd discovered the "cold wire" and escaped! This time the problem was easily fixed.......an electric fencer box by the barn was not plugged in. The fencer apparatus is what sends the electricity rhythmically into the wire. The power jolts must be spaced intermittently, or otherwise an encounter with the hot wire could cause fatal electrocution, to animals or people!

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Here's a corner fence and post setup, with white ceramic insulators being put to use:

And, here's a braced fencepost connected to old-fashioned woven-wire fencing from way out at the far end of the farm:
This last photo shows brand-new barbed wire fencing that Husband put up last spring. This corner-post configuration makes use of a cast-off item recognizable only by dairy people, most likely........and that would be the black rubber "inflations" hanging down in the background below the the wire.
An "inflation" is the inside part of the milking machines.......the part that intermittently squeezes and relaxes the teat of a cow during the milking process (hence, inflating and deflating). Inflations must be changed every couple months, thus we end up with piles of cast-off ones, of which a few end up being used on fences for their insulating capabilities. Husband ties the end of a wire to an inflation, giving him something to safely grab onto to move the wire around, such as for a gate out in the field.

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I've accidentally touched a hot wire many times over the years. Quite a shock to your system that is........for a split second you know what's coming, but its impossible to pull away, then ka-POW!.........you feel the WHUMP which takes your breath away and you wonder if your heart is still beating! Then its over, leaving you vibrating slightly and feeling as if you have a whole new outlook on the world!

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(There, now.......if anyone is writing a book set on a dairy farm,----a most exciting place for sure-----this blogpost contains a fence-full of suspenseful info to keep your readers inside the PLOT of the story. Should they tire of the plot they're in and go leaning over the fence, well you now know what to do about that........plug into the source of power and GIVE 'EM A JOLT!!!)

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