Our new sheep came from a farm that used electric netting to split up paddocks. Since I didn't know how they would respond to the electric rope I have been using I brought out the roll of electric netting I have used for the chickens for the past few years.
In trying to set up the electric netting I realized that I have become spoiled with the electric rope system I have devised. The electric netting was always difficult for me to move around mostly due to the shear weight of the roll and the bulkiness. We bought the 48" poultry netting (164 ft long) which weighs nearly twice as much as the 36" sheep netting (at 100 ft long). The videos of people holding the netting in one arm, walking along and sticking each post in the ground never worked for me. First, I could never carry the entire roll in one arm; second, our soil is shale with lots of little rocks. The spikes never go in easily. Third, our ground is very uneven so the netting would never sit quite flat to the ground. There would be areas where the netting sagged onto the ground and areas where a determined chicken could climb under the bottom wire.
With the roping system I am using now I use a tough step in post to make the holes for my cheap poles. Since the rope strings through the open loops on the poles I can move the poles to wherever I need them versus the netting with the poles attached. The rope requires a little more walking but is easier for me in my situation.
And our new friends figured out the electric rope very quickly and have had no trouble adjusting. Now I wonder if the chicken could be trained to the rope.
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