Someone PLEASE talk to me about electric fence and kids!!!

[PineBurrowPeeps]

My husband is VERY leery about the electric 2" polytape fencing that we are installing for the new horse.
He's leery because we have children, 3, with the smallest being 2 years old and he's terrified that she's going to touch the fence and be killed or seriously hurt from the shock.
We're installing 3 strands of the 2" polytape.
There have got be some other farm folk on this forum who have raised kids with livestock kept in electric fence?
Any reasurance or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You!

 

[Wynette]

We use electrified high-tensile wire for our pasture of horses. A shock will NOT kill a human, not even a little one, but it'll scare the dickens out of you! I would opt to not have it if I had little ones around, or maybe just hotwire the top strand for now, until they are old enough to understand and be more wary. Thing is, even adults that KNOW to be wary will every now & then shock themselves. So, if you have hot wire, it's going to happen - it's just a matter of when.

What are the livestock you're using it for?

 

[seminolewind]

Don't worry, it's more of a surprise than a pain. It won't hurt anyone, cept maybe someone with a pacemaker. Your kids will be fine, esp if they touch it once, it won't happen again.
I hate to tell you how many times I have hit that tape with my forehead, LOL

 

[Badhbh]

I workedon a horse farm from 13 to 17. I backed into the fence so many times I can't count. And my ex peed on one accidentally. Neither of us has been damaged. It hurts, and it'll scare the poo out of you, but that's about it.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

It's one horse.

We went this way because we simply couldn't afford to install regular rail fencing until this coming spring.

I guess I could more than likely always go outside before the little one does and turn off the fence just as a precaution. She's not outside for hours and hours on end.

 

[WriterofWords]

I've been zapped so many times it's not even funny, from the time I could walk until now and so far no serious injuries or brain damage lol. My son hit it when he was younger, no damage. I imagine if you were to tie him up in it and let it zap him/her continually there might be some damage, but just normal brushing up against it will just give them a healthy respect for it and they will understand "don't touch" much better!

 

[ninjapoodles]

I've had the same kind of experience as the others have posted about it being safe, but last time the topic came up here, patandchickens posted some stuff about children (toddlers) being killed by electric fence (I think by becoming TRAPPED in it somehow?). I have never known anyone who was harmed by hot-wire, and I myself have run into it more times than I can count, but if there's even a chance of danger, then I'd err on the side of caution.

My daughter has grown up around it, and on the horse fence it was never an issue because it was on the top of the fences. But when we got poultry, we ran three strands, low, middle, and top of the fences, and we sat her down and put the fear of electricity into her (she's five, almost six). So far, she has not gotten NEAR the thing, and won't touch it even if she can see that it's unplugged (we unplug it during free-ranging, and plug it in when we put everyone up at night).

 

[hatchaholic]

I've been zapped, so have a couple of the kids, and my husband actually peed on one when he was a kid as a dare.....It'll get your attention, but won't kill you.

 

[Katy]

We've always had electric fence for the cattle. My kids grew up around it and have all touched it at some point in time without it killing them and this is a fencer that will back a 2000 pound bull off.

 

[ams3651]

i dont think it can harm you but with kids around you might want to think about not having it stronger than it has to be. The kids will learn to respect it. I was zapped so many times it just seems like a vibration to me.

On a lighter note, my cousins were city kids we would wait till they were standing next to the fence and grab them then the fence....the kid on the end gets the zap

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