Not entirely the same as you but I recently moved to a new property with 2000 acres (900 acres ) of protected forest behind me. The deer are out of control and extremely over populated due to no one hunting. I wanted to setup a very large garden and orchard so ive experimented with simple solar powered electric fencing and so far its worked 100%. Just simple fence posts made from pine saplings, I screw the insulator into them and run 3 rows of wire. Once is about 6" off the ground for small animals like rabbits. The second row is 2ft off the ground and third row is 3 ft. The deer get zapped once and learn 'dont touch'. I watched them all fall eating grass along the fence but never did they try the other side.
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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3 ft is easily jump-able by deer, but they might not try if they've been shocked by the fence.
Agreed but they're now scared of it. They're in my yard daily, 3-5 at a time and so far so good.
I've got a big piece of land, it is all fenced with a decently high fencing
As far as nature is concerned, no you don't. There is just land. Animals don't know nor care about property laws.
An electric fence won't stop animals from digging underneath. It works with domesticated animals, but not so well with wild animals.
I reckon your best bet is to focus on the area of land where you wish to keep animals in rather than trying to keep animals out of the entirety of the land.
Repairing fencing is also just a chore of farming that you need to get used to. To reduce the chore, and aid nature at the same time, consider making hedges instead of fences. There's many tutorial videos on various styles of English hedging if you want to give it a try.
And finally, despite capitalist agrochemical farming's insistence, farming is about working with nature, not against it. Good luck!
You sound like someone who has never had six months of a crop destroyed overnight by a couple deer.
Almost as if I've invested time and effort into appropriate hedging ;)
OP was complaining about repairing fencing and asking whether electric fencing will help against wolves and boars. And the answer is, not as well as thick hedging, which not only protects crops but also doesn't have the same amount of regular maintenance. It also has the advantage of providing habitat and food for smaller mammals and birds.
We are a part of nature, not separate from it. If we wish to farm sustainably it needs to be understood that our crops are only as safe as the animals around are. If they're hungry due to ecosystem collapse, our crops are at risk. Ensure the wildlife is well fed via other means though, and our crops can survive relatively unscathed.
This is Solarpunk farming, not Agrocorp farming.
A moat. Ideally filled with acid or lava. /j
You could nail some chicken wire to the bottom of fence and bury it as best as possible, should make it difficult to burrow underneath.
Long fences are expensive and labour-intensive.
Electric fences are reliable, but you need experience setting them up.
- Dimensions (height, distances between lines)
- Insulators in the right places
- The right type of lines
- The right power
- Keeping vegetation away
I've heard, and hopefully someone with a little more experience can chime in, that bears can bust through an electric fence pretty easily because they are a bit less cautious of running through obstacles than deer are, for example. I've heard that some people will hang little bits of meat or something on the fence itself when they first install it so that any curious bears will approach the fence itself and get a shock.
I highly recommend thorny hedges. Something which has deep roots, grows tall and fast, and is drought-tolerant. For example, Carissa carandas. It was used to great effect.