Water buffalo can be quite docile and easy to manage and they're often not dehorned for that reason. Their management is otherwise similar to cattle. Brahman cattle would be a bigger worry, I've known them to just tear down and haul themselves over any fence they can scale, electric or not, but of course everything really depends on the owner. If he's going to milk them, they must be somewhat manageable as opposed to wild. However, if you have more grass than the neighbor, you never know.

My first thought was only one wire? Is it on top of an existing fence or is that all there is?

If you, your calves, foals, kids, or dogs touch the wire they won't be injured, but they might learn not to touch it again. I have about the most powerful charger on the market, and getting zapped isn't that bad, it only smarts for a few seconds. The benefit of modern chargers is that the electricity is pulsed through the wire intermittantly, so anything that gets shocked only gets a split second pulse. Older chargers used to supply a steady current and I don't know if they're sold anymore. If you go near the fence you may hear it ticking if it's up against a blade of grass - those are the pulses. Electric fences work on high voltage and very low amperage, unlike 120 volt high-amp household appliances. Electric fences aren't as potentially dangerous as a toaster or a frayed lamp cord, for example.

Water buffalo are intelligent and naturally docile and if handled appropriately and well fed should be fine as neighbours. That whiskery face and the direct stare does them no favours but it's only the packaging.

I'm still waiting to try buffalo milk mozzarella, I'm told it's the real McCoy. Apparently buffalo have been used in Italy since the 17th century for this purpose.
Rose

Here is a link that might be useful: some w.b. info around the world

I would not be worried about them either. I'm not the most informed person in the world on this topic, but if they were so difficult to manage they wouldn't be used as workhorses in some parts of the world.

Water buffalo are, if selected from the right ancestry, quite domesticated. Italy has raised them for years, and children care for them in Asia. The ones that went feral in Australia are totally wild.

I know of one Vietnamese buffalo that stompled a military jeep into scrap metal because the jeep ran into the buffalo. If you annoy them, they are faster and more agile than most cows.

I'm not worried as much about the buffalo as I am the fence. The fellow that owns the buffalo has 2 pieces of property. I know someone whose property borders the other land. He says that the electric fence used to keep the buffalo confined is pretty high voltage. He has warned his young son not to touch the fence as he's afraid it might electrocute him. My dogs occasionally wander over to the neighbor's place after a rabbit so I'm worried about them touching the fence and getting killed. If my child saw one of her dogs being hurt she might try to save it and get hurt herself. Are there limits on the amount of voltage and electric fence can put out? Is there any way a person can "soup up" a fence charger? There is a regular barb wire fence around the place and he's stringing 2 strands of electric wire on the inside of the barb wire fence.

Kids and dogs learn pretty fast not to touch the fence again, believe me. They will (and so do I) yell like crazy for a while, but they'll be fine, and more careful next time. If there was actual danger of eletrocution, the fence chargers would be illegal.

All I know is when we installed our electric fencing several years back, the company that sold the parts had a warning against allowing small children (under 2 yrs) touching the fence.....they could be killed. I didn't have small children, so paid no attention, but did remember it. When the grandkids were here, we unplugged it.

gld

If a dog touched its nose to an electric fence, it wouldn't need rescuing, it wouldn't drop to the ground in convulsions, and it wouldn't get killed - it would yelp and run away. Electric fences were designed specifically for that purpose - to keep livestock in and dogs and other four- and two-legged predators out. But they don't kill or injure; if they did, fencelines would be littered with dog carcasses and they aren't.

Same story with cats, small wild animals, baby goat kids or lambs weighing less than 12 - 15 lbs... they're not injured, they just learn to stay away from the wire. Small animals sometimes teach themselves to hop between the wires, and they wouldn't do that if it was that horrible to get shocked. Electric fences don't electrocute people or animals, unless there was something like that along the Berlin Wall or at a maximum security prison.

Livestock fences are high voltage - 10 - 11,000 volts is the maximum limit manufactured AFAIK. Others may be 2,500 volts on up to 10,000. You need higher voltage for some difficult to hold livestock like goats or to charge fences with a heavy weed load or to cover 10 - 25 miles of wire. The thicker the hide of the animal, the higher the voltage should be, roughly 2000 volts per mm of hide is the rule of thumb. As I said before, though, both the amperage and time are low and not injurious.

There's no need to soup up a charger, though theoretically anything is possible. It seems unlikely since the owner wouldn't want to injure his water buffalo, himself, or any of his own pets, friends or family. 10,000 volts is more than sufficient, but his charger might be only half that and still work effectively. My neighbor went ballistic when I installed an electric fence, worried about his kids, that's very common. If you tell kids not to touch electric fences, they generally won't... the neighbor's didn't. Kids around here live with hundreds of miles of electric fence wire or tape and have no problems with it.

His wire arrangement sounds like mine. It keeps the stock from getting torn up on the barbed wire if they're inclined to challenge it and helps keep smaller animals out.

I've been told, by friends with a young child (now 3) and electric fences, that children under two or so don't connect the pain with the fence, and so don't let go, and can be electrocuted if they stand there long enough and take repeated pulses through the heart. It's rare, but it happens. Any older than that, and they have sense enough to let go.

Katey

Sounds like it's worth a visit with your neighbor. Express your concerns and ask what sort of fencing he's putting up. If you couch all this concern with interest in the new animals, he'll be much more likely to share his ideas. That way he won't be on the defensive from the get-go.
Carla

I don't think an electric fence could electrocute anyone. We run some nasty juice through our high tensile for the cows. My dog (37 lb.) decided to stick her nose to it just 2 days ago. She yelped pretty bad, and then ran back to the house w/ her tail between her legs and never once looked back. Quick lesson learned!
I don't think I'd want my 16 month old to touch it, but we keep him WAY away from it. I'd just teach the kids that they are not to go near it and be very specific about what happens to them if they do. It doesn't feel real good. I HATE the sensation of being zapped. And trust me, I've only been zapped a dozen times or less. You learn to respect electricity very quickly.
As someone else pointed out, all the fence chargers today are pulse chargers. They emit a zap every 2 seconds or so. Eliminated the "electrocution" aspect of the everything.
Good luck... and post some pics of the water buffs when he gets them. I'm interested to see what they look like all out in a pasture.
Erin

High voltage is NOT automatically lethal. A proper electric vence has high voltage and low current = very few amps.

FYI - the voltage of the spark that zaps your hand when you touch a doorknob, or your sibling's ear, after shuffling across a carpet is in the 10-20,000 volt range.

Are you worried about the fence, or the water buffalo? I didn't see this post and mentioned in the other "buffalo" thread that my parents have an extremely docile water buffalo...it's extremely passive and sweet.

We have all electric fences and there is no inherent risk IMO. Just like teaching a child "hot" and keeping them away from the stove or fireplace. There should be no reason why a small child should be alone around an electric fence used for large animals anyway. It's just like having a pool or a busy road out front. You just don't put them at risk and you keep them away from it.

Aloha,

You should have some sort of your own fence to keep kids, foals, calves, dogs and such away from his water buffalo AND his electric fence.

As they say: "Good fences make good neighbors."

A hui hou,
Cathy

We did lose a goose (about 20 pounds, not that far from a toddler) to an electric netting fence, so I think it _is_ possible for multiple zaps to stop the heart. She became tangled in it, but didn't strangle; it was the electricity that killed her. This was a pulse-type battery powered charger from Premier.

Katey

AGain though, a 20 pound child should under no circumstances be near an electric fence, a busy road, or an old well. Poor goose didn't have a baby sitter! ;)

I have electic fences to keep my cows and horses contained. When my daughter was 3 she grabbed the fence because she didn't believe me or had to prove it to herself that it REALLY DOES BITE. She yelled like crazy but was unharmed. Then my little Angel had her 6 week old kitten touching it "don't ask, I have no idea why she thought it would teach the kitty a lesson early??> The kitten touched the fence several time before I could rescue him and he was unharmed. He wouldn't let my daughter within 100 yards for quite awhile and never went over by that part of the pasture again, as far as I know.

Your pets, critters and daughter will be unharmed and learn VERY quickly to avoid electric fences.

I can't believe that someone is willing to milk those critters - the sale value of it must be very high. Would love to see pictures of the Water Buffalo though.

When our kids were little, my brother had cattle at our place. Our kids would walk up and grab the fence and not get a shock. My brother was sure the fence was not working.He would just shake his head everytime they took ahold of the fence, cringing at the thought of it hurting them. It was the rubber soles on their shoes that protected them. Rubber soles don't help when the grass is wet tho...Even little ones learn what "hot" is - they do get the concept quickly.