They plan to save crops from pest hares using electricity

Having stumbled upon an electric fence, the obliques will bounce off

A new way to protect breeding crops from hares was recently patented by specialists from the All-Russian Research Institute of Oilseeds named after V.S. Pustovoita (Krasnodar). Kuban residents proposed to repel furry pests using an electric fence.

The authors of the development emphasize that hares are a real scourge for farmers and gardeners, but especially for breeders: in a short time, cute animals can nullify all their many years of work. And although humans have accumulated considerable experience in fighting hares over many years (poisoned baits, fences around garden beds), almost all of them are either quite expensive, or ineffective, or both. The exit, according to Krasnodar scientists, is a fence through which a current is passed. It would seem that the idea is not new; the authors mention a fence for pigs. This is a wire spiral (like a Bruno spiral, only without spines) through which a current is passed. The experience of the creators of the anti-hare fence has shown that the pig version does not work with hares, if only because they jump over the spirals and slip between the turns. Therefore, the authors chose the option where the current wire is stretched horizontally. Such fences are also known; they are made to prevent cows, wild boars, sheep and other animals from entering or leaving the perimeter. The main goal is to prevent the animal from slipping under the wire and jumping over it.

When starting the development, the researchers took into account the most important parameters of the animal: length – 57-68 cm, height at the withers – 25-30 cm, ear length – 13-15 cm, up to 7 kg, the fact that they are capable of speeds of up to 60 km/h , as well as their cunning. Based on these data, Krasnodar inventors decided to string 5 wires along the perimeter of the protected area (and not 1-2, like their predecessors), connected by a high-voltage pulse generator connected to a power source. We experimentally established what distance should be between them, the first wire – 15 cm from the ground, the second – at 30, the third, fourth and fifth – at 48, 68 and 88. The first experiment showed that this is not enough: the most dexterous individuals jump over and such a fence: having touched the top wire, they do not bounce off, but jump inside. After lying down, they start eating as if nothing had happened. Then the researchers used a trick – they installed “couplers” on the fence posts – additional posts located at an angle of 35 degrees to the main ones. This design turned out to be quite reliable. Having touched the wire, which was stretched between the inclined posts, the hares jumped away and did not jump further.