Internet mauled by bears

Thu Sep 22 15:55:04 UTC 2011

Can we take this offline?  I don't believe livestock behavior patterns have
much operational content.

Thanks,

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Baugher [mailto:jason at thebaughers.com] 
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:31 AM
To: nanog at nanog.org
Subject: Re: Internet mauled by bears

On 9/22/2011 9:58 AM, JC Dill wrote:
> On 20/09/11 7:15 AM, Jason Baugher wrote:
>>
>> Horses are okay, but you have to tie things to the wire so they can 
>> see it. They're too dumb to remember where it is, apparently.
>
> This has nothing to do with the horse's ability to see or remember 
> where the fence it.  It has to do with the value (both financial and 
> emotional) the owner places on the animal, and the ensuing costs if it 
> breaks the fence.  Horses can get hurt quite easily, vet bills can run 
> into hundreds or thousands of dollars quite quickly.  Most horse 
> owners will spend far more than the replacement cost of the animal in 
> vet bills and husbandry to heal it when it gets injured, because the 
> animal has a "member of the household" status in their lives and can't 
> easily be replaced by a similar animal.  So they flag wire fences to 
> help the horse avoid getting hurt.  Then there's liability.  In many 
> states, if a horse gets out on the road and gets hit, the horse owner 
> is liable for the damages to the car and occupants.  If someone in the 
> car is injured or killed (likely if the horse is hit head-on and comes 
> thru the windshield) the liability costs can be significant, run into 
> millions of dollars.  For this reason, many equestrian insurance 
> policies require that electric fencing be flagged.
>
> Other livestock aren't as likely to cause fatal injuries to car 
> occupants if they are hit, because the animal's body is lower to the 
> road, less likely to come over the hood.
>
> jc
>
>
>
That's interesting to know. It's also interesting to note that other 
animals, with the possible exception of sheep, will not run through an 
electric fence once they know that it is there. Sheep do it intentionally.