Electric fence is a form of barrier that is used in the agricultural world and especially popular amongst farmers. They are not your standard barrier; instead they have an electric current flowing through them that is touched will cause an electric shock to travel through your body. The effect the shocks can have on you range from painful to uncomfortable but sometimes they can be lethal, electric fencing is not designed to kill only to keep animals within a certain. There are some instances where electric fencing will be used to keep people out of places but this is a very different situation and these are the types of places where lethal voltages are used, often sectioning off areas containing sensitive material.
These fences are designed to create an electrical circuit upon touch by either animal or human, once contact is made a component called a 'power energiser' converts power into a pulse, this pulse is a brief burst of high voltage that flows through the wire on average once per second. It is when an animal or a person touches the fence that the circuit becomes complete and the voltages are released, there are some fences that are permanently switched on, these consume more electricity and costs more to keep operational.
Farmers rely on these barriers to keep their livestock within a certain area, if there were no barriers they would simply run away. These are also very popular amongst horse owners and will be found around stables, the electricity stops the horse from attempting to jump over the fence.
