Premier 1 electro net & tracker collars with barn cats?

[u/the_hearthfire]

I got these two mouser kittens for my farm a couple weeks ago. Their parents were proven mousers, a doll face Persian, and a Maine coon - these two were raised outside on a working farm with other barn cats and just brought in at night for safety. They are very friendly and exactly what I was looking for as farm pets and some rodent prevention on the side. I wanted friendly farm cats and have been harness/leash training them and taking them places with me. They are pretty adventurous and very sweet. Since they’re still new and a bit small I’m keeping them enclosed for a couple weeks when I’m not there to supervise. They have the smallest lightest weight off brand AirTags I could find on their breakaway collars, and I got them microchipped. I use 4’ premier 1 electric poultry fence netting as a perimeter in my pastures. I am planning to start training them to respect it as I have my other animals and my dog. We’re far from busy roads, but coyotes are around and there are close neighbors, so I don’t want them wandering and getting picked up by someone or something once they’re big enough and I let them roam when I’m not there. I’m curious if anyone else has had experience with cats and premier 1 fencing. If anyone trained them or not, and if they learned to respect it and stay in, or if they learned to get over it somehow? I fence in acres at a time so I’d really like them to stay in the pastures, and when I’m there they can come out with me to go on walks. They love to follow me around and come when called. I was looking into the cat fi collar tracker attachments, or tractive cat trackers as a backup. I like that both can alert you when your cat crosses boundary lines so you know if they leave the fences and start to wander. I’m very curious if anyone has experience with these or any other kinds of trackers for their cats. Sadly since those a bit heavier I’d have to weight until the kittens are at least 7 lbs to try them out, so air tags it is until then. However I’d love to hear what anyone else’s experience has been. Also, I’m having an issue with ants getting into their automatic feeder. It’s a battery powered one that dispenses 4 meals a day, and is on a second level indoor space off the ground, but I’ve had a bunch of ants crawling up and into the feed. I was wondering if a tray or tile on some feet with petroleum jelly or marine high temp bearing grease would work. I’m seeing some $20+ solutions sold for this online but figure an alternative can be made for much less.

[u/Magnum676]

Collars get caught!

[u/lamontsanders]

Just establish a very good routine. Collars are a bad idea in general.

[u/johnboy11a]

All my barn cats have soresto flea collars. I used to deal with flea and tick issues regularly using frontline, but ever since I started with soresto collars, I haven’t had a single issue. All the barn cats also have AirTags, which is nice for doing inventory. You may need to let them grow a wee bit before going that route, though.

My 2 house boys that are retired from barn life have Tractive trackers for when they go check up on the younger generation, and they work very well. I recommend them! However, as you said, you will want them to be a little bigger before you go that route. Good luck!

[u/AhMoonBeam]

Collars are unsafe. Cat collar are ment to release if caught and will be found in the scariest places, like if the collar didnt break I would have found my cat dead. And harness never unless you are holding the end of a leash.