“A day in the country is worth a month in town”Christina Rossetti

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Fence Work

We have about five acres of our pastures surrounded with five or six strands of high tensile fence for the goats. Additionally we have four sets of electro net. Five if you count the forty feet section Kencove donated for the Livestock Camp in July.
Every day that we take out the goats, we have to make sure the fences are on, hooked up to power and up. There is rarely a problem, but when there is it can be easy to miss. Before my knee blew out last year, Jock and I would faithfully walk the fence lines checking on fence and fields. Its another reason to keep the area mowed around the fields so that we have clear access to the fences. When we were away this summer, one of the "assigned" jobs was walking the fence. Sounds like a tough job, but somebody has to do it. John Wayne needed a horse to do this. Our good neighbor Karen was walking her dog two evenings ago and came into the barn letting us know we had some fence down. It was laying in the grass where she had almost walked on it. That could have been a "shock". It was a bit late to see the needed repairs, but we turned off the power and checked it out the next day.
Luckily this opening was not in the area the goats were browsing. What we couldn't figure our was what could have done the damage. Deer would have clipped the top lines. These were the middle and lower strands. The hit was so powerful that it popped the lines at the connectors. It also popped a large staple around the corner in the alley. The repairs weren't to bad, but we are still curious as to what could have hit the fence. Bear? Wild Pig? It had to be something big.So if you see someone looking like they are taking a nice walk along a fence line, remember, this is work - really!

2 comments:

Ray955 said...

Sounds like a fine days work to me :)

Lois Evensen said...

Ah, yes, a stroll through the 'south forth.' It really is so John Wayne-like, isn't it. ;)