Month: August 2017

Phil’s last fencing day

Steve HardinLeave a comment
I have been saving broken off T posts for some occasion. I was unsure of what exactly that occasion would be but I figured I would find a use eventually. Here is the use, I pounded in three posts to keep the barn wall from sliding off the rock again. 

The bull managed to push through the fence in the corner. He ripped out the panel and pushed out a board. I had only held the panel in place with staples. This time we lowered the board and screwed it in with long Fastenal anchors. We added a second board across the top and wrapped wire around the ends of the panel so it cannot be lifted or pulled away again. 

Phil came out to help on Saturday. The goal was to get the rest of the upper prime pasture enclosed and secured so we can let animals loose. The goal is everyone staying in place. We worked for nine hours and got all the outer fence secured. AnnMarie had told me there was another hole in the far corner. I was not convinced but we drove the whole fence to be sure. Guess who was right?  Yep the wife scores again. The cows had done the same thing for a third time!  Picked a corner and pushed out a panel. I again had only bent nails over to hold the panel in place. I used 3 inch staples on both sides and we wired the panels to the posts so they cannot be lifted even if the staples get popped out. We had to tighten one more back section of fence. I had added T posts and I the back section a couple of years ago but it looks like I need to add more. The main pasture is ready. We just need to sort the cows again. 

Damn bull!

Steve HardinLeave a comment
Well Friday was spent fixing stuff!  The bull was tired of being in a pen. He started throwing a fit and managed to knock the corner of the milkshed off its rock corner. Now in his defense gravity was the only thing keeping that corner on said rock. AnnMarie let him out of the pen so she could load the sheep up on Thursday. He promptly ran out into the barn lot and magically got out to be with the female cows. There is now another hole in the fence that will need help I be repaired.  I used the little tractor and tried to lift the corner up. No go it is over the 800# weight limit so I piled two pallets into the bucket and then tipped the bucket once it wouldn’t lift any more. The tilt hydraulics don’t have a governor so they will move regardless of weight!  This allowed me to lift it a couple of inches so I could get the wall back on the rock. I will need to pound in some stakes to prevent this from happening again. I had been meaning to put in stakes anyways. 

Since the bull was out this necessitated me repairing all the lower fence as quick as possible. So I loaded up the tractor with supplies and tooled on down toward the school house. I found a hole in the fence I did not know about. 
The cows had decided to make their own decisions about where to eat and my wishes were being ignored. I ended up adding a new wire and restretching and attaching the fence to the rock crib again. I tried to add a T post but I kept hitting rocks so I added another wooden stay. There was a roll of barn wire there so I used it. I remembered why I only use smooth wire. The stuff is horrible to handle and the animals don’t seem to care if it’s smooth or barn wire they treat it the same. It was very hot outside. 

The cow hole is now repaired but I had been told there was an opening down by the schoolhouse and this one was just an added bonus. 

Down by the schoolhouse there was a 20 foot section I had only stretched woven wire across. I thought the animals could not get to it due to the hillside. I was wrong. So I stretched three more strands and added some wooden stays. This should hold them I hope. All this took me six hours to repair. 

Million dollar man fences

Steve HardinLeave a comment
Sunday afternoon AnnMarie and I went to pickup a bunch of used fencing and animal supplies. We won’t use it all up immediately but there are several gates and a bunch of cow panels that will get used eventually. I like using them as rock cribs. The only real problem is they have to be entirely filled to the brim with rocks. It’s a lot of rocks!!  It was hot again. When we got home I unloaded the trailer. I inadvertently committed the trailer to be used in a parade next month. Which means I need to get the lights fixed, the license plate holder mounted, the fenders stiffened and the ramp holder lock replaced. So today after fencing I dropped it off at the welding shop so the repairs can be done. I will have enough time to hit it with a can of black spray paint to make it look fairly pretty. There is nothing I can do to make the pickup look pretty. 
The pickup does need some brake work and a new muffler. So this week I will work on getting the pickup repaired. 

The million dollar man came out to help me fence today. He would say he is only a $100k man but what are a few zeros between friends?  
We spent five hours fencing today. I taught him how to attach wire clips to woven wire. We spent the entire five hours clipping wire up to preinstalled T posts. There is another 16-20 hours of fence clipping necessary. I am working on enclosing a new section of ground so the animals will have a new grazing area. 

On the way back to the house I noticed that one of the trees/large bushes was covered in little round yellow things. I thought it might be apples. None of the trees in the upper prime pasture had ever produced fruit. Turns out it is a type of blonde plum and it’s not ripe yet!  It needs another 1-2 weeks. The tree is absolutely loaded with plums. I will be watching it closely so we can pick some when they are dead ripe. I want to make a few containers of freezer jam out of them. Plus, I want to eat them until I get sick. I suspect all the rain this year allowed the tree to flourish.