Really it goes on forever and ever…

Phase 2 of fencing.

I went up on the hillside to do a little more fencing.  Our temporary electric woven wire fencing shipped on Monday.  So we are are trying to install all the metal woven wire we own to maximize the area covered by the temporary electric fence.  It was cold and windy yesterday but I decided I had better work on fencing anyways.  I went to the top of the back hill and rolled out my last large roll of scrap metal wire.  Unfortunately, I had not made it up to the top of the hill when I was burning so I had to clean up the fence by hand.  There was a lot of dead debris in the fence line and I had left the pitchfork down in the barn.  I just used my boots, a piece of broken wooden fencing and my arms.  I cleaned up about 300 feet of fenceline.  I stopped when I got to the end of the woven fence I had unrolled on the ground.  I then started to take the three strands of bottom barb wire off the existing fence.  I didn’t get it all loose before I had to go get ready for work.  I need to install a rock crib at the end of the woven wire so I can tighten that section of fencing, detatch and roll up bottom three strands of barb wire and raise top four strands and then install the woven wire then just tighten it all. 

While I was musing and working I decided to boycott all future wooden rock cribs.  It takes me about 16 pieces of split rail to make a single wooden rock crib.  The current price for a rail is around $8 each.  So each rock crib costs around $128.  I need to build 6-8 each time I run up the hillside, at a total cost of approxmately $1000.  Plus, I need at least 9 wooden posts to cross the bottoms at $15 each for a total cost of $135.  There needs to be a gate below and above at a cost of $125/each or $250.  Add in one roll of smooth wire at $85 and around $100 for woven wire.  Oh, and don’t forget the three panels to cross the creek for  $75.  Creating a grand total of $1775 to run a subdividing fence up the hillside.  Now it did not cost me that this time because I used on hand split rail and tied into an existing fence across the bottoms.  But due to labor and costs I am going to use the cow panel method of rock cribs.  You just take a 16 foot cow panel and cut it in half.  Now bend the eight foot pieces into circles and tie it to itself with its own exposed wire ends.  Tack in one wooden post (an old one from the ground) fill with rocks and you have a $14 rock crib that will not rot as fast as a wooden one.  So I am guessing the next subdivision will cost around $700.  I can substitute a piece of cow panel for one of the gates or save another $110 and just use cow panels for both gates and cut the price down to $600.  $600 seems a lot more reasonable.  I would like to subdivide up the hill four more times.  Once that is done I may even separate out the hillsides from the bottoms to allow us more flexibility.  We need to be able to rotate the animals around so that the pastures all have time to grow back without any livestock pressure. It is getting there. 

Phase 2 of the fencing I went down and walked the fence line headed up to the old well.  In the picture of the bottom pasture above the reconstructed fence would go almost to the power line on the left hand side.  It has woven wire in place for the first 400 feet.  I would just need to install a new H-brace at the end of the woven wire, tighten the wires and add one strand of smooth wire and about 25 metal T-posts to fix this fence.  I would need to cover the metal gate with a cattle panel also.  This would let us use the new electrical fence for the other two sides only. Coincidentally, this would be where I would want to subdivide back up the hill. Not going to happen this year, next year’s project.

 It has been very rainy here lately, which is good because we need the moisture.  The only problem is the ticks like a cool wet spring.  I was looking down at my leg and saw a tick crawling up my pant leg while on the hillside.  That was yesterday, and I am still thinking every itch is a crawling insect on my body.  The dog also had a tick on him, so I treated him with tick medicine.  I don’t like ticks. 

Fresh snow in April!

We had a productive weekend.  It has been raining for several days so I was authorized to burn weeds.  My track record in the past is a pretty grey when it comes to using fire as a cleanup tool.  Don’t get me wrong it works great, I just tend to burn down some “extra” stuff.  It was actually raining on Saturday when I started to burn, I had to get a cheap yellow plastic rain jacket to stay dry.  It was almost perfect burning weather.  I would have liked the weeds to be a little drier but eventually the wind started to really blow and that made up the difference!  I burned out about 80% of the fence line that needs woven wire.  I ran out of propane early and had to run to town to get more.  I came in from burning for dinner and Annmarie informed me I was not answering my cell phone.  I reached down and no cell phone was on me.  After dinner while it was still light we went back out and traced my burn path.  I lost it 20 feet from where I stopped burning.  Luckily, it stopped raining during dinner and had just started when we found the phone.  It survived. 

Hillside fence completed, upper portion.

 Kelly came by on Sunday and we went outside to work on fence despite the blowing wind.  We split all the wooden stays we could from my pile next to the road and loaded up on tools and tackled the hillside fence.  We strung three more strands, installed all the stays, erected a gate and completed the upper 16 feet.  Panels across the creek are the only thing left.  I have the panels they just need to be drug over there and installed.  By the time we finished the wind was howling!  It was easier to walk uphill then downhill.  I sprung the door on the pickup trying to get inside.  It took me almost a minute to get the door shut.  It was crazy.  We opted to quit fencing for the day and went into the old house to organize my tools and to see if there really was a floor.  A couple of hours later all the tools were put away.  The used toolbox I got this fall has tools in it now!  I used the wooden draws on the new dresser for bits and pieces and screws to get them organized.  My screw shelf was overflowing.  I am going to start putting bolts and misc in the the dresser and just screws and staples on the shelves. 

Hillside fence completed, lower portion.

Now the drawers just need to be labeled so I can find everything.  We did install my second fluorescent light (from my sister’s garage) over the workbench and plugged it in tandem with the other one so the wall switch operates both.  The lighting is much better now.  Our sheep pasture is very short.  We need a solid week of warm weather to get the grass to jump up and grow.  Since that is not happening I am going to use the last large roll of woven wire I have to go across the top of the hillside from the newly completed hillide fence.  We just purchased 450 feet of electrified woven wire fence on spikes and a solar energizer pack (panel, charger, battery and case) to electrify the temporary fence.  We are going to start moving the sheep out into the unfenced pasture.  There is a lot of grass out there just no good fence to keep the animals inside.  If we keep bordering our good fence we will be able to expand the area the electric fence covers. I ordered everything on Saturday (97#, thank goodness for free shipping) so it should be here this week.  I will go check the scrap metal yard today for more woven wire, it is going to become my habit until I have a mile of rolled wire, a weekly constitution. 

Kelly has offered to help me out a couple of days a week when he is up working at the base.  So I might be able to get the fencing done in a month with his help.  If I do it alone it will take me about 2-3 months.  We feed him well, plus he doesn’t even have to pay me for the exercise regimen I put him through.  I guarantee he can lose 10-15 pounds over the summer helping me out on the farm!

Skinning/washing pole and cutting table.

 Yesterday was a productive day.  Kelly, from work, came out to the house and we worked on installing a pole system so we can skin out and wash off an animal carcass.  I put it near the chicken coop so we could get a hose to the area for cleanup and it is out of sight from the house.  So if you are inside the house you cannot see it.  There were a couple of old small power poles stashed on the property so we used them.  I may have to shorten the chain so it is right next to the cross pole.  It will give us a few more inches of lift.  The poles are sunk into the ground three feet so they are pretty sturdy.  We reused the old wood bolts and washers from the foot bridge that was replaced last year.  The 45 degree pieces are from the trumpet vine arbor that got broken from the ice sliding off the house roof.  I am trying to repurpose as much stuff as possible so we don’t have to buy new. 

The cutting table is a stainless steel top from a restaurant remodel that Lee is doing and he brought it out for me.  I happened to have some cedar left over from the new foot bridge so we used cedar legs and supports to make the new feet for the table.  I still have to install three braces about 18 inches off the ground but we used up all three drill batteries and needed to wait for a recharge.  So after a snack we opted to go up to the boneyard and shoot guns instead. 

Just installed poles and farmer me.

 The weird thing was the sheep carcass I had just taken up there last week was gone!  A few tufts of hair was all that was left.  Yet there was a whole dessicated possum that had been untouched by the predators.  I guess everyone likes lamb. 

I found another piece of old equipment out by the CRP field.  I will try and drag it down to the scrap pile after I figure out what it used to do.  Just looking at it I cannot tell.  I am pretty sure it is missing a bunch of pieces so it is most likely going to be scrap metal.  There was an article this week in the local newspaper about theives stealing old scrap metal from farms and selling it.  The sheriff’s solution for this problem is for the farmer/land owner to sell the scrap themselves before someone steals it.  A very pragmatic solution for a problem that you cannot police.  This was why we moved all the aluminum irrigation pipe near the house last summer.  Out of sight, out of mind.  I will roundup the last of the pipe this year so it is all in one place. 

Stainless steel cutting table.

I would like to install a little deer netting around the newly installed apparatus and plant some pasture grass seed.  I need to protect the seed from the chickens then as it grows protect the new sprouts from the sheep.  I can hopefully get that done this weekend. 

Now I need to start back in on the fence and making some more fence stays. 

Future barn roof.

I went out after dinner for a couple of hours and finished the gate so we could let the cows back out into the car area.  I had to redig the gate center post and add a couple of posts.  I was a little generous with my guesstimate when I installed the gates and drilled the holes with the tractor.  I got it to work out. 
I unloaded all the used tin roofing from the trailer and stacked it so it is ready to go when I start back in on the barn roof some time this summer.  Not sure when that is going to occur as the fence has priority.  I picked up all my tools and equipment at the new gate area today, now I just need to go down and toss every thing into the trailer and sort the burnable, scrap metal and trash.  I want to get it all cleaned up.  One of the advantages to fixing the fence is I have managed to scrounge up another six cow panels for use elsewhere.  I will need at least three to cross the creek on the new divider fence I am installing up the hill, but that leaves me some extra for future use.  I think I will use one of them as a gate on the upper hillside also.  It is not a gate we will be accessing often but a panel will make it a lot easier to open and close when we do use the gate. 

Redone fence on the right with new gate in the distance.

New corner with double gate, I still need to clean up my mess.

 It looks like the fence goes on forever!  I need to run this fence all the way down to the road which is just past the building on the right hand side of the picture.  The fence has a curve in it so I am just going to run the woven wire down the curve and make it snug.  I am not going to straighten out the fence rows.  It would take too much time.  Up on the hill the fence lines are all straight.  This is actually the only place on the whole farm where the fence is curved to follow the field line and not a straight line. 

Sheep attempting to steer clear of the dog.

Annmarie has been very ill this week, which caused the cows to choose a day I was gone to act out.  The stupid little bull got out again, crossed the road and jumped in with 20 full size angus bulls.  Annmarie was afraid they would just stomp him into the ground so she drove down to see him with Zeke in tow.  The bulls were treating him like a teenager calf and pretty much ignoring him.  Annmarie decided to leave the bull alone and just notify the bull owners.  She went back to the house and had Zeke chase the heifers into the barn lot.  The bull owners came and put our bull in a horse trailer and brought him back to the house, he ended upin the barn lot.  Which so far has been impenetrable.  No one knows for certain where he got out but I am certain it is the incomplete gate area.  I need to get it done.

Today the girls and I went out to worm the whole flock.  We had a couple of boys to rubberband (castrate), and one to retag.  Zeke herded everyone into the barn then the girls started to try and catch everybody.  The girls wanted to just grab fur and hold on.  I kept encouraging the belly flop method but it wasn’t catching on.  I finally had to start catching also.  The belly flop method does work, I may have had more sheep dung covering my entire body than either girl but my success rate was higher.  I even had a twofer!
We found a couple of uhohs.  One of the little boys I banded had a testicle!  I missed it.  So later I will have to fix it.  I sat one of the ewes on her butt to worm her and noticed she had a necrotic udder.  She must have caught mastitis.  The oddest part is she never got sick and her baby never suffered.  We spent three hours out in the barn and all of us were sore.   I put her down and took her body up to the bone yard.  I had to use the tractor as the pickup needs a new rear end and a new fuel pump.  Both are going to cost some money.

One of the good things to come out of today is the girl’s motivation to assist me in building a sheep sorting chute is very high.  They do not want to wrestle 50 sheep again any time soon.