Finishing the Fence

Way back at the beginning of December….

We built a fence. We got a lot of work done in a single day, but left some of the brackets unattached, but this was no big deal we came back and got 3/4 of them put in a few days later. Couldn’t quite finish before sundown and time for supper, but this was no big deal. We would just come in and put the last ones in later that week.

Or not.

A month later, here we are, returning to the almost unsupported end of the fence.

When a woven wire fence is not attached to T-posts adequately, it begins to sag. The top and bottom wires are heavier than the middle wires, so they retain their tension longer, while the middle wires begin to stretch slightly and the whole thing bows in the middle. It’s even worse if some critter squeezes under the fence, as probably happened here, and leaves the bottom wire resting on the lug of the T-post.

Seppi to the rescue!

“I brought a shovel, Dad!”

We finally got to meet the neighbor behind the eastern fence thanks to Ellie snooping through a loose board in the fence.

Almost done with the brackets, time to hang the gate.

The gate was simple enough but the latch required some finagling. (If you are wondering why I have a hammer and a roll of wire in my back pocket, it’s because Seppi was practicing being sneaky and putting stuff in my pockets when I wasn’t looking. How stealthy was he?

Let’s just say he could use a little more practice.

This was a little tricky because the gate latch is attached to a T-post which can angle slightly back and forth. We want to have the electricity running on a high line that will keep it about 6 1/2 feet off the ground. This will put some tension on the top of that T-post and pull it in towards the gate. This will pull the latch into the gate and prevent it from opening. We fixed that by running a guy line from the top of the T-post to one of the cedar posts holding up the neighbor’s fence.

In the process we discovered that this wild plum is trying to leaf out. In January.

Ellie calls it a Wild Doogie Plum.

It’s a Redwall thing.

Back at the east end of the field setting up the latch that will connect to the hot wire from the shop.

The hook hangs low enough one of the grownups will be able to connect it and disconnect it, but the kids won’t be able to.

Then we ran the electric line (cold) to the other end of the field.

Evie and Ellie helped run the wire, and also practiced their photography.

We got a little tangled at this end.

But the fence is finally finished.

Now it is time to move the sheep and cows out of the sacrificial paddock they have been in for a month, and into the laneway.

This was pretty simple, but we had to hustle them through this paddock that we seeded two months ago because they wanted to stop and eat all the fresh, tender young grass. Sorry guys, that needs to wait until spring.

There is some grass on the laneway, they can nibble on that for a while. We are not sure how far out Iris is from calving, but we want her to have access to the barn when she does start getting ready.