Building Fences Is More Fun Than It Sounds
Rotational grazing is a key principle in Bobby’s lamb and pig operation at Okfuskee Farm. This involves a lot of moving fencing around. He’s in the process of repairing old and putting in new permanent high-tensile fence in large paddocks across several properties where he grazes the sheep. Once big outer boundaries are up, it’ll be easier to rotate them through in smaller sections, since large pieces of fence will already be in place.
As discussed in previous entries, Bobby thins trees to transform forest into savanna (mixed trees and grass) to maximize productivity of the land. Just as on previous workdays, we piled up branches to be chipped into mulch later.
The woods where we were working had a beautiful view of the neighbor’s fields.
That property actually wrapped around and extended right up to the spot where I was standing when I took the picture. We were working inches from their electric fence, so felling some of these trees without ripping their fence apart became a tricky business.
As we worked, those distant cattle moseyed on over to check out what we were doing. One in particular was more curious than the rest, and the more I watched the closer it got.
Bobby’s dad was helping out that day, and we were assigned the deceptively difficult task of bolting in supports on an H-brace. The wires in an electric fence are pulled extremely tight, so the corners need to be heavily reinforced. Three posts had previously been put in about eight feet apart to form a right angle, and we were installing the horizontal support between them so they will stay upright for years to come. The supports we were using were nothing more than felled cedar trees with the branches removed. It’s a strong and naturally rot-resistant wood from the area we had been clearing anyway — perfect ecological recycling. The most difficult part of this job was getting the horizontal pieces to be exactly the right length, but we managed in the end.
Eventually the H-braces will be wired in as anchors for the rest of the fence.
These wires are connected to much lighter-duty posts in between the anchors, with additional anchor posts every so often for reinforcement or if the fence needs to change direction. I’m no electrician, but I do know that you don’t want anything conductive (plant matter included) to touch the wire and the ground at the same time, or you’re just pouring electricity into the ground and the fence holds no charge. The animals quickly learn to avoid a hot wire, so a grounded fence will work for a while (the cows in the above pictures were being held in with a dead wire — I don’t know if their owner knew), but it’s obviously best to avoid it whenever possible or you could lose thousands of dollars of livestock overnight. The plastic pieces the wire goes through are non-conductive, and serve to hold the wire away from the wood.
Farmers think of everything. The coil of fencing wire is heavy and awkward enough that it takes two grown men to move it, so carrying it along the fence line as you lay down wire would be a joke. There’s a Lazy Susan sort of contraption (Bobby had another name for it — a Spinning Jenny, maybe?) that solves this problem.
Based on the number of upcoming pictures, you might assume I spent a lot of time with the sheep, but it was only a few minutes — they were just way too cute and I couldn’t help myself. It’s lambing season, and there were adorable baby sheep all over the place, wobbling around on newborn legs. Their moms were quite protective, and would stomp the ground with their front foot if I stepped within 20 feet or so. It looked like one either had triplets or was babysitting for a couple of other sheep (I doubt that’s actually a thing), and there was a little baby curled up in the grass, and it was just the most adorable sight to see. It was chillin’ out hard enough that it didn’t realize its mom had wandered a few feet away, so it stood up and wobbled through the grass, crying the whole way. Ugh, it was so precious.
I don’t know if I’ve ever held a baby sheep before, but Bobby casually handed one over while he got the scale ready. The little guy was lighter than I thought and, surprisingly, completely relaxed. That may be because he’s too small to fight back — he was so new to the world that I could still see bloodstains on his hair.
In case you were wondering how you weigh a baby sheep, you make it a little grocery bag hammock. He was maxin’ and relaxin’ in there.
And to wrap up the day, I have a business idea. Cut off the end of a cedar log, drill a hole to loop a string through, and voilà: all-natural air-fresheners! They’ll sell for at least $47 apiece at a farmer’s market. You’ll thank me later.
