A little bit of fence fixing

Off I go with tangled and salvaged hotwire and some nicely coiled wire to redo the fence down near the creek.

The backpack has gear in it, along with some tools and of course lots of water. I'd had this job in mind since last fall.

Over the winter I keep this section closed off as the deer run through the fence during rut and generally take down the fence.

Last winter, some animal chewed through both the lines and the insulators in some spots. I know that raccoon chew on plastic, but I never figured out who the culprits were.

I thought I'd turn on MapMyHike to see what my walking while doing the job would look like. I did get in a little over 2 miles of walking while restringing the fence.

At one time we had a 'ridge-road' or trail that was made by a bulldozer  all the way to the end of our land. Since I don't drive the 4 wheeler back there anymore... [very steep], I haven't had the trail redone. 

I just walk it and go around the obstacles. I am the only person anymore that moves through the land so no need to clear a new path.

Here is someone else who likes to use the 'critter' trail. It is used by the mules, deer, bobcat, raccoon, and coyotes. When I pull the trail camera about every two weeks we have nearly 700 or 800 photos of wildlife moving past the camera on this trail.

I pulled the old hotwire and began to get ready to string up new wire.

Just to the left of this photo is a steep bank that drops about 20 feet down into our creek bottom. With the past drought, the creek is mostly dry, but in good years it flows nicely.

At my feet is a pile of chewed electric wire. And no, the wire was not 'on' over the winter. I don't keep it hot unless the mules have access. 

The wire needed to be replaced this year anyway. It has lasted 5 years and had been patched quite a few times.

I finished everything up including detangling a big mess of wire that I'd brought with me. It took roughly two hours and a lot of walking back and forth.  

Below is the tangled up wire that had been in another pasture at one time. I had 3 lines with one low to the ground when we had Dexter Cattle in the woods and pulled it after we sold the cattle.

A good chunk of the time was devoted to de-tangling. But the wire was in perfect shape and there was no reason to toss it.

It was a big job I had been putting off for quite a while. All the summer lines have been checked and fixed. Next up? I'll go through and clear off anything that is under the wires.

Forest Fencing can be a never ending job.

Fencing and Fencing!

Last year in July I restarted a 'fencing project'. I wanted the mules to be able to get in down into the woods and clean up the briers and some of the other underbrush.

There had been a good two line electric fence there until the 2007 storm which washed out banks of the creek and dumped trees on both the electric and the barbed wire line fence.

I only sectioned off a small section of the woods though. It had been tough hot work and the mules did a nice job working in the woods.

This is a photo from last year. The original fencing went all the way back to the creek. I put this up with a gate so I could walk down ... or take the 4 wheeler to the creek if I wished.

I didn't think I'd ever get up the energy to be able to complete this task. But I decided to work on it a few hours a day if I could to get the brush whacked away from where I wanted to run the lines. Now that was hard work.

At least with both Sven and Charlie for company, it wasn't lonely work but pretty pleasant. Both of them helped me run the new lines.
Well.
Help wasn't really the word I'd use. Sven kept moving into the wire and somehow got it wrapped on his leg .. or neck.. and he'd walk to me dragging wire and stop and look as if I'd offended him somehow.
Or Sven would pick up a glove and walk away with it.

Goat Fencing could be an Art. Much more difficult than Goat Yoga, I'd think.

In the above photo, you can't see it, but this is one of the banks above the creek. Here it drops 20 feet to the left of the posts.

Today I hooked it all up and drove the 4 Wheeler down to the end to test if it was 'hot'.

It sure was. And the grass I'd seeded had come in quite nicely.

This is how the area looked when The Bulldozer guy was working on it last June.

Looks better now doesn't it?

So as I was driving the 4 Wheeler back to the house, I thought to myself. A job well done! I had completed the project! 

And then after I started mowing the yard I looked at one of the areas that is impossible to mow. It is a section of yard that never got landscaped after the basement was dug. It was a series of holes, bumps and two washed out areas.

Last year and the year before, I had spent time with the weed whacker and chopped it down.

I stopped the mower and looked over at the mules.
Why indeed!
I could build a mini fenced in area and ... hmmm...
let them do the work.

They could handle the rough ground better than I could and then I'd just be left with a few odd weeds to cut down.

I started to smile and then chuckle. I like making temporary lots and using them wisely to feed the critters.

Maybe I am a fencing Diva?