With the beautiful warm weather we have ha this spring the grass in the pasture is growing like crazy and producing more than the cows could ever eat. After the hard winter we had this year our hay supply has been milked dry, and now that we have another group of cattle we are going to need even more hay for this next winter. So to help make sure we will have plenty of good thick hay to mow later this spring, we are gonna pull the cows off some of their pasture. To do this we needed to build a temporary fence to keep the cow off. How hard the fence is to build, depends on what type of fence you build. On this day we are just doing one strand of smooth electric wire fence, so it's nothing to hard, and since the ground was soo wet when we were building this fence, it makes driving the post even easier!
Ya start on one end with a brace post or something very solid to tie to.
Ya tie the two posts together to give stability to the fence when you go to tighten it.
After you have strung the wire out you must corner it off and tie it off.
In order to get it tighten the fence up you must use a fence stretcher and ratchet it to the tensions you need. If you bite your lip it makes this process a whole lot easier!
Ya gotta "jump" the current at the corners. If the wires share an insulator then this is no problem, but here we couldn't do that, so a simple wire works here. I was told by Caleb not to use this photo cause he used an ugly wire in this jump. But I don't listen very well...it's true, just ask my mother....anyways I didn't listen and used the picture anyways. Seriously ya'll don't care what the wire looks like.
Now that the wire is strung, it's time to drive some posts into the ground.
And there is no one more qualified to do this than my wonderful husband.
He makes this look fun and easy.
Ok, maybe not so fun.
Ok, maybe not so easy.
So he just makes this look like work.
After you get the post pounded into the ground, and the driver thrown back onto the truck...
....clip an insulator onto the post....
...secure the wire in place....
....load up and head on to the next stop.
After all that hard work ya might deserve a water break, just maybe, if you're lucky.
While on break I made Caleb take my picture.
Hold the button halfway down and focus...
...seriously I give up. Give me back my camera!
Finally a good picture, thank you very much!
I work too....I promise I do, but unless I make Caleb take my picture, ya'll don't get to see that.
He was havin' way too much fun...and it looks like he ate a smurf along the way. (by the way - Caleb has never seen a smurfs cartoon...how sad is that!)
With that being said, I'm shuttin' the gate and headin' home. Enough of this crazy work stuff!!
