Pasture Fencing

Part II of the fencing project.

Now that we have all the failed post replaced, it is time to sort out what to do about the wire/rail situation. The drylot will entirely be post and rail. That was easy. It's a small area and already mostly wood. So we only had a bit more to add to it.

However, our existing 3-acre pasture fence line consists of about 1500 linear feet of old posts on approximately 16' spacing, and six strand high tensile wire. I would LOVE to replace it all with good old 8' post and rail fencing, however if I want hardwood floors instead of 90's shag carpet, that can't happen right now. So, what is another safe, sturdy, and affordable option?

Existing Fencing

After much discussion, I believe we have settled on using EquiFence. It is touted as "permanent" electric fence, as opposed to the thin and flimsy electric fencing that most of us think of. You know, the kind that Rose got all tangled up in when she was three. I've been uneasy about that kind of fencing ever since. Here is what EquiFence looks like installed and a close up.

Photo from http://www.gallagherusa.com

Photo from http://www.gallagherusa.com

The wire has a "core of 12.5 Gauge, medium-tensile galvanized wire with a unique, electrically conductive polymer allowing use as an electric fence wire." - GallaherUSA.

The polymer around the wire is what makes it much safer. It is very visible and far less likely to cut up a leg. Also, you only need three strands, not 6 like we currently have. The top and bottom wires are hot, the middle is grounded. This coupled with a top notch AC electric charger, should do a good job of keeping the horses in and safe. From a cost standpoint post spacing can be 20', so our current 16' spacing will suffice and we won't have to add additional posts to the pasture. 

The big question: Cost?

I'm not sure exactly what it will cost yet, as I haven't ordered it from our local supplier yet, but their website states that it is $225 per 1000'. For three strands we will need 4500', which come to just about $1,000 for the wire. A good charger will be about $200, and then of course we will need the insulators and gate attachments which I guessing will come in around $100-200 more. So all in all we are looking at about $1400 to wire a three acre paddock. We've already replaced about 25 posts, coming in at $200 (if we had to start from scratch with 20' post spacing it would have been $600 for all the posts). That is a grand total of $1,600 for a functioning pasture fence line. Not bad compared to $15,000 for post and rail fencing!

So, I'm curious. Has anyone else used this product? Our fencing guy DR loves it, but I'd like to hear other opinions as well.

Fence Posts!

We have all sorts of projects started around the house/farm. Many of which can easily be completed once the snow has fallen, and thusly can wait a bit. I am excited to share them all with you, and I will, one at a time. However, the "biggest" project at the moment, which must happen before things freeze, is the fencing. Tonight, Part 1 of the fencing project commenced.

We have about 30 posts that have failed. I am guessing these are mostly all original posts, and probably 20-30 years old. One of Hub's best friends just so happens to own a fencing business. His parent's also happen to be moving to our town and have hired Hubs (who is an Architect) to design what will be one friggin' beautiful huge home. So, old friend DR and his folks were in town today to look at their new acreage and discuss design stuff with Hubs. Since everyone was in town and it's a friday evening, Hubs was able to sweet talk DR into bringing his post driver with him and replace our failed posts, and add new additional ones to the dry lot. DR is my hero right now!

Removing an old post.

Driving a new post.

Honestly, this machine is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It pounds a 5" diameter driver post into the ground in about 30 seconds! In my imagination, we were going to be out there for months (MONTHS!) with a stupid post hole digger and a post pounder replacing posts. This thing rocks. Also the fact that they are doing this in the pouring rain, really makes me appreciate the awesome boys in my life even more.

New "driver" posts. Untreated. Doh. Apparently, despite my concern for horses ingesting treated wood, DR informed us that we still should have ordered treated posts. I guess untreated will only last about 5 years vs. 20 for treated. Live and learn. Oh, well. All future posts will be treated.

Rails for the dry lot. It's hard not to picture them as jump poles. Where is my paint?

Incase you can't tell (I couldn't):
I was informed by Junior that dump truck is pulling the horse trailer!

One very wet and happy english shepherd.

New fence posts.

So stinking cute...Insisting that Daddy drive the post driver.

Junior had a great time watching, and kept insisting that "Daddy drive it"! I guess he's used to Hubs doing the driving around these parts. Junior was not satisfied that DR was doing the driving. Such cuteness.

So, that's about it for the evening. It got dark before the boys finished up, so there are a few posts left to do in the morning. For now we are enjoying drying off, a yummy warm meal, and good company. Have a great weekend everyone!

Salvaging Fallen Tomatoes

Earlier this season, aware that we may sell our house and move this summer, I planted a tomato plant along with some mint, basil, thyme, and chives, in a cedar barrel container garden. As the season continued, the tomato grew, began flowering and producing fruit. I was excited! This is the first tomato I've ever grown that actually would produce fruit. Then we sold our house and would be homeless for a couple weeks. What on earth would I do with my plant? Luckily, a good friend offered to plant sit until we moved into our new house. What a relief!

Tomato container garden in early June.

Last Sunday we took my horse trailer across town to pick up the plants and move them home. They looked great and I was stunned to see how big my tomato plant had gotten, and just how many tomatoes were on it!

Tomato container garden in early August.

We carefully loaded them up and took them home to the new house. Upon unloading the tomato plant however, I was dismayed to see half a dozen tomatoes rolling about on the rubber mat floor of the trailer.

Fallen green tomatoes (and one ripe one...it didn't last long)

Surely these could be salvaged? I figured, at the very least, I could fry up some green tomatoes if they didn't ripen. Not to worry though, four days sitting on the kitchen window sill, all but the small immature tomatoes (which I ended up tossing) are turning orange!

Four days later, fallen tomatoes ripening in the window sill!

While I have been waiting for those tomatoes to ripen of the vine, a couple more have ripened on the vine. They are delicious. I am so happy and proud of my first ever successful fruit producing tomato plant. The secret I finally discovered after all these years is to fertilize them every three weeks (the herbs like it too). Now that I have a big garden area I am looking forward to planting several tomatoes next year and having an even greater harvest.

Moved In!

I just can't get over waking up to this view!

View from the living room

I have so much to share and so many topics to cover. I am very excited to really start blogging about our little farm and all the upcoming renovation projects. For not though, I just got my internet connected (that took me five days to get around to). Regardless of the delay, the first thing I was itching to do was to log on and share the good news. More to come...