Friday Fencing

This week we've been picking away at beefing up some of the fencing.  Just an hour or two here and there. This afternoon we finished a stretch.  We have a whole bunch of random rolls of fencing that I found locally on Craigslist too many years ago.  We've gradually been using bits and pieces of them.  This week we were working on the boundary fence of the north field.  When we moved in it was just barbed wire.  At some point on our side of the posts we added some farm fencing, but it was only three feet high.  The north field is one that Pride used some of the time, and the sheep also, but only when we were home, because it wasn't coyote proof.  Not long ago I noticed a coyote track coming from the field next door, and then into our north field.  I looked out of the window one day and saw three coyotes crossing by the horse shed.  It got me worried, because sometimes Luna goes out to the horse shed and cleans up what grain Pride has dropped.  I was worried about what would happen if she was out there, started to head back, and ran into those coyotes passing through.  We try to make sure all the gates are closed if we come inside and the dogs stay out.  We've watched Luna from the window go to the two gates and the barn door and test them all to see if she can get through one.  She's a sneaky, determined one, that Luna.

Earlier this week we loaded a roll of fencing on the dolly and dragged it out to the field.  Larry thought we could carry it.  We were able to lift it off the ground but to actually walk with it would have been impossible.  The first roll did 140ft.  We went to the other end with the next roll and that did 110 ft., which left us with a 35' gap in the middle.  That's what we filled in and finished off today.

Larry is undoing the broken post from the end of the first section.  That is what we wrapped the chain around to pull it tight.

Jake grabbed a ball and brought it with him.  Sometimes we gave it to Calli.  Calli thinks all orange street hockey balls belong to her.  She teased Jake with it.

Jake got fed-up and eventually wrestled it away from her

And we were back to this

Larry was all set to go at the other end, and was waiting for me to finish my end. I told him to take some pictures but he was to take no 'butt' shots.

The sun came out and it felt like Spring.  We both shed our jackets.

 He had been pounding in fence staples to fasten the broken fence post on the other end while I wrestled with the fastening the two sections of fence together.  Thirteen horizontal wires to connect like this.

In the meantime, Luna was running here and there.  She doesn't like any pounding noises, so as soon as we started hammering the fence staples in, she was outa there.  See how dirty her belly hair looks?

This is the mechanism that pulls the fence tight.  The 'come-a-long' is fastened to the broken post that is stapled to the end of the roll.  The other end of the come-a-long is fastened to a long chain that is fastened to a good sturdy post up the line.  Crank the handle and the fence gets pulled nice and tight.  

We left the old saggy farm fence in place.  It was partially buried into the ground at the bottom, and would deter any digging under the fence.  A good 4' high of 2x4" holes will hopefully deter the coyotes.  There's no chickens in this field to encourage them to challenge the fence.

To make the entire perimeter of our property coyote proof would be a daunting, expensive endeavour.  The perimeter is 5/8th of a mile.  There's probably nearly that much again in cross-fencing.  That's a lot of fences posts we've pounded in.

Coyote Fence

After finding the hole under the fence to the south chicken field, we both spent about 3 hours on Thursday fixing things up.  The hole was dug under the fence under that hazelnut tree that straddles the fence in the center of the picture.  The coyotes prefer to dig in a hidden spot.  We cut some short lengths of that fencing you can see in the photo, attached it to the bottom of the fence, laid it horizontal along the ground, and fastened it down. 

 The fence from the tree to the gate where the picture was taken from was in pretty bad shape.  Over the 25 years we have been here, horses had put a lot of pressure on the fence and it was low and sagging.  Not that we'd been aware of a coyote ever jumping over it, although Luna uses that as an exit if she doesn't want to wait for the gate to be opened.  In actual fact, the coyotes aren't even supposed to have access to that fence.  It means they've got through the fence on the other side of the hayfield as well.  That will be a fencing job for the Fall probably, when the jungle has died back and we can actually see what is going on out there.

The original fencing was what is called farm fencing around here. 47" tall, with vertical wires 6" apart, and the horizontal wires creating spaces about 3" tall at the bottom and increasing to 6" at the top.

  Good enough to keep all but the most determined hens in, but unfortunately, there are always a few determined ones in the flock.  So then I took a 4' tall roll of stucco wire, (stronger than chicken wire) which has 2" square holes, cut it in half, and added that to the bottom 2' of the fence. Even the most determined hen can't force it's body through a 2" hole.  It's all good until you add a horse into the mix.  Without a good tight top wire or two, or an electric wire, the urge to lean over the fence where the grass is always greener on the other side, it just too much for any self respecting horse to pass up.  

We did have an electric wire for a while, but eventually over the years the fence was pushed down, the bottom stepped on, and the ground has claimed the bottom part of the fence.  Therefore we left the old fence up, since in this stretch we had a built in barrier to stop any digging under, and just added the 'new' fence on the other side of the post.

Larry mowed a strip with the tractor as close as he could get to the fence, and then I went along with the weadeater and finished off the job so that we could get the wire right down to the ground, and snug against the posts.  It is 4' tall with 2x4" openings.  I stuck those two white markers at the top corner, where Luna would jump over, to make it more obvious to her that things had changed.

Things will probably go quiet on the coyote front for a little while, but that's just because they are calling a few meetings and planning a different strategy.