Spring Fence Check...

Ah, spring!

The windows are open, the birds are singing, and the cows are itching to be out in the meadow!  It's almost time, but the meadow grass needs a little longer to grow nice and thick so they'll not rip it up with their sharp hooves, and they'll actually have a meal rather than just a snack.

Last night Jim took the backs off the calf hutches...

The little heifers were so excited!  One of them actually ran and jumped out over the wire in the back and sprinted around the garden for a few minutes until she was corralled again.  This morning I snuck behind them and snapped a picture while they were busy eating their breakfast...

Now, they're all four laying out enjoying the warm sunshine.

This morning after breakfast, while Jim headed out to fill in some ground hog holes at the other farm, I did the spring fence check around the meadow.

Most of it was in fine shape, with a few minor exceptions.  We run two strands of wire around the meadow, for extra security, and the lower strand was too close to the ground here.  So...I decided to test the "rubber boot" theory...

You know...the one that says if you have on rubber boots, you won't get shocked?  Well...it worked!  I pulled it up about 6"-8" with my toe, and it's good to go...

One strand of wire had slipped over the fiberglass fence post and was touching this old metal post, so I used my sweatshirt sleeve to grab the fiberglass post (they're full of tiny, almost invisible sharp pieces!) and bent it around behind the wire.  Now it's keeping the wire off the metal, which would cause a short...

The meadow is greening up nicely...

The west side of the meadow was in pretty good shape too.  Eventually some of the wires will need replaced, but for now they're ok.  There was a big piece of plastic that had blown across the fields and was tangled in the fence...it went into the trash...

As I was finishing up, I came across some "mystery" prints in the dirt near the waterway.  Hmm...could it be a bear print?

Probably not.

I think I found the culprit...

Yup.  It must've been Murphy!

On with this beautiful day!  There won't be enough hours in it, I'm guessing.

I'm linking up with Good Fences today.  Thanks, TexWisGirl for hosting!

Winter Fence Building...

There are a lot of things I wouldn't want to be doing this time of year, and I was reminded again of one of them today...

The last section of old meadow fence at the "other farm" is being replaced, and this is the week it was put on the schedule.  Brrrr...it's a cold week to have to be working outside all day!

Jim penned the heifers and dry cows inside the barn, where they can stay out of trouble, and watch the activity if they so choose...

The north side of the barn yard will be replaced with wooden fence and a gate.  The post holes are all dug, and the fence posts are resting loosely in place....

There are bags and bags of Quikrete that will be used to anchor the posts securely into place...

The east side of the meadow will be replaced with PVC fence.  There will be an electric wire running through the fence for added security against rambunctious animals that have wanderlust...

...and the section along the driveway will be done as well...

In the next day or so, once the posts are anchored into their holes, the rails will be snapped into place, and it will look fantastic!  It will be a huge improvement from an old fence that needed lots of repair!

I'm joining up today with Good Fences.  Click on the link to visit other blogs with more fence posts!

Spring Fence Check...

Today I got to do one of my favorite jobs...

I walked around the meadow fence to make sure everything is ready for when the grass finally is green and lush enough to put the cows out to pasture.  They can't wait!

The first thing I did was go to the row of young trees that were planted after the electric company cut down all the shade trees on our fence line.  (You can read that story here. ) We have each of the young trees fenced off to protect them from over eager cows that would damage them.  For the past three years we had the fence around them electrified, but this year we disconnected the hot wire. The trees have grown substantially, and we'll see how it goes!

Next, I continued around the edge of the meadow fence, checking for loose/broken fence posts or wires that needed repaired.  Everything looked to be in pretty good shape, except for a few mulberries that need to be trimmed and a few wires that needed tightening.  We had very little snow this winter, so the fence along the road wasn't damaged at all...

I used to have a cat that followed me the whole way around the meadow while I did this, but he's gone now.  Instead, our energetic dogs stayed...guess where? Can you find Murphy?  You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it to find her...

This was the biggest thing that needed to be fixed.  The wire was touching the tree, which was causing a short...

Simple solution...a plastic insulator...

The insulator screws into the tree, and the wire goes through the plastic part, fixing the problem.  Easy fix...

Last, the shocker gets plugged back in.  The fence now has a good shock!  If you look at the indicator, the needle is in the green, just where it should be...

After I plugged in the shocker, as I stood waiting for the needle to move, I felt a nudge on the back of my neck.  I thought it was a heifer, chewing on my hood, but I turned around and guess who it was...

Jolyn...my shadow in the barn was coming to say hello!

Linking to Good Fences...