Please ... Fence Me In

Because of soccer commitments (and everything else) we have not been able to get going on our PowerFlex perimeter fencing project. Nevertheless the cows (and especially Barnabas the bull) have decided that it is spring and they want to be out on the green grass. I don't blame them one bit, but I just haven't had time to tackle all of the projects that need to be done. But, my plan was to go to a meeting this morning (and arrive early to write my blog post) and then run out to the farm to put up some electric fence so that they could have grass. Needless to say, that isn't what happened.

First the calves got out when I was building a new paddock for them (not their fault ... this was a user error). After getting them back in I had just a few minutes to get ready before needing to leave to the meeting. My wife happened to look out the window as I was getting ready and said, "Where is the bull!" We went out to try and get them in, but they are just spunky when they get on the grass and it was going no where. So, I decided to settle for the better part of valor and skip the meeting so I could put up the fence ... meanwhile the three cows and the bull that were out just wandered the farm.

After a few hours, a trip to McCorkles Hardware and a lot of help from my wife I finally have a nice electric fence up. I would say that the perimeter of the area they have now is about 3/8ths of a mile, so they have a bit of room to roam. I will be rotating them through that area and always giving them a gate back to their winter pen so they can have water. It isn't ideal at all, but it will get us by for now.

Two is Better Than One

One thing that I have found out about our Dexters is that when it comes to electric fence two wires seems to be better than one. A couple years ago when we were putting up the first fences to contain them out on pasture we just put up one wire low enough that both the calves and the cows would hit it ... the cows jumped over. Then we raised the wire about bit to keep the cows in ... and the calves walked under. Of course this was our main perimeter fence (there was a perimeter fence, but we didn't want them wandering that far) so we decided to go with two wires.

Last week I decided that I was going to let the five heifer calves out on some grass near their winter pen. I strung up one wire all the way around and gave them a nice sized area with plenty of grass. After about ten minutes they were walking though the fence ... and getting a little shocked. So, yesterday between rain showers I went outside and added a second wire to their fence and it seems to be working!

I do believe that once we have the perimeter fence up, and our wires have a little more juice going through them, we will be able to go back to a single strand to keep them in their area for the day. Then it won't matter so much if the calves wander away because they will have a pretty good reason to come back and we can set the height to keep the cows in.

As always I'm learning as I go by trial and error ... I seem to focus on the error.

**I would have posted a picture, but it has been raining practically non-stop for the past few days so I didn't make it out with the camera. Hopefully tomorrow.**

The Cows are Out ... Again!

Yesterday morning they didn't have school in town so I was able to have soccer practice in the morning at 9:00 AM. I look forward to days like that because then I can get soccer in and move on with the day. But, this particular day practice came at just the wrong time ... just before I was ready to start the phone rang and my wife told me, "the cows are out ... again". I told her to try and keep them on the farm and that I would come home as soon as I could. Luckily only three were able to make the escape, led by the new bull of course.

Being completely honest, our fence really isn't the best but mostly it has been good enough. Rather it has been mostly good enough until the new bull showed up. He likes to test fences and find the weak spots. He has led many revolutions!

Anyways, back to the latest escape. On my way home from soccer practice I was happy to find out that Becca had gotten the two cows back in and that only the bull was still out. He was just contentedly eating grass down in the valley. When I pulled into the drive ... out walked my wife in her muck boots holding a baseball bat (you have to have the proper accouterments when working with a bully bull).

This time though he was very easy to work with. I walked down to the valley, circled around behind him and basically walked him up and into the pen. It was actually pretty surprising! But, I decided that maybe something should be done to stop this from becoming a daily thing so I stopped by the farm store and picked up some poly wire and step-in posts. Now we can put a hot wire around the inside of the pen ... and reacquaint them with electric fence.

How to do the Fence?

Our fencing alongside the road is easy (a relative term I know) and pretty much straight forward. It is mostly a straight line, except for around the corner, and the slope isn't too steep most of the time. The problem that I'm having run through my mind right now is how I'm going to do what I'm calling the interior/perimeter fence (the stuff in red above). Ideally we would just do the high tensile all the way around our 40 acres (there is the remains of a fence left), but that would require a bulldozer ... fill dirt ... and more money than we can afford. On top of that it would also mean there would need to be some cooperation with the neighbors.

With all of that in mind my idea is to have something semi-permanent going along the tree line. I would like it far enough away from the trees (I think) so that I can get a tractor along the outside for wood cutting and I would also like the ability to flash graze cattle and hogs inside the woods. That would mean some sort of access through the "semi-permanent" fence.

When I e-mailed back and forth with the guys at PowerFlex we talked about using a three wire fence. I think that is a good idea, but I'm wondering about posts and such. If I followed the general contours of the tree line there would be lots of bends ... which could equal lots of wooden posts. The idea of putting in a bunch of wood posts down there when I only wanted it to be semi-permanent didn't excite me.

I guess the other option would be to put in wooden posts and make as many straight runs as possible. Then put in some gates and we are set. Anyone have any thoughts on this or have you worked through a similar situation? I open to all ideas.

Putting Up Some Fence

No, I'm not putting any fence up just yet (and my plans may take a step back if we get the snow they are calling for on Friday), but we have settled on a bit of a fencing plan. We are in need of about 1/2 mile of exterior fence along two sides of our property that borders the road and then a diagonal line of fence along the woods. Of course we could have just put up straight shots around the entire property, but that would have taken to many hours on a bulldozer so we are going to just fence along the woods.

Thanks to Gary at PowerFlex we now have a plan that goes something like this... On the exterior fence we will have six strands of hi-tensile wire. There will be wood hedge posts at the corners, around the turn of the property, and anywhere there is big terrain change. For line posts we are going to go with 1 1/4" x 66" PowerFlex posts (we could and we might go with the 1 5/8" bull posts) spaced at about 30 feet. I'm not exactly sure on the spacing of the wires, but will check with Gary to see what he recommends for the livestock that we have/will have.

Along the woods we are going to use three wires (and some gates most likely so I can do some flash grazing in the brush) and the 1 1/4" x 60" PowerFlex posts. There will probably be some hedge posts thrown in along the line at the major bends and such. I like the idea of the three wires because it allows us to be a bit flexible down there.

As far as interior fencing goes I think we are going to go with some of the Management Intensive Grazing basics. We will have some tread-in posts, wire or polybraid, and some reels for quick setup and tear down. At this point we aren't going to do much in the way of permanent interior fencing so we have some time to really understand our pastures.

This bad boy of a system will be powered by a 6 Joule fencer (most likely a Stafix brand) that ought to provide a shocking mental barrier to our livestock.

I've got to tell you that I am very thankful for the help that they have been at PowerFlex and I really get the feeling that their product is as good as their service. This spring (if it ever completely comes) I'll have a good series of posts on the process and lots of pictures. So, stay tuned!

Thinking About Fencing...

Lately I have been thinking about fencing. Despite all of the snow on the ground I know that spring is going to be coming soon and with it there will be some opportunities to do some fencing projects that are needing to be done. But, in the world of fencing there are so many options that sometimes I'm not even sure of where I need to begin and what I need to be looking at. I thought I would just open it up for discussion and see what a variety of people think.

Basically our fencing needs will break down into two categories. First of all we need to do some permanent perimeter fencing. This will be a combination of replacing some old fence between us and a neighbor and putting up some new fence along the road. The second fencing need will be interior fencing for Management Intensive Grazing (electric and easy to move).

When it comes to the perimeter fencing the choices range from 4 or 5 strands of barbed wire, to woven wire, to woven wire with 1 or 2 barbed wires on top, and even to 2 or three strands of electric (I saw that on a pasture walk last year). One thing that we have to keep in mind is the variety of livestock that we will be running on the farm. Anything from our Dexters, my families horses, sheep, goats, or pigs could be on the farm so we need something that will work for all of the above. Also, cost always needs to be considered in these types of situations ... what gives you the most bang for the buck?

For the interior electric fencing the options really break down into posts and wire. There are so many posts out there from fiberglass ones with 3 or more wire hooks, to step in re-bar posts with plastic insulators, and even steel step in posts with a pig tail on the top for the wire. Obviously we need something that goes in and out easily, but also works for our short cattle (Dexters). Also, does it matter if the calf can walk under the wire? What type of wire is also an issue. We could use the inexpensive steel, the slightly more expensive aluminum, or the most expensive poly-rope or wire. Here price is a factor, but ease of moving and longevity is also very important.

So, what are you using? What works for you? I would love to hear from anyone who is doing MiG about their interior fencing. I would love to hear from people that are just thinking about it, but have ideas! Basically I'm putting out an appeal for help :)

The Book Farmers vs. the Deer

This summer we decided to take a major step (at least a major step for us) and get a Dexter cow and a steer. The thinking was we could get a start, albeit a small start, on a herd and have a steer to eat and learn how to cook grass finished beef with. Well, somehow those original two turned into thirteen in only a few months. With the growing numbers we needed to add pasture for them and we did, after a trip to Illinois that doubled the herd size something more substantial was needed.

Thirteen Dexters on the farm led to a new pasture of about seven acres of good grass and clover. The cattle love being in there ... when they are in there! We have had a couple of breakouts lately and it wasn't because we did a poor fencing job or because the fencer couldn't keep them in. Nope, we are having a battle against the deer on the farm. Or, to put it more clearly, the deer are having a battle against the electric fence on our farm!

Since Dexters aren't known for their height our fences aren't real tall and a deer could easily hop right over without even thinking about it ... unless of course they didn't see the fence coming and they blew right through the fence bending posts, stretching wire, and knocking off insulators. It happened once, then it happened again, and well .... then it happened again! Only the first two times did the cows get out, but it is safe to say that the deer are winning this battle.

The fence being there is a new thing for the deer so maybe they will get used to it, but when we get started in full force in our rotational grazing the fence will be in a new place all of the time! Possibly it is a seasonal thing because the deer are really on the move now with the crops out and the hunters running around the woods. Of course there is always the chance that this will just be a battle that we will continually face since we live in "deer rich" Southern Iowa.

I guess we will learn over time if there is any effective tricks to help those deer see the fence before the decide to be play red rover!

New Pasture for the Stoneyfield Herd

I absolutely love to read. I have enjoyed reading my entire life, and not a day goes by without me reading. I usually am working my way through a couple books and magazines at the same time and take a chance to read whenever I need a break. But, as much as I love to read about becoming a farmer it was so great today to actually get down to the farm and do something!

Yesterday we went down to do some much needed work. With the expansion of our herd, our pasture that was wonderful for a heifer and a steer was not nearly enough for a herd of thirteen strong. We had kept them in the smaller lot and fed them hay since we brought the new ones home because my family was going to be gone and the Amish neighbors were going to be doing the chores. We just wanted it to be easier for them to water them and such and not have to worry about them getting out. But, today was the day to go out and expand the pasture. I would say that we encompassed about seven or eight acres of land to go along with the one and a half of the other lot. They are connected with a lane right now, but I plan on closing them out of the lot and building a water wagon so that they can just stay in the new pasture. There is actually room for the pasture to expand out there so hopefully they can winter in that area. Also, I think it is a good place for them to calve because there are some trees that they can get into to get out of the weather, and it is one of the more dry areas of the farm.

Our fence is just a single wire electric fence with rebar posts every ten paces or so and t-posts at the corners and on top of hills. There is a five-strand barbed wire fence on one side and a woven wire with one barbed wire at the top on the other side. I'm pretty confident this single wire will keep them in (it's at Dexter nose height), but if they do decide to get out, there is a lot of room for them to roam before they hit our boundary fences. Plus, where they are, the grass is literally greener on the inside of the fence because we let that grow since we knew we would be fencing them in there and had mowed the rest. It goes up quick and seems to be effective!

All in all, it was a beautiful fall day to work and my only complaint was that we didn't have enough time. With the farm over an hour away and a job that does require my work here, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked. I had hoped to also build a pen to wean off one of the bull calves (soon to be steer) and the black heifer that came from Illinois. It wasn't going to be my ideal weaning set-up, but I don't want those calves on their mother all winter long so I will have to make do with what we can. The bonus of having them weaned is that the family can spend more time with them and get the heifer calf used to being handled. I plan on turning her out with the bull (that doesn't live here yet) next summer for a spring '09 calf.

One bonus from today is that I was able to give my dad a list of materials I need to build our chicken shed for them to winter in. We thought we would try and keep our chickens over the winter in our backyard, but we need to build a permanent structure for them to keep them somewhat warm and put a lamp in so they will lay a few eggs hopefully. He is making his way through on Saturday so I should be able to get started on that next week.

I put up a couple pictures with the post today. The first picture is of our little dun bull calf and the new black heifer (no name yet). For a while I was thinking of letting the little boy develop a little since he was looking sort of beefy, but now I'm thinking he might be short-legged which can be a bad thing in Dexter bulls. I may have him tested just to find out if he carries the unwanted gene found in some short-legged bulls. The second picture includes the two mentioned already and a couple candidates for freezer camp in the future!

Like I said ... it was great to actually be doing yesterday!

Fence Me In ...

For the past few weeks I have been receiving phone calls from my dad every day or two telling me about my cow that was out! It seems that the old (really old!) woven wire fence on the North side of the pasture wasn't going to cut it anymore because even our little cow could JUMP over the fence and get out. Yesterday we went down to the farm to put up our electric fence in hopes of curtailing "Cowdini" and to open up some more pasture for them. Along with the electric fence (we used the new solar fencer you can read about below), I also added a few more cattle panels around a couple trees in the old fence line to give some more shade for the cattle (when I say cattle I really me the heifer and the bull calf). It was almost a perfect day to be out and working ... well perfect for August in Iowa I guess!

Earlier in the day we attended a local estate auction. They had a little over two hay racks of house hold junk ... errr ... treasures and then some old equipment. Since it was such a nice day we didn't mind standing around and watching everyone bid on the junk ... err ... treasures while we were waiting for the equipment to sell. There wasn't much for equipment, but a couple of things caught our eye. We ended up getting a like new 100 gallon water tank, a five bottom MM plow (really that's for the uncle), a flare box wagon (will be good for going to get carbon material), a head gate, and a homemade wagon gear with a pile of junk and tin on top. Everything was going pretty well until they got to the tin. I was interested in the tin for building more chicken pens and for building a moveable shade pen. They started the bidding on the tin and didn't get a bidder (we wait until it hits 50¢ before bidding), when all of the sudden they decided to throw the wagon gear in also. Well, it wasn't all bad, because we got the whole shootin' match for $8.00. Now, I can mess around with that wagon gear and see if I can make a water cart, feed cart, or maybe just a utility wagon for hauling things around the farm.

It was a great day to be out at the farm and it was nice to get a few things done. I'll be posting pictures in the next few days of how the cattle are coming along. I think they are starting to look better.

The Order is Placed...

So, awhile ago I discussed the possibility of getting a solar fencer for our rotational grazing system. My dad suggested those because some of the pastures we may start out on are quite a ways from electricity, and also because they possibly would work better for us than a battery system (especially when he is gone and the Amish are doing chores for us). I did some research and found quite a few people that couldn't stand them and just as many that absolutely loved them. I decided to give them a try. I ended up going with the Parmak "Deluxe Field Solar Pak". It is supposed to have a 25 mile range and is rated at 1.5 joules. You can read about it here.

I found the fencer for a decent price on-line at Jeffers Livestock. Since I was already ordering from them and they had free shipping, I went ahead and ordered another book, Quality Pasture by Allan Nation. Mr. Nation is the editor for the Stockman Grassfarmer magazine. It looks like a good book and also reminded me that I need to begin my subscription to the magazine. Maybe I can hold off until Christmas and ask for it as a gift.