Ridiculous. That's pretty much the only word I have right now for the sheer number of times that I have had to walk fence in the last month. Why am I walking the fence? Well... it's because our calves have decided the bust it, usually. They get to running like a bunch of crazies with their tails in the air and try and slip under the cross fences. What a pain it is!
I posted a while back that I am farming while pregnant. I am now nearly 7mos along and walking this dumb fence. Today I felt like a whale while walking. In reality though, I am small...which is fine with me. Shoot people couldn't even really tell was pregnant until a handful of weeks ago. Now though there's no hiding it. Unfortunately though it's never an easy thing to find... usually a dead short, meaning we have fence touching a metal post, a broken insulator, or a tree touching around the perimeter somewhere.
So today, I walked nearly 2 miles to try and find the problem. Checked all the gates to make sure handles weren't touching posts, checked by trees, checked insulators... nothing. Still a dead short. Dang it. I plug it back in and my mom is out there listening. Boom, she hears the snap. It's not 10ft into the lane... a jump wire between the different wire heights had slip over and was touching the post. Ugh. Such an easy fix but a pain in the butt to find. Oh well I guess. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully the calves behave and don't break any of the cross fences.
I've talked in the past about our fencing system. We have hi-tensile around the perimeter with our pastures sectioned off into smaller pastures using usually a 16ga or so wire. We do have some older wimpier wires out there yet...which are the ones that typically break. If we don't have wire break, its a handle on the ground or broke, or an insulator that's finally given up the ghost.
Usually I wouldn't complain about having to walk out in the pastures to look around at things but being at the stage of pregnancy that I am its a pain. My dad and brother tell me that its good for me, which in their mind means you do it so I don't have to! I guess they are kinda right? I just feel like I've walked the fencing more this past month than ever before. Our cow paths aren't nice and flat either... the clay ground doesn't dry nice and smooth. But it's the best way to walk where the cows go.
I'm just complaining a little bit. Going out with the cattle every day is still theraputic for me... I love it. It's calming for me and baby.
~Until Next Time