Fencing Project Finished!

I just recently took on the task of fencing the 12 acre field just east of the farm. Just coming off a back strain I knew I had to mentally and physically be up for the challenge. The project started with drilling holes for the corner posts. My dad, Wayne helped me with drilling the holes with an auger that was mounted to his tractor. The soil type was of clay and with it being extremely dry as of late it was a bearcat getting the auger to catch and get the holes made. We added water to the holes to soften the layers but even with that it was a tedious and mentally challenging task. We drilled a total of 11 holes and there would have been more but we connnected into an existing fence that was built last year.
    
The next task was to pack the posts in their holes with loose sand,gravel and water. I poured in the sand and gravel and then added water and packed it in tight with a poker. Once the Posts were packed I nailed up supporting iron braces across the posts and then wrapped No.9 wire across at the opposite angle and twisted it tight with a crowbar.

     At this point all the framework was in place and it was time to string up the barbd wire and and fasten it to T-Posts. With a fence stretcher from days of old I would start a section of fence by getting the first line of barbed wire good and tight and then would go back and drive in the T-posts to assure a straight line from brace to brace. I strung 3 total lines of barb wire around the field in which are about a foot apart vertically running horizontally. When working around barbed wire it was very important that I move slowly and take my time since last  year I was greeted with 6 stitches for not moving diligently around the sharp barbs. I chose barbed wire because it gives more assurance the cattle won't get out and run around the countryside and wreak havoc on neigboring crops. Believe you,me, this isn't a good thing since it happened to me last year and my cattle took off and went 6 miles from the farm and caused a stink with local commodity farmers, which is a whole story in and of itself that I will detail for you later.

     Anyway back to the project, once I finished all three strands around the field I made a gate out of barbed wire nailed into horizontal wood pieces to stand upright. This project was finally finished after 8 days and I was happy and tired of fencing. My motivation throughout the project came from wanting to see the cattle happy out running around and doing what they were evolutionarily designed to do, Graze! I find it soo uplifting to see cattle happy harvesting energy from the sun. In a community dominated by Monsanto it feels good not following the herd!