Pasture Fence Project, Part One

Reader Contribution by Keba M Hitzeman
Published on November 4, 2020
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Not going to get very far without fencing and posts!

We have a good-sized pasture south of our barn that was our main horse pasture. Once the horses were gone, we would graze the cattle in there to keep the weeds down. After selling the last of the cattle, that area pretty much went to seed. I would bush-hog it once, maybe twice, a year, but it was left to grow a fantastic stand of asters, hemlock, various sunchokes, burdock, pokeberry, grasses, and clovers. Indeed a wild area for the pollinators to visit and the rabbits (and other assorted wildlife) to live. Once we got the sheep and the goats, I wanted to use this pasture as part of their winter forage area. The only problem was that the creek runs through this pasture on its way to the river, and the part of the creek that goes under the fence is in a bit of a ravine, making it hard to sheep-, goat-, and dog-proof against escape. The solution? Run a dividing fence to keep the beasties out off the creek and still use over half of the pasture for grazing. Sounds simple enough, right?

The project fell to the bottom of the Project Pile since we didn’t need that area immediately. Once we separated the youngsters from the main breeding flock, it became a bigger deal – young animals eat a lot, and we needed all the grassy areas we could get! T-posts, sheep fence, and a fence stretcher bar were purchased. I waited until the hot and humid days of summer were over, I dug out the fencepost driver and cable ratchet (also known as a “come-along”) from the barn, and I set to work.


Fence stretcher bar – note the nice attachment rings!

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