The weather around here is so wonky in the Fall/Winter. When school starts, it’s really still summer. About October, Fall hits and we’re all in sweatshirts for the morning, and long-sleeve tees in the afternoon. Then suddenly between Thanksgiving and Christmas we get a beautiful Indian Summer, and everyone’s back in tee-shirts for a few weeks. Our real “winter” doesn’t hit until January–and even then it’s usually broken up with some weeks of 50s and 60s.

We normally have lamb harvest in September, then we hit the winter prep work hard while the weather is decent. So we recently spent one whole weekend mending fences.

For us, that means loading the whole family and all the tools into the back of the farm truck (which is my Dad’s old GMC) and heading into the field together. This is one of those jobs where the kiddos can do a lot of the actual job without too much worry about them messing something up or breaking it.

We also loaded up all the dogs {smile} and they hung out in the field with us as well. Red had to drag a leash in case we needed to grab her while the vehicle was moving around. She and Coal did a good job making sure the sheep and cows gave us plenty of room to work, since they equate the truck with FOOD at this time of year.

For us, fixing fence means walking (driving!) the whole fence line and checking every strand and post. We’re looking for staples that have come loose, insulators that have slipped off, or wires that need to be tightened.

It’s also a good time to do any weed trimming and check all the electric flow, grounding rods, and the hot connection lines that go under the gates. We checked the hinges and latches on all the gates and tightened or adjusted what needed attention. And we picked up a lot of trash! We get a lot of trash from the roadway blowing across the fields. And you can tell it’s not ours because it’s stuff from fast food restaurants and stores we don’t even have here!

We have several different types of fencing on the farm, and each one represents part of our learning on this adventure! Each one got stronger and straighter. Each one got better. We’ve got to start replacing some of our first fencing efforts now {smile} and it’s kinda funny to look back and see how much we’ve learned.

Mr. Fix-It is a big fan of how much easier and quicker the high-tensile fencing went up. I’m also a big fan of the way it’s so open and leaves the view so unobstructed when you look out over the field. It’s also nice because it holds up better to animal pressure (because it’s hot, there isn’t much!) and it’s easier to pop through anywhere along the fence line. Climbing over the woven-wire fencing is a pain–and bad for the fence. But it has some quirks too–like it’s easier for the animals to go through as well if it’s not hot!

When we first started, we were watching old DVDs on fencing from New Zeland–can you imagine? {smile} Now there are tons of great videos on YouTube for free. I found this great one from Cornell Small Farms about putting in corner braces (one of the important things we didn’t do well on our first couple fencing attempts!), which also shows using a hydraulic post pounder. {We have one and it’s amazing what a difference that piece of equipment makes compared to hand-digging and hand-packing posts. It’s about a bazillion times faster, and the posts are much sturdier than any hand-packed post. The only thing it compares to is concreted posts, and it’s much less expensive.}

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We’ve installed high-tensile, as well as woven-wire on hand-packed and woven-wire on concreted posts–and now some board fencing as well. We’ve also got some temporary T-post fencing and a pallet garden fence now!

And if you already have fencing installed, I’d love to hear your preferences, experiences, and pros and cons–since we’re getting ready to start re-doing some section!