Fences and Hogs

Yesterday, when I went out to feed cattle, I decided I needed to make a thorough check of the electric fence around the hay meadow.  We are letting the cows continue to graze what they can there while we let the upper pasture (away from the creek bottom) grow some.

The cattle are used to the electric fence and know where the boundaries are, so they make no effort to cross it.  It probably doesn't even need a charge to keep them in now.

We have had a little wind along with the recent rains and I just thought it might be a good idea to check it out.  It was a nice day and the meadow still very wet, so I decided to walk rather than take the Polaris around.  Besides, part of it runs through a stretch of woods and I can't drive along that stretch.

I made a beeline to the far end near where we have a deer feeder.  I have bright red flag tape tied on the wire between each post as an "eye catcher" to make certain the cattle see where the fence is located.  I could see from a distance that some of the bright red spots were not where expected.  As I approached, I knew immediately the fence was broken.

The charger is on the other end of the line and I didn't want to make the walk back to turn it off before repairing the break.  I started with the end of the line that I knew would not be charged due to the break and began putting it back through the insulators which I had to search the ground to find and then threading them back onto the posts.  As I approached the vicinity of the deer feeder it became apparent as to why the fence was broken -- the hogs had plowed the ground like a Panhandle farmer getting ready to plant.

I then headed for the "live" end of the wire in hopes that I could stretch it to meet the other end and tie it back together.  I was wearing rubber boots and thought they would insulate me from the shock.  Thankfully, I was correct in my assessment.

I completed the repair and then walked over to pull the SIM card out of the game camera near the feeder before completing my circuit of the fence.  There were no other breaks, but there were numerous places where there were tree limbs that had fallen on it and had it pushed to the ground.  It probably wouldn't have shocked me as I tied it together since it was grounded in so many other places.

It's a good thing cattle don't have the ability to reason but, are good "learners" in that they knew where their boundary lay.  They could have been off in the woods and difficult to get back in otherwise.

The hogs are a problem in this part of the world.  We probably lost a half acre or more to their rooting -- and that was just this one instance.  The photo below isn't current, but is typical of what we see....