For the interior fences I only had two barb wire string gates left to replace. First priority was the gate between the middle and south pastures as I use that gate all the time to rotate the cattle between the middle and south pastures. One of the few chances to replace the gate is when the cattle are still in the corral.
I went for it even though I only had days left before the cattle would be released into the middle pasture.
Once the gate was done I decided to rebuild as much of the fence as I could. The old fence was three strands of barb wire with lots of poorly done patches in wire and posts. And the wires had stretched over the years and were fairly loose. Last year Buddy the bull had figured out how to cross over this fence whenever he wanted.
I ended up replacing all the posts except one or two posts that were solid and happened to be in the correct spot. I made sure all the new posts were eight feet apart instead of the five to eight (plus) feet randomness of the old posts.
I upgraded the wire count from three strands to seven strands. The wires are now tight and close together and should prevent any cattle (except the bull if he gets mad enough) from passing through the fence.
The rebuilt section is in two parts. First part was from the corner with the hayfield to the gate: eight posts plus two posts to support the gate for a total of 72 feet. The second section has 35 posts plus the six posts as part of the two gates. I believe the measurement was around 320 ft. I think I have about half of the fence to the river left to rebuild.
I had a four foot gate and added it around the halfway point between the east gate and where the west gate will go when I rebuild that part of the fence. This small gate will be an access for me through the fence as I no longer can step over the rebuilt fence. The old fence was about four feet high with loose wire. The new fence is around five feet high and is tight.
The old wooden posts were old! Look at the lichen on a number of them.
The rebuild took a number of days. The view one evening.
Daisy initially tried to keep me company when I worked early afternoons. But it was too bright and warm and not too her liking. She preferred to be with me after 4 pm till dark. Here she wants attention and she decided to lay down in my path to get me to take a break and pet her.
Other times she wanted to be right with me. That made work slower as I had to be careful not to step on her or drop anything on her.
I had to let the cattle into the middle pasture before I was finished with the fence. Once I had five strands of wire strung. Five strands were as high as the old three strand fence. Momma was the first cow to come over and check my work.
Another evening.
The old gate.
The new gate.
The small walk through gate.
The following photos were taken yesterday, about a month after I finished the fence. As you can see time and pressure pulled the railroad ties and gate back.
By the end I was hurrying to stay ahead of the cattle and didn't do the gate quite right. The railroad tie holding the gate wasn't the best or completely straight. I was also used to heavier gates hanging on the tie and did not account/adjust for the light gate. Therefore the tie has a slight lean back. I tried to not stretch the wires too tight but they still pulled the two ties back slightly causing the gate to tilt up. There was only so much I could do with the lag bolts to mitigate the tilt.
This gate really bugs me. But I'll have to live with it for now as I have lots of other fence a much higher priority to fix.
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