Back at the end of April, after I completed the loading corral fence, and added a railroad fence post by the hayshed, I decided to rebuild the fence and gates separating the north and middle pastures and the hayfield. Because of the multiple pastures being open while I took the fence down for the rebuild, the only time I can rebuild this section is before I let the livestock out of the corral.
This section of the fence is old and the horses last year pushed against the fence hastening the need to rebuild it sooner than later. While I have the kitchen remodel on my plate, the weather was cool and I want the weather to be nicer during the kitchen remodel. I figure I could get the fence rebuild done in about a week. Once again...
wrong! Even though I didn't work non-stop on the fence, it still was my number 1 project. It took me over a month to complete the fence rebuild. You can see the change in the grass in the before-and-after photos.
Here is how the fence and gates looked before I started the rebuild. As you can see the gates were strands of barb wire attached to boards. They were a pain to open and close and were a hassle to manage when herding livestock through them when a person only wanted one animal to pass through and not the entire herd.
Orientation: I am standing in the NW part of the hayfield. On the left across the fence is the middle pasture. On the right is the north pasture.
One of the "wire string" gates can be seen between the two tall poles. It was about 7 ft from the post marking the point where the fence separating the hayfield from the middle pasture meets the fence separating these two fields from the north pasture. I moved this gate to start at the corner post, which I replaced with a railroad tie the better on which to hang a heavy 16 ft gate. I left the other gate in its same position as the ground eroded a bit over the decades and this spot is the obvious spot for a gate now.
How did this fence ever successfully keep the livestock where they belonged?
Orientation below: I am standing in the North pasture. On the left of the fence going to the far trees is the hayfield. On the right is the middle pasture.
The left gate (to the hayfield) is between the tall poles. The right gate is on the right side of the photo.
The finished product.
I moved the left gate over to be even with the fence dividing the hayfield from the middle pasture.
This shows all of the fence I rebuilt: from the left side all the way to the right side. On the left side I rebuilt eight posts of fence between the gate and the corral. Until I finish the corral rebuild I didn't want to rebuild the entire fence right now. I rebuilt 40 fence posts on the right side. More on that below.
Between the gates I added boards in addition to the strands of barb wire. The boards made it more solid to support the posts holding the gates.I took the time to notch areas in the posts to set the boards rather than just side nailing the boards to the posts. Contrary to the look of the boards, I took time to make sure that for the most part they were level. (That's the level leaning against the middle post).
As you can see the boards are a little crooked. I think of my uncles Curt and Larry whenever I look at these boards. When my uncles were here last year to help me with my bathroom remodel they gave me grief about my crooked and warped boards. Well... here are what those boards are for: my pasture fences. The boards here don't need to be straight - just solid. The top board on the left is my "Uncle Curt" board as I'm sure this was one of the boards he wanted me to get rid of.
Between the posts you can make out strands of wire making an X. The wire also helps make this section of fence more solid and less likely to lean due to the weight of the 16 ft gates hanging off the railroad tie on the left and the post on the right.
In addition to having the solid boards between the gates, I also build a solid board and wire structure on each side of the gates.
Here you can see the first wire of the "X" wires.
I removed and rebuild part of the fence beyond the board structure. Here you can see the crappy condition of the old fence.
Most of the old wood posts were broken or about to break. Originally I only planned to rebuild the fence over the open area in the photo below. I ended up rebuilding the fence to just past the pine tree. I rebuilt 40 fence posts. I should say there are 40 posts in my fence rebuild. I spaced posts every 8 ft. In the old fence, the posts varied in distance between 6 and 8 ft with most posts a distance of around 7 ft apart. I have another (existing) 80 fence posts of fence to rebuild to reach the river.
The old fence was three strands of wire: two strands of barb wire and the top wire: a single strand of regular wire. The deer would make multiple breaks in the top wire all year long, but mainly in the Winter. The horses last year were also hard on the top wire.
Solid board structure done.
Solid board structure and new fence.
The new fence is five strands of barb wire. I replaced the old 5 1/2 ft posts with 6 ft posts to make the fence a bit higher and allow for five strands of wire. Don't worry, the deer can still jump over this new fence.
A side note: birds formerly used the hole in the old tree stump for a nesting area. Until the ants moved in last year.
Here the ants have a nest next to another tree stump. This was a solid stump but the ant are chewing on it weakening it. The photo was taken before I rebuilt the fence as the new fence runs right next to the stump, and after I spread out the ant pile.
I had a 4 foot gate and I put it in the fence between the hayfield and middle pasture. I have found a number of times I will bypass the coral and its gates and livestock and walk the hayfield to get to the middle pasture. This fence was short enough I could just step over it carefully. Once I rebuild the entire fence it will be too tall to step over. So I put a small gate here for me to walk through. Again on each side of the gate I build a solid structure with boards and "X" wires. I also rebuilt the fence between the corner railroad tie post and this gate. I also increased the number of strands of barb wire in this section of the fence.
Even with the boards on each side of the gate I still over stretched the wires. Therefore the posts on each side of the gate lean out a little bit causing the gate to tilt up a little bit. The 16 ft gates are heavier and I didn't have the leaning problem there.
Before the third gate...
With the third gate...
Looking into the north pasture from the third gate..
I reused old barb wire so I had to often tie pieces together.
For the solid board and wire sections on each side of the gates I removed the barbs from most of the wires. I've had enough of working with new and old barb wire and getting stuck by the barbs. I tend now to make sure the last half foot or more of the ends of barb wire strands are barb-less. Unwinding the barb wire strands and sliding off the barbs, then rewinding the strands took time, especially when I was doing an eight ft section of wire. Multiple five strands by six 8 ft sections. But I felt it was worth the extra time it took.
Posts:
Around the gates I used a few railroad ties and some large long posts I had. Here are the large long posts I used standing next to a normal post on the left.
I have a three 10 ft long railroad ties left. This fence rebuild was a perfect spot for one of them. Where are the 10 ft ties? At the bottom of the pile and next to the fence of course.
The 10 ft tie I used is at the bottom of the gap I made.
Standing the heavy 10 ft railroad tie into the hole by myself was a challenge. I staged the lift by using the wheelbarrow. I'm getting older as I couldn't lift the tie up in one movement like I could a few years ago (barely). I had to make sure the hole was in the correct location and at the correct depth the first time as there was no "do overs" with this railroad tie.
It was too far to string electric cords for an electric drill. My battery drill is wimpy. To drill the holes for the gate's lag bolts it took me several days to drill through this dense railroad tie as I couldn't get all the way through the tie on a fully charged battery. It took three attempts to drill two holes using a brand new 3/4" drill bit. Fortunately the other posts for gates were not railroad ties and each gate only took two attempts to drill two holes.
Some of the old rotted fence posts and miscellaneous boards I removed.
So, one of the more complicated sections of fence is now done.
Daisy kept me company some days when I worked on the fence.
http://tallpinescat.blogspot.com/2013/07/three-gates-rebuild.html
