Patio fence

Monday evening I let the cattle into the hayfield after having them on bloat blocks for three days.

The cattle all came over to the gate when I called them.  Then they walked through the gate in an orderly fashion after I opened it.  All except for one of my two nervous steers.  Number 60.  This is the same steer that jumped over a fence in the corral when he didn't leave the corral for the pasture with the rest of the cattle.

I had opened the gate and stood about 20 ft from it and watched the cattle.  Number 60 stood ten feet on the other side of the gate along the fence and watched the herd as they spread out and ate in the hayfield.  I waited for Number 60 to get brave and go through the gate.  Instead he ran around to the fence on the other side of me when the herd wandered that way.

Then the herd wandered back the other way and away from the fence.  Number 60 stood alert and watched them with occasional looks at me.  He then started to moo to the herd who ignored him.  As the herd got farther away he ran around me and past the gate to the corner of the middle pasture.  He was getting much more agitated as the herd got farther away.  He then ran along the middle/south  pasture fence away from the hayfield fence and towards the river.  Based on his past history in the corral I thought he may jump/crash through the middle/south pasture fence but he stopped and watched and mooed while standing partially hidden among some trees.

I gave up and went into the south pasture to check my pocket gopher trap.  Number 60 then trotted to the gate and through and then trotted head held high until he reached the herd.

What a moron.

I forgot my camera so I don't have any photos of this activity.


Prior to letting the cattle into the hayfield I checked the fences.  A number of wooden posts had nails missing as some nails worked their way out of old soft wood.

I fixed the patio fence.  I won't say "rebuild" as future plans are to rebuild the patio and the fence.  But I had to do something as the old fence was falling apart and was in no condition to be patched anymore.  The cattle rubbing on the fence last year didn't do it any favors.

For now I made a fence with some of the boards from my odds and ends wood pile.  I had to do a little looking for the right size boards as the patio posts are nine feet apart.

Here are some before and after photos:

One of the sections I took apart.

The old fence design wasn't the best.  It may have looked nice in the beginning, but the fence on the west side of the patio was wide enough to sit right where the water came off the roof.  That is why I will come up with a new fence design when I rebuild the patio in the future.