Yet another broken fence

Yup.  Another broken fence.  But his time Buddy didn't break the fence.  I did. 

I was pulling Wyatt's haybine with my tractor when I snagged my hayfield fence.  Why was I pulling Wyatt's haybine?  My neighbor John changed his mind and now said I could cut his pasture.  Back when I was doing my first cutting I wasn't sure I would get enough hay off my field and since John hadn't had horses in his pasture for a number of years now, or cut his field ever, I asked if he wanted me to cut it.  He only had five to ten acres, not worth a professional hay cutter to come over and cut.  At that time John waffled back and forth before deciding to not have it cut.

Fast forward to last Friday morning and he called me asking if I wanted to cut his pasture.  Great. After I returned Wyatt's haybine after I finished my second cutting.  Well... What the heck. While I believe I have enough hay for my cattle this Winter... a person can't have too much hay can they?

I wasn't able to get Wyatt's haybine until late Monday night.  Today I cut John's pastures.  Part of the cutting was pain as he had sectioned parts of his east pasture for snow fence and/or to rotate horses.

Because Wyatt's field borders my south pasture I drive the haybine back and forth across our pastures so I can avoid the road.  Pulling a haybine on a narrow road... it is too easy to take out a bunch of mailboxes.

The problem today when I went to return the haybine was that Mama cow decided to walk the river and she was now laying in the south pasture by the gate to Wyatt's field.  The rest of the cattle were across the fence in the hayfield.

And Mama was smart enough to realize I was planning to open the gate to drive my tractor through.  And she didn't want to leave the gate area.  She wouldn't move and would shake her head at me when I tried to herd her away.  I didn't have my sorting stick so I decided to use the tractor to herd Mama.

It was working until Mama decided to walk along the hayfield fence in attempt to get around the tractor.  I cut her off then heard the sound of the fence being ripped up.  I forgot I was pulling the haybine and the leading front corner of it when through the barb wire and broke off an old wood fence post and was now threatening a metal t-post.

I untangled the barb wire from the haybine and backed the haybine out of the fence.  I ended up ripping a section of barb wire from the fence as it somehow got inside a metal spring on the haybine.  I had to break the barb wire and use a hammer to spread the spring to get the wire out.

Cattle are not dumb.  They immediately saw the open hole in the fence when I backed away and they came pouring through the fence into the south pasture.  Fine.  That's not the end of the world.   My goal was to get the tractor and haybine through the gate into Wyatt's field before the cattle came to the gate.

And I was able to do so.

*whew*

By the time I went out to repair the fence the cattle were slowly making their way back into the hayfield.  Once they checked the south pasture out they realized the grass was greener in the hayfield.

The cattle - especially the calves - are fascinated by the plastic bucket.

Checking out the new t-post.

What is in that bucket?!