Putting Up Cross Fencing

So the past few weeks we’ve been working on cross-fencing the property. With several hundred broiler chickens running around, good fencing becomes very crucial to keep out the multitude of foxes, coyotes, dogs, possums, and possibly swamp monsters (you can never completely rule out swamp monsters….anywhere!).

Sadly, when we purchased the farm, there was no real cross fencing of any kind, and what little fencing there was got royally owned by Hurricane Katrina. We use, currently, rolls of eletrified poultry netting (which is a really good product, btw) to protect  our birds, but it’s turned into a ridiculously labor  intensive process. The rolls of netting make a rather small foraging area for the birds, and since we keep them in movable pens, the netting must be moved ALOT, as the pens move.

Permanent fence is much better.

So, through the NCRS’s EQUIP conservation program, which gives grants for certain types of conservation/agricultural development projects, we will be able to cross pretty much the entire property into 4 or 5 paddocks. Much of the land is forested, so we had to do quite a job of work clearing the fence lines.

So that’s what my pa and I have been up to, here’s some of our progress.

We rented an auger for the tractor. With the ground as hard as it is right now this was a must. Even with this I ended up having to stand on top on the gear box and hop up and down a little to get the auger to “bite”. Doing that, btw, is an excellent way to kill/maim yourself. It also looks silly.

Finished product with the auger.

Partial view of the first north-south fenceline

Gate by the pond on the north-south fenceline. There will be an east-west line coming right off the other side of this gate.

So that’s it for now, later this week we will be pulling the wire!  The wire will be a 4ft field fence, with two strands of barbed wire on top, and offset electrified wire along the bottom. Excited!