Before Shearing

Wild Rose Farm Snow White in a Sea of Wool!

We brought Snow White and the ewes up to the barn from the Back 40 on Easter morning. They are scheduled to be sheared and it's essential that they be dry. It's raining outside as this is being written.

You can see lots of wool fleeces out there ready to come off!

Snow White is particularly "white" today. We had a t-storm and very high winds two days after we sent them out back to graze.
Check out the big elm tree that blew out in the pasture field overnight. No one was hurt and the tree formed a triangle over the high tensile fence.  Nothing like a fence to attract a falling tree!

Wild Rose Farm - Elm Tree Blowout Over Fence!

Scene Greeting Us in the Morning ...

The Hills Are Alive ...

Ewes At Gate - Where Are Our Lambs?  Baa!

... with the sound of bleating!  We weaned all but a half-dozen of the youngest lambs yesterday and you practically needed a pair of ear plugs in the barn last night. The ewes were moved over to the pasture near the Loafing Shed ... they are spending their time standing near the gate bleating for the lambs. No one is happy.  But wait --- what is happening here to distract us?

What Is That Thing?

We had Carl come over to give us a quote on a fence repair and also measure for a new interior paddock fence around the Loafing Shed. A few days ago, an F-450 truck lost its' brakes at a stop sign, crossed US Route 30, and hit our high tensile woven wire fence. No one was injured, but the fence had to be cut out of the front end of the truck.  It did not break.  That's the 2nd time this fence has been hit this year!  So ... we needed a quote for the driver to give to his insurance company and we added our own request to build an interior fence. As you can see above, the ewes were fascinated.

The Yearlings - Where Are They Going & Should We Follow?

Carl walks the proposed fence line with a wheel & his clipboard to take measurements and record where we need the gates to be put in the fence. The ewes followed at a very safe distance ...

Run The Line Here ... Then Make A Corner

Walking & Measuring

That was the activity for the morning.  We had some people over in the afternoon to pick out a ram lamb for their small flock.  We'll hold the ram for another week --- we like to make sure that they are settled down and eating well after weaning before we let them go to a new home.

Tree Down On Perimeter Fence - Yikes!

Wild Cherry Tree Smashes Corner Brace & Fence

We had very high winds Monday night as a front moved through - we now assume that's when this happened.  We were busy with shearing at that time.  Mr. WRF spotted it in the afternoon yesterday when he was feeding the ewes over at the Loafing Shed.  Something looked amiss and he walked back to find this big tree down on the fence.
The second thicker upright post from the left is a true corner post.  Luckily, the wires loop around it from both directions and terminate back around on themselves with wire clamps.  Also, luckily, nothing is in our main pasture field right now. 

Cross Brace Knocked Out, But Electric Wires & Knife Switch OK!

You can see that the 2nd corner brace post in the line is pushed out and broken below ground level. 
That post will have to be pulled, dug out, and replaced.  This is a 10 strand High Tensile (HT) fence, so it requires double corner braces. 

Brace Pin Bent & Fence Wire Staples Popped Out

The beauty of an HT wire fence is that it takes this kind of abuse and the wire generally doesn't break.  The force popped the fence wire staples out of the post on the top 4 or 5 strands and stretched the wire to the ground.  The problem comes with clearing the tree (or car, truck, etc.) from the fence --- and that is a SAFETY issue.  The tensile strength of the wire can cause the tree to suddenly spring in an unexpected direction once some of the weight is released as the forces shift.  You also have to take into account the possibility of the wire snapping or springing back to position.  This is not a job for one person alone. 

Tree Cut Off - HT Wires Back In Position, Almost!

The cross brace will have to be replaced along with the broken post on the left.  This is the oldest fence on the property & was installed in 1995.  At that time we cleared this fenceline THROUGH a thicket of hawthorn, crabapple, & multi-flora rose just like you see on the backside of the fence in the 2nd picture above!  I'd forgotten how much fun that winter was --- yes, winter because there are no leaves, you can see, and the ground is frozen, not muddy.  Cut and drag, cut and drag, cut and drag ...    
We've had no problems with the "10 strand" other than a couple of trees falling on it.  The picture below shows the remains of the last tree to fall back in this corner.  We were lucky that time.  It just missed the cross brace! 

Mossy Remains of Fallen Tree Outside Pasture

 When we installed this fence, we didn't own the acreage on the other side.  Now we do & you can see through to a clearing across the creek.
So what surprise awaited you today?   :)