New Fencing

Good fences make good farmers.  

That's how the saying goes, right? Maybe not, but I believe it to be true. Nobody wants to find livestock eating their way through a prized flower bed, and leaving stinky presents all over the lawn. Being next to a modestly busy road, there is always the possibility of animals getting into traffic and hurting themselves, or in the case of a 1500 pound steer, hurting others.

Of even higher concern to me though is predatory animals coming on to my property. Foxes, weasels, skunks, dogs, and coyotes are a constant threat to chickens and lambs. Even just being frightened or chased by another animal can cause hens to stop laying or molt, meat birds to die of fright or stop eating, and tie a lamb's insides in knots. Some farmers keep sheep dogs or other protective breeds to guard their livestock, but these animals can be expensive to keep, they can't be everywhere on the farm at once, and they can be a cause of more mortality than they prevent. What's the solution? Good fence.

The common fence these days is high tensile steel or aluminum wire. It may be electrified, and there can be anywhere from one to ten strands that present a formidable barrier to most livestock and many predators. It is very cost effective because the poles can be spaced farther apart than traditional fencing, and it is pretty easy and quick to put up. Electrified wires present an added psychological barrier, discouraging any animal from coming near the fence. The problems with wire is that small predators and livestock can get through or under even an electrified fence. Also, the electrified wires can be shorted out by heavy grass, fallen branches, or broken insulators.

So, what's better than wire? Welded wire field fence! This stuff is impressive; the wires are closer together on the bottom to keep chickens and lambs in, and small predators and dogs out. If a steer were to run into this fence, it would simply bounce off. Running along the top is a strand of electrified high tensile to keep anybody from leaning on the top of it.

Okay, now that I knew what I wanted, I had to find somebody to install it, because it is a massive job for one person to do. I ended up picking Carson Martin from Melodie Ranch Fencing, and he shows up with this contraption:

Watching this process in action was mesmerizing. A fence post is placed inside the yellow post hammer and is willed into the ground by the hammering force of the machine. Most posts were driven in under 15 seconds. Hydraulic steering on the wheels and on the post hammer kept everything straight and even. Even the horses were pros, knowing exactly how far ahead to move with very little input from Carson. They placed almost 2000 feet of posts in under 5 hours, only stopping because they ran out of materials. I love well designed and useful machines, and this is going to be one of my all-time favorites. Here's a video of it in action:

So, here's the finished product. They did a very nice job, even put up my gates for me. 

This fenced field has about six acres inside and will be my multi-species pasture for chickens, lambs, and at least for right now, steers. To help me develop a rotational grazing plan, I screen-captured the satellite image of our property, then overlaid it with our fence and building plans in Google drawings.

South Field Fencing

The black lines show where the permanent field fence is; the purple lines will be semi-permanent handling fences around the barn; the red dotted lines are temporary electric fence alleyways. These areas allow us to move our animals between the barn and pastures securely. Water and minerals will also be available in the center of the red circle in the middle of the field. The dotted turquoise lines illustrate how the pasture rotation electric fencing will be laid out, only 3 strands at a time working around the field from center like the hands of a clock. The fence is actually poly rope with thin metal conductors braided in it, and each rope is on a reel so that it can be wound up and moved very quickly. The key to raising animals on grass is to move them every few days to a new section of fresh grass so that they do not overgraze or over trample any one area.

In a few years we will probably fence in the other pasture, as finances permit. For now we have lots of low tensile electric fencing we could put out there if we want the cows to graze it, but that won't keep sheep in very well.

Now all we need are some animals!

PASA Conference 2013, Day Two

As the north east coast woke up to 3 feet of snow, central PA was spared all but a sprinkle of snow and ice. Heading back to the conference I was able to reflect on what I learned on day one. I had read several books on rotational grazing but the concept of letting the grass fully recover, 20 to 60 days in non drought conditions is necessary to build biomass in the soil, did not really click until now. The animals need to be moved off the clipped grass before it starts to regrow, within 2 to 3 days. They shouldn't return until the grass is at least 12 inches long again. The top of the grass is reflective of the root depth, so the longer it grows the more energy it can store for regrowth and to weather drought. When animals are grazed quickly across a pasture in spring they bite the tastiest grasses and leave the unpalatable and weeds. When grass is bit it tries to reproduce itself from the root at the soil line, sending out tendrils that become new plants. Animal damage to these tendrils will defeat this form of reproduction. Let the weeds and undesirables go to seed before mowing the entire pasture, they will have used their energy to produce that seed, but the good grasses will have already reproduced. Cut hay 4 to 6 inches off the ground for faster recovery. Go into winter with good grass cover for faster spring start-up.

So on day two I learned some more things. Learn to read your land so you can utilize it most efficiently. Grey plants are a sign of poor soil, or brittle land. Conscientious debt that will build your business is ultimately more productive than no debt. Crowd-source, find investors, use Kickstarter for specific projects. A detailed grazing plan is the only way to maximize your greatest resource, grass. If you know in what pastures you have been, you can plot where you will go next. Get a weather station with a rain gauge and record weather data on the grazing plan so that you can make predictions about how the weather will affect your farm.

So I have a lot to process now. I met a lot of smart people I need to remember the names of the next time I see them. I have a grazing plan to layout, I think I'll create a spreadsheet. I have three more books to read. I have much to do, better get to it.

PASA Conferece 2013 - Day One

Today I went to my first PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) conference, and it was eye opening! I had no idea that there were so many people in the area that had the same crazy notions about food and farming as I do. The atmosphere was unlike any conference I have been to (and I have been to a lot over the years), flannel was the predominant fabric and patchouli drifted about the hallways; people smiled and were genuinely interested in meeting you, as knowledge flowed freely in an open exchange of ideas. I went to workshops on farm planning, business models, and rotational grazing. Some things I learned:

Find your niche; what sets your farms products apart from conventional products or other farms products?

Industrial agriculture does not pay for the damage it does to our planet and people. Sustainable ag repairs our environment, a service that benefits everyone, but we currently do not get adequately compensated for our efforts. Hopefully someday we will.

If you love what you do, it's okay that you may never get rich doing it.

It was a great day, with so much information and inspiration. But I think I'll have to properly digest it all later because right now, my brain is full.