10/23/08 Wildlife-friendly fences

I just read about some wildlife-friendly fencing that I think would be livestock-friendly also. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with some barrier banter Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) has just released "A Landowner's Guide to Wildlife Friendly Fences: How to Build Fence with Wildlife in Mind." Well when I read some of the specifications for a fence that is safer for wildlife, I was convinced some of our cows would be more than pleased to have such a structure trying to hold them out of wheat or hay fields. The FWP suggested a maximum fence height of forty inches with at least twelve inches between the top and second wire, while the bottom wire should be eighteen inches off the ground. This design lets mature elk and deer easily jump the fence and the young ones go under. The fence plan calls for smooth wire on top and bottom. I could tell this was a predominately bureaucratic engineered conception when the post interval was not about sixteen or seventeen feet, but 16.5 feet. I had to chuckle. The first thing I thought of when I actually measured the height was that Montana must have some very unathletic elk and deer, besides, my fencing experience in elk country led me to believe elk would just as soon run through a fence as jump over. I think the fence design would work fine in a strictly range situation  to divide pastures, but I also think most cattle would assume it would amount to a free-lunch barrier next to a green foliage field. I'm Jeff Keane.