Fencing
I just read an article about one of the less desirable jobs around a ranch that actually was a little amusing to me. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back right after this to tell you about the subject of the article.An article in one of the trade magazines was a serious how-to and when-to repair or replace an existing fence. The reasons given for having a good fence to protect your livestock and protect yourself from the liability of wandering livestock were points well-delivered and well taken. One guideline given to assess the need for repairing a fence or replacing it was the age of the fence. Any fence older than 10 years should be evaluated to see if the posts are still solid and the wire is not rusty. If the posts are leaning in a 20 year old fence and the wire is broken or rusted that fence is a candidate to be replace. Well, a lot of the fences in our part of the country are seventy-plus years old and the newer ones are barely pushing 30 years. The pictures accompanying the article are what made me giggle - they were all of fences on flat, unrocky ground that could be driven along with any vehicle. If you have fences running up rocky hillsides tied into a bluff and then started again on top of that bluff up another rocky hill and the material was brought in by pack animals that fence will be repaired and repaired again if even one rusty barb is left. Oh - many of the experts quoted in the article were post and wire dealers. Kind of like the old saying - asking a barber if you need a haircut. I'm Jeff Keane.
