Fencing Project 2011

Now we have more sheep we need more grass, we do have plenty of grass but we lack secure fencing. Before we moved here the farm had cattle on it and cows can be kept in with two strands of barbed wire and well behaved, calm, cows maybe one row of barbed wire, a sheep on the other hand will get through the smallest of gaps!

So we are renewing the fence lines round some of the best fields. This involves clearing scrub and cutting back trees, tiding up the Devon banks which have been eroded by Sheep and Deer.

As the fence lines were very neglected a lot of work has gone into clearing back the over grown scrub that has built up and using the digger "little Nellie" to move back the soil from bank that has spread out over the old fence line and into the field.

Clearing the gorse and black thorn back to the old fence line. After the brush is cleared then the earth needs to be moved back

Follow that line! we used a string to mark the course of the fence line and then marked with a spray, for the digger to work to.

This is little Nellie a tow able Mantis mini digger it has a breakout force of 1.75  tonnes or it did when new! see the oily hands website 

The cleared earth pushed back to the original line and the Devon Bank restored. But leaving spaces around the trunks of trees that have grown up on the banks.

Barbed wire nailed to a tree - a really bad idea, it doesn't do the tree any good, if the tree moves or falls down the fence goes with it and when the tree is cut up for wood the chainsaw chain can break causing terrible injury to the operator - Just Don't!

We put the stock wire up in 2 halves so we can join it in the middle and tension it evenly. The stock wire now secured at both ends and rolled to the middle. We join the wire with "Gripples" which make life make easier because if the fence has a accident - such as a hit from a Tree or a Tractor you can tighten the fence wire again or put a new piece in without replacing the whole fence line. Gripples make fencing a lot easier

 www.Gripple.com

We now have two Hayes fence strainers clamps before we had one proper strainer and one wooden home made one which worked pretty well but the hardwood grip pieces were starting to wear out and the wire would slip through. Mole Valley Farmers were selling Hayes strainers for £144 plus VAT which is a very good price. 29 June 2012 they are now £153.60 plus VAT still not bad!

The two Hayes strainers are clamped to the stock wire with the silver wedges which grip the wires and then two ratchet winches are connected which when tightened pull the two halves of the fence together so we can connect the gripples. We also put a short length of Yorkshire boarding under the feet of the strainer so they slide over the ground.

Mole Valley Farmers website  price of Hayes Strainers

Mole Valley Farmers website price of Hotline Gripples

Hayes fencing Tools website General information

We have just started using box strainers. There basically 2 posts joined by a cross beam with is fixed in place with a short length of 12mm mild steel bar at both ends drilled through the vertical posts and hammered into the cross beam. Then there is a High Tensile wire placed diagonally from the bottom of the end post to the top of the other post, over a short piece of the 12mm bar which should protrude (about 25mm). Then wire is joined and tightened with a Gripple

 We used to use Stobb and leaner but we find that when our soil gets wet the posts move allowing the fence wire to go slack. We will have to wait for a couple of years to see if box strainers work better

 

 Stobb and Leaner                           Box strainer

 

Close up of wire around the top steel bar.
 The finished fence line