It's Monday....
Sep. 10th, 2012 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiberaddictand it was a work day. Somehow, I had "lost" a week - *I* kept thinking that today was RH, not NEXT week - glad I was wrong! I'm not ready for RH yet.....
Got home at 1:30 - would have been home sooner, except - sing it with me, folks! - FA's girl sent me changes again - at *10:30*. :bangs head: We begged FA to PLEASE enforce the "no changes after midnight Saturday" rule that HE put in place...but he just shrugs. :arrrrrrgh:
I think the Am Ex is about to go up again - the coyotes were in our neighbor's back yard last night. Twice. I HATE being in debt (at ANY time, not just now)....but I don't want to deal with dead, half-eaten goats, either. The doe fence along that side is OK, but not perfect - it's on t-posts, with the cattle panel attached by zip ties (AKA cable ties. Don't judge me - they work. In fact, zip ties are my emergency fence repair kit.)
Anna, you mentioned chain link panels. Tried that - they'd probably work for our does, but we have a LOT of space to cover (the doe pen is approximately 100' long, and 60' wide), and our goats are big enough that if they lean into the fence (as they do) to rub their itchy sides (as they are), they eventually push the chain link off of the stretcher bars, and can then wiggle thru the space and go on walkabout. That's why I had to cattle panel OVER the chain link gate in the doe pen.....because they were getting out and it had gotten to the point that it wasn't worth trying to re-stretch the link again. :sigh: You've got cute little goats.......I'm beginning to rethink my love of Nubians. :lol:
The BEST fence we've found so far, for ALL the critters, is welded cattle/utility panels. My backyard is t-posts, with the panels welded to them, topped with angle iron. Ugly, but has been pretty indestructible AND escape-proof (except by a dog that can jump.) Since we don't weld (my fence was done by the guy that actually owns the property next door; my neighbor IS a welder, but getting him to actually, y'know, WELD something for me has proven impossible. Money doesn't seem to work....), we're using 8' tall, 5" diameter wooden fence posts, sunk 2.5' in concrete, set 8' apart. Staple the cattle panel to it in 6 or 8 places, then top with another 5" diameter post. Looks good, is STURDY, and even the horses respect it.
The problem? EXPENSIVE. The panels are $20/each on sale, and the posts run about $8/each. We got a deal on both last year; we have enough of both to finish out the buck pen and to do the 2 long sides of the doe pen. We'll have to buy more to do the pastures - that's the long-term goal; to have ALL the fences on the property be the same. :sigh: I'm trying to convince SG that the no-climb horse-wire will work, IF he staples it to the top rail - now, on t-posts the horses lean and lean and LEAN, and push it down the posts and step over it. If it's attached to the top rail, they can't do that - and we'd save quite a bit on the fencing. (The posts will still be expensive, but it's hard to find them free/discounted. :sigh:)
Ah, well......at least we're all here and safe for the moment. Hope the coyotes stay away until we get something to deter them......
Got home at 1:30 - would have been home sooner, except - sing it with me, folks! - FA's girl sent me changes again - at *10:30*. :bangs head: We begged FA to PLEASE enforce the "no changes after midnight Saturday" rule that HE put in place...but he just shrugs. :arrrrrrgh:
I think the Am Ex is about to go up again - the coyotes were in our neighbor's back yard last night. Twice. I HATE being in debt (at ANY time, not just now)....but I don't want to deal with dead, half-eaten goats, either. The doe fence along that side is OK, but not perfect - it's on t-posts, with the cattle panel attached by zip ties (AKA cable ties. Don't judge me - they work. In fact, zip ties are my emergency fence repair kit.)
Anna, you mentioned chain link panels. Tried that - they'd probably work for our does, but we have a LOT of space to cover (the doe pen is approximately 100' long, and 60' wide), and our goats are big enough that if they lean into the fence (as they do) to rub their itchy sides (as they are), they eventually push the chain link off of the stretcher bars, and can then wiggle thru the space and go on walkabout. That's why I had to cattle panel OVER the chain link gate in the doe pen.....because they were getting out and it had gotten to the point that it wasn't worth trying to re-stretch the link again. :sigh: You've got cute little goats.......I'm beginning to rethink my love of Nubians. :lol:
The BEST fence we've found so far, for ALL the critters, is welded cattle/utility panels. My backyard is t-posts, with the panels welded to them, topped with angle iron. Ugly, but has been pretty indestructible AND escape-proof (except by a dog that can jump.) Since we don't weld (my fence was done by the guy that actually owns the property next door; my neighbor IS a welder, but getting him to actually, y'know, WELD something for me has proven impossible. Money doesn't seem to work....), we're using 8' tall, 5" diameter wooden fence posts, sunk 2.5' in concrete, set 8' apart. Staple the cattle panel to it in 6 or 8 places, then top with another 5" diameter post. Looks good, is STURDY, and even the horses respect it.
The problem? EXPENSIVE. The panels are $20/each on sale, and the posts run about $8/each. We got a deal on both last year; we have enough of both to finish out the buck pen and to do the 2 long sides of the doe pen. We'll have to buy more to do the pastures - that's the long-term goal; to have ALL the fences on the property be the same. :sigh: I'm trying to convince SG that the no-climb horse-wire will work, IF he staples it to the top rail - now, on t-posts the horses lean and lean and LEAN, and push it down the posts and step over it. If it's attached to the top rail, they can't do that - and we'd save quite a bit on the fencing. (The posts will still be expensive, but it's hard to find them free/discounted. :sigh:)
Ah, well......at least we're all here and safe for the moment. Hope the coyotes stay away until we get something to deter them......
aNNa says:
Date: 2012-09-12 08:04 am (UTC)