Okay, I am almost positive I have the ram pasture fence problems fixed. I spent the last five hours restretching fence across the creek and adding new panels over the creek in two locations. I cut the panels to the shape of the creek all the way to the ground!
I have now figured out that I am not really a fan of high tension wire. It must have inline tighteners placed or it just goes limp. The tighteners are around $15-20/each and you need one for each continuous stretch of wire. So on a 6 wire fence it adds up fast. They also make a spring you are supposed to insert for another $15. The lesson here is you want a very long stretch of wire. I have been thinking about using the high tension wire for my vineyard. I will definitely use the tighteners and leave the wire loose at the posts so I can tighten it whenever I want.
So the butcher called today and said they would be out tomorrow to slaughter Speckled Butt and Hershey. So I herded them all into the loading pen with food. I had all the sheep in there. The problem is there was no real way to sort them out. I had to stand by the gate to operate it. I got it down to three sheep, then Speckle Butt leaped up at the gate opening just as I was slamming it shut. Now the sheep managed to be about five feet off the ground and weighs in around 150#. It would have taken me down! I couldn't get the gate shut fast enough and he escaped. So I just locked up the barn lot and came inside to get more help.
It looks like fence repair will have to be an ongoing effort every year. I had to fix another gate today also. I was hoping to leave it alone for the next twenty years... guess that won't be happening.
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