😊 Fencing! 😊
gotta start somewhere
(August Update at end of page)
Backyard Sheep Fence
we're learning as we go
The fence has to start somewhere and on the area that our neighbor kindly mowed is a great place to start. He's all enthusiastic about the idea of sheep and donated a whole pile of fence posts, so we don't have to worry about unhappy neighbors and sheep. At least, at this time, since his wife got a great job in Canada, they may be moving. Arrgh! It's really a bummer to lose good neighbors. We will wait and see what happens. In the meantime, we're fencing for sheep.
Since we are fortunately on the Hamakua Coast, we have deep soil instead of a mere layer of leaf litter over lava rock as some of the other areas of the island have. Which means installing a metal fence post is really easy! Woot! There's a 'fence pounder' which is a heavy metal tube that is closed at one end. There's loops on the side for handles and it is put over the top of the post. Lift it up, let it fall or even get enthusiastic and pull it down and then the fence post is installed. The fencing we are using is "1047", I think they called it. Ten strands of wire, 47" tall. It's called 'field fencing' and the pukas (holes) get smaller at the bottom of the fence. They are still too large to contain rabbits, but we don't let the bunnies out to wander around anyway.
The whole pasture is on a slope although there's a flat area in the center where the sheep house will go. I'm not too sure what that will look like quite yet, but it will be to keep them dry when it rains and out of the wind when it's windy. Shady and a water trough, too. Also it will have a small corral area so they can be easily caught when it's time for hoof trimming and such. But all that will be after the fencing is done.
The fence will go around the perimeter and have a fence line down the middle so there will be a 'this side' and 'that side'. Apparently, it's better for the grass if the sheep eat it for a bit and then go eat the grass on the other side of the fence. Which will be greener, no doubt.
Anyway, back to the actual installation of fencing.
Several of our best Rabbit Wranglers have become Sheep Fencers! (Somehow that brings to mind folks and sheep fencing with those long pointy swords.) Fencing for sheep is a much more energetic task than shearing bunnies.
Sartorial Elegance among Sheep Fencers
Hillside Farm's Fence Crew
Rough and tough Fence Crew! Woot!
Usually, when folks talk about a fencing crew, one imagines rough tough folks and big diesel trucks brimming with tools. Maybe a back hoe or tractor and all kinds of implements. Even a set of fencing pliers, at least! Well, this is 'Hillside Farm' and our fencing crew is backyard sized, so we have our best Rabbit Wranglers on the job and we're making do with whatever we have. I don't think we could get a diesel truck back here, anyway. Maybe a fence crew on horses, though, that might work.
Our rough and tough fence crew goes at the fierce Guinea grass with determination and clippers. So far we've not lost anyone in the tall grass, but it's been close.
Breaking Through to the Other Side
Getting Lost in the Tall Grass
Every body around here wants to help
The cat, Jack, and the rooster, Red Ricky, seem to think they need to help, too. If being underfoot constitutes 'help'. I can understand why Ricky would want to help since there's frequently bugs in all that grass. I'm not quite sure why Jack seems to think we need his supervision. I guess if any mice show up he will be on patrol.
The fencing starts with finding a place to put it, first! Since the grass is so tall, we have a hard time figuring out where the fence should go. The property behind the house is pretty flat but still with a slight slope for about fifteen feet. Then, for the next ten to fifteen feet, it does a sharp rise at about a twenty to thirty degree slope and then levels back off to a more gentle yet still a slope. We're hoping to fence down to the top of the sharp slope and use the ten to fifteen feet of shart slope as a terraced garden area since it's near the house and a terraced garden would stabilize the slope. Plus, there'd be more gardens for veggies and they would be gardens near the kitchen door. So, that's the plan! (It's always good to have a plan!)
The Guinea grass is pretty ferocious stuff. One of our Fence Crew took out a big clump of it and there was a 'stump' left of the densely packed stems. That was resistant to clippers since it was too dense to get the clippers in there.
sometimes it just needs an axe
We tried a variety of tools to get rid of the big clump of grass roots since it was right in the way of where we wanted to put the fence line. When an axe was used on it just as if it were a tree stump, then we were finally able to clear it out of the way. Fortunately, a lot of the tall grasses are cane grass which has stems further apart and susceptible to clippers.
it starts with a path
there's a path in there somewhere!
add a few posts and soon some wire
stretched and attached to the posts
I think there's some sort of special tool that is usually used to stretch the wire, but all we have is the mainsheet block and tackle that used to be used on my old sailboat. It works pretty well as a fence stretching tool, though, so it's all good.
We also use it for a variety of other things, such as getting the wire off our 'work truck'.
it's a work truck?
a boat's mainsheet rig is a great thing
The mainsheet was used to hold the wire in place while taking it off our 'work truck'. The hardware store folks had a fork lift to get it up on top of the car racks - which are fortunatly 'Tule' racks so we can put all kinds of heavy stuff on them and they don't collapse. Since the car was on a slope, the mainsheet held the roll from sliding off the back. A couple of wooden fence posts were put alongside the car as a descent ramp and then the wire was pushed off the side. The handy mock orange hedge kept the wire from escaping and we didn't even scrape the mirror off the car. (I did that once using a kayak, oopers!)
The roll of wire is surprisingly heavy and our fencing crew is not the most robust crew around so the mainsheet was then used to winch the roll of wire uphill. It's now tied to the posts so it won't roll down hill while our fencing crew takes a day off to rest. We will be back at fencing again tomorrow unless we take another day off and go to the beach instead.
Does it look like a terraced garden yet?
this will be the bottom edge of the pasture
The plan for along the bottom edge of our backyard sheep pasture is to be able to park the car parallel to the back of the house. Which will be huge when shifting feed bags out of the car as well as people groceries.
On the uphill side of the car will be enough room for a terraced garden. That will cover the part of the slope that is too steep to mow as well as stablizing the hillside. At least, that's the plan. We will see how it goes.
😊 Sheep! 😊
lawn Roombas finally on duty
Lawn Roombas at Work
it's gonna take 'em awhile to eat their way outa there
Flower & Cypress
Clun Forest sheep
The Sheep Project was started in early March, 2020 and we now - as of August 5th - finally have two sheep. It's been a long slog, but persistance eventually gets there.
The Sheep Project was started Before Covid, so now it's like we're in a totally different world. Also, The Sheep Project was started when we had different neighbors who had an elderly Labrador. It's amazing how quickly things can change.
We had just started the fencing project when the neighbors decided to sell their house and move to Canada. It didn't take very long for the house next door to find new people. Who are very nice and like sheep! (Yay!) However, along with them came a scary pit bull. My first thought was "OMG! A sheep eating pit bull! Oh no!" I wasn't certain if we should continue the sheep project or not. But, we'd gotten too far along and I was considering ways of making dog proof fence lines of barbed wire, electric fence, etc., etc. I mean, it's a sheep eating dog, isn't it?
Cypress, Flower & Kai
So first time Dog Meets Sheep, there's a shocked pit bull wondering what those Big Dogs are doing staring at him. The pit bull, Kai, is still a young dog so he's still figuring out the world. I don't think his world had included sheep prior to last week.
Kai inches up to the fence, sheep advance up to the fence. Noses are poked through, sniffing happens, dog licks sheep nose, sheep lick dog nose. More sniffing happens. Kai wags his tail, crouches down in the typical "Hi! Let's play" pose and sticks his face through the fence (it only goes about halfway), sheep do a little front foot dance and gently butt his face with their head. There may have been mutual confusion on each side as to how to play, but sheep met dog and nobody got eaten. Whew!
Oh, and the hillside that was going to become a garden as part of the fencing project?
Steep bit of hillside with sheep fence behind
obviously a perfect garden spot?
The fencing project took as long as it did since other projects happened as part of it. The 'Apocalypse' garden (this was at the beginnings of Covid, remember?) took up about two weeks or so of fencing time.
The Apocalypse Garden
Covid happened, what else to name a garden?
The timing on this garden was really good. It was still really early on in 'The Time of Covid', so the online seed sources hadn't been swamped yet. We ordered seeds and had them already here when that happened. I'd checked back with the seed site and found them shut down due to excessive demand for seeds.
We've already gotten a crop of corn, some watermelons and lots of beans since the garden was built. It's time to replant it and give the sheep something to drool over. Not that they will be lacking for green things to eat for quite some time.
If you like, you can send us an email and ask about bunnies, yarn, Hawaii things, what we should have on our webpage or just about anything else.
Mail to: Hillside Farm Hawaii