Fence Building

California is a land of extremes. We had the wettest December on record in some parts of the state (200 inches of snow at Donner Summit!) followed by the driest January and February on record. March was dry too. Despite the dry weather, we did get some good burn days and took out a bunch of the blackberries.

In late March and early April, we have seen a bit of rain, and it got really green again!

Señor especially likes the green grass. The big trail around the property needs some mowing, but that is another (rocky) story.

But … here come the blackberries again. Carrie and I decided that if we are going to solve this problem permanently we are going to need some resident grazers. Tim Arrowsmith is ready to get us with goats, so it is time to build a goat fence!

Goat fencing is typically wire mesh fencing with smaller holes. About 48 inches high and some barbed wire up top as a bonus. T-posts and H-braces. We mapped it out, searched everywhere for the materials, and got a crew to work.

A local friend told me that there are no straight fences in Manton. Now I know why. There are so many rocks in the soil here that it is impossible to drill holes for the fence posts in a straight line. Nevertheless, we did pretty well.

Stretch the fence to get it tight is a production. There are also special clip bending tools to clip the wire fence to the T-posts.

When we are done, we will have over 4000 linear feet of fencing in that encloses about 15 acres. Then the goats will arrive.

— KLM