TheFarmOfDreams- a long awaited adventure

[Alaskan]

Then the dry lot could contain almost any livestock we might want to get.

To contain everything....

I would vote for no climb woven fence, inexpensive metal wire electric strand at top, maybe at middle and bottom depending on the animals.

As far as posts.... eh, if you are going with woven no-climb... pick whatever you like best.

Maybe you want a temporary electric set up now.... and later put up a great no-climb fence.

 

[Baymule]

For back up on the solar charger, get an extra battery and put it on a trickle charger. On bad weather days, you can change out the batteries.

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

Maybe you want a temporary electric set up now.... and later put up a great no-climb fence.

That's what we're thinking! If I get wood posts, then I can just add the woven later when its more needed. These particular donkeys and horse would probably stay in with 1 spottily powered line, they're content to chill. But in a year or two, I'll be happy the posts are ready and I just need to add woven, I'm thinking.

I will think about the wire with insulation/through a hose. Problem is mowing. It'll be any of 4 adults doing it... and I have little faith in our ability to watch for/remember it. In a few years, I'm hoping for electric in the barn. Then I would be more interested in a plug in charger. The fence isn't far from the barn at all.

For back up on the solar charger, get an extra battery and put it on a trickle charger. On bad weather days, you can change out the batteries.

That's a good idea! I hadn't thought of that.

 

[farmerjan]

When traveling to a pasture that was a bit away from the barn, we would just swap out the battery from the truck..... put the truck battery on the solar charger and the solar battery back in the truck... Stayed charged from the truck running. But you are not going to another piece of land somewhere, so the battery on the trickle charger is good. Have done that too. The good thing about the truck battery.... you always had an extra battery that had multiple uses... and they last a long time if the solar charger is working and you can do a "fast charge" hooking it to the truck while running if needed too. We were running considerable length of electric so a truck battery was the most economical and the better choice. Anything 12 volt like that will work. Don't go with 6 volt.... they don't hold up and are expensive to replace.

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

When traveling to a pasture that was a bit away from the barn, we would just swap out the battery from the truck..... put the truck battery on the solar charger and the solar battery back in the truck... Stayed charged from the truck running. But you are not going to another piece of land somewhere, so the battery on the trickle charger is good. Have done that too. The good thing about the truck battery.... you always had an extra battery that had multiple uses... and they last a long time if the solar charger is working and you can do a "fast charge" hooking it to the truck while running if needed too. We were running considerable length of electric so a truck battery was the most economical and the better choice. Anything 12 volt like that will work. Don't go with 6 volt.... they don't hold up and are expensive to replace.

That's an awesome idea! I'll definitely keep it in mind for when we have farm vehicles to trade batteries with!

 

[Alaskan]

If I get wood posts, then I can just add the woven later when its more needed.

The only thing....

If you have a true temporary electric fence... then the wood posts might be in the way.

Depends on what you mean by "temporary".

I really liked having a pile of step in stakes, and then my roll of electric rope. It was handy to be able to set up any size or shape pasture anywhere i wanted. I would also use it to cut up their permanent pasture to control grazing.

Handy stuff.

 

[Alaskan]

Problem is mowing.

Oh... yeah.... the part where the wire crossed the lawn we just lifted the sod and slipped the insulated wire under the sod.

So, no difficult digging.

We left it out in the open over the unmowed native area.

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

*sigh* just found out from the realtor we have "a week or two" before close, despite the most recent estimate being TODAY. I was REALLY hoping to be out there this weekend. We have vacation time with the oldest kid next week that we were hoping to spend out there... I am beyond frustrated with this taking SO LONG. Our vaca was suposed to be work on the farm week. If we close after that, DH will be working, and my sister's family has plans the next weekend... I'll basically be chasing a 2yo and building by myself. If our appraiser hadn't taken 3x as long as he was supposed to... we'd be in by now. We put our offer in at the end of JULY. ugh. I sure hope I'm not stuck with a no-dig solution for fencing for the winter.

 

[farmerjan]

I feel for you... I was nearly 2 months longer closing than I thought.... everytime I turned around they needed another paper or something... and I bought direct from the people, no real estate... but the bank and all took forever... THEN it took months to get someone there to do the floor sanding.... But I was not working with the timing of others to help you like you are, or vacations planned or anything...

So Sorry for you.... But you still aren't going as slow as some... mine was 4+ months from agreed on price to closing... with fewer of the "appraisals and approvals" that most places require since there was not a real estate agent and needing county approval for this and that... we sort of slid some of the stuff in under the radar since it had been lived in by the sellers mother until her death... and they had records of the "new" roof and other things and the power was on and the well/water worked... didn't have to get water tested and approved or anything...yes the bank had to get an appraisal for the mortgage, but I put down 20% too... and the price was not outrageous... they will never lose money on it if I defaulted tomorrow...

 

[Alaskan]

*sigh* just found out from the realtor we have "a week or two" before close, despite the most recent estimate being TODAY. I was REALLY hoping to be out there this weekend. We have vacation time with the oldest kid next week that we were hoping to spend out there... I am beyond frustrated with this taking SO LONG. Our vaca was suposed to be work on the farm week. If we close after that, DH will be working, and my sister's family has plans the next weekend... I'll basically be chasing a 2yo and building by myself. If our appraiser hadn't taken 3x as long as he was supposed to... we'd be in by now. We put our offer in at the end of JULY. ugh. I sure hope I'm not stuck with a no-dig solution for fencing for the winter.

The step in stakes that I have for temporary electric fence, can go in when the ground is already pretty hard. Just do it slow and gentle, and it should be ok.

You wanted a temporary electric fence anyway. Also, with a temporary fence you can stick them right on the lawn up by your house. That will give you time to fiddle with fence chargers and such.

With the 2 year old, give him a bit of wood with partly screwed in screws... tell him to finish screwing them in... by hand of course. That should give you at least 10 minutes to work without being interrupted.

Now, if he tries to wallop you on the head with a bit of board covered in screws... I did NOT give you this suggestion.