[mab]

Well, it's almost 3 years since I moved here and today, having done 400m of boundary fence last winter through 'the wilderness' and another 300m this winter (and the forrestry commission doing their 500m of boundary along the stream): for the first time, sheep have been grazing my far field. 


Actually, it's not the fencing that takes the time but cutting through the thickets and removing the old fence -  which was only standing because the gorse and brambles had grown through it and where holding it in place long after the posts had rotted away.


This would be an appropriate point for a picture or two of the sheep grazing between the briars and gorse on (in) the grass which, having not been grazed for years (decades for all I know) is a deep spongy mattress of dead matting with a green fuzz on top; but sadly my old computer is not compatible with my old digital camera, so I'll just have to leave it to your imagination.


Oh, I have found this old pic (hopefully attached) of the wilderness; the house and nice green field in the distance are my neighbours (and the sheep were grazing my grass (that you can't actually see, sorry) next to my neighbours house on the top of the hill (to the left of the house). This pic was taken when I moved here and it wasn't really possible to walk through the wilderness - it took me a year before I first walked in my far field.

[Mammyshaz]

Where on earth do you start! Shame you cannot get the up to date piccies on to show your hard work, it's hard to imagine how it looks today 

[mab]

he! Actually if I took a pic from the same place today it wouldn't look much different    - maybe a thin strip of open green along the top edge of the hill with the new stock fence showing - most of the wilderness is still impenetrable head-high bramble, gorse, bracken and small trees - with the exception of a couple of acres of grass still showing in the far field.


But once the perimeter is completely stock fenced (i've actually got ~50m still to go) I was going to put pigs in a small electric fence enclosure and move it along - I didn't want to get the pigs until the perimeter fence is complete, that way if they escape from the electric enclosure they should still be somewhere in the wilderness and not in the forestry land or the other neighbours.


that's the theory anyway.

[Bionic]

You have come a long way Marcus. We have been here the same length of time and are struggling just to get some new gate posts in 

[Rosemary]

Well done! 

[Brandi]

 

what an achievement - excellent start to 2015

[mab]

thanks folks, 


strictly speaking I won't have achieved it properly 'til the last 50m of fence is done of course, but I allowed myself the claim on the basis that I had set the target of getting the sheep on there before I ran out of grass in the big field and that has been done. Just.


I do struggle with gate posts, and I've given up on those big 8" strainer posts; I tried a couple but I had to dig them in rather than knock them in, and there's never enough soil (and they're expensive), so I just use assemblies of normal sized posts for strainers now.

[cloddopper]

WOW!   Is that picture an early one of where where we walked ?

 I love it when a hard graft scheme finally comes to fruition .

What sort of pigs are you thinking of , big porkers or a smaller breed ?

[benandjerry]

wow!

[mab]

WOW!   Is that picture an early one of where where we walked ?

 I love it when a hard graft scheme finally comes to fruition .

What sort of pigs are you thinking of , big porkers or a smaller breed ?

No it's not where we walked - it's right across the big field and out of sight from the house. Although where we did walk is also in need of clearance of course.


I haven't decided on a specific type of pig; I would prefer something small I think, but I may end up with whatever comes up at the local market...

[Bramblecot]

I'm impressed . Would you like to do some fencing in Dorset ?

[john and helen]

lovely, inspirational, 

[mab]

I'm impressed . Would you like to do some fencing in Dorset ?

In a word:


No! 

[Bramblecot]

I'm still impressed