The Bovine Bugle

Preparing to set the cows out to graze

With the grass greening up and some very warm weather in the forecast, I thought I'd better get ready to do some fencing. I headed to the woods around mid-morning to cut some northern white cedar for fence posts. We're fortunate to have a fair amount of this tree species growing on the farm. We cut the cedar trees into 6' lengths to use for posts, and if the trees are fairly big in diameter we may split the 6' section into 2 or 4 posts. We also cut longer cedar poles 10 to 12 feet in length to use for corner braces. By 1 o'clock, I had 25 to 30 posts cut! This supply of cedar, along with the insultimber electric fence posts I buy, should repair most of the fence on the farm. I'm planning to go to Doug Flack's tomorrow to buy the rest of the fencing supplies, to get the pastures ready for grazing. Doug sells Gallager Fencing Equipment, a New Zealand-based company. Many of the techniques we use for fencing and grazing here in the U.S. have come from New Zealand.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont