"I don't do bottom wires."

[NTSOG]

G'day,

About 35 years ago I hired a local fencing contractor who had a Fergie with a post driver. I needed a whole lot of end-strainer posts driven so I could build inner fencing to protect windbreaks I was planting. He was a tough old bugger and about 75 years old. He said he had seen me cycling all around the countryside on my road bike - I was racing pretty seriously back then and needed 350+ kms a week to stay fit and competitive. I commented on how fit he was due to all the exercise he got building farm fencing. He acknowledged he did all right, but said 'I don't do bottom wires anymore.'

I just re-built an old fence line by myself [my labour is free], pulling out the old posts and wires, using my post-hole digger on the tractor to clean out holes or make new ones, and putting in new posts. The fence wasn't all that long perhaps 150 feet, but after nearly two days flat out for about 13-14 total hours I was absolutely stuffed. My legs, from climbing in and out of the tractor, kneeling to clean out holes, pour in some quick-set, walk up and down the line checking levels and stringing wire, were so stuffed I collapsed in front of the idiot box for hours at the end of the second day. Thirty years after I spoke to the old bloke I now understand why, at 75, he didn't do bottom wires anymore. The kneeling down then standing up, getting in and out of the tractor wrecked my legs for a couple of days. Kneeling down is hard work, but standing up is even harder.

As my wife keeps saying, this getting old is hard work.

Jim

[animalpest]

Yeah Jim, I feel for you.
Trapping for me is getting interesting as the kneeling down is easy, the hard part is getting up and down 40 times.

[bigpete]

Yep,bottom wires suck. Its either kneel down and stand up again ( with arthritic knees) or bend over at the waist ( with a stuffed back ).

[Die Judicii]

A local bloke here that I know well is 75,,,,,,,,,,, and still shears.
It's got me knackered how he manages to do so. (Tough and wiry old bugger)

[Blr243]

Having a younger assistant to do the worst bit of any type of task is preferred , ie installing ceiling batts in summer

[NTSOG]

Blr243: "having a younger assistant to do the worst bit of any type of task is preferred , ie installing ceiling batts in summer".

When I was 7 my father woke me up over several days at about 3:00 AM so I could get up into the ceiling with him to install silver installation under the iron roof. He was a tall bloke, but I was pretty small and had great physical strength for a little bugger. He needed me to crawl into the tight spaces and staple the insulation in place. We got up that early because it was much cooler in the roof-space, it being late spring. Nowadays of course a father would be dobbed into child protection for abuse. I didn't mind the work. Once we'd done the job for the morning we went down the beach for a swim and had a second breakfast. Then later went swimming again.

Jim

[Blr243]

I think giving a young kid a few low paid really awful jobs ( as long as it’s safe) is super important....at some stage they are inclined to think that if they muck around too much at school they may end up only being able to find terrible Jobs all their lives ...hopefully we can encourage them to think about setting themselves up for a reasonable future

[brinny]

Feel your pain....I had my property re fenced for cattle about 12 years ago..(60 acres)...6 plains, 2 barbs posts at 6m and two droppers in between...Ran herifords for a lot of years, and the bull i had was a ripper, but hard on the fencing, so i ran two hot wires up the top to keep the buggers away from the fences.......but then i got out of cattle and into sheep...and the lambs just seem to push through the plains.....so i dropped the two hot wires down from the top to the bottom....one about a foot off the ground, the other about the same higher....i went this way after i found out that ringlock is around $500 a roll per 100m now and i need a ****** of 100m rolls to do all my place....i will get there one day, but the hotwires are doing the job in the interim.....but after spending a week taking the outriggers off and dropping them down, i was about as knackered as i have ever been.....ached in every conceivable muscle .....even muscles i have neve ached in before.....s**t it was tough going...so can really relate to NOT doing that bottom wire......

[bigpete]

I think giving a young kid a few low paid really awful jobs ( as long as it’s safe) is super important....at some stage they are inclined to think that if they muck around too much at school they may end up only being able to find terrible Jobs all their lives ...hopefully we can encourage them to think about setting themselves up for a reasonable future

Yeah,being forced to cart 1k bales of hay a day on weekends from age 10 really did wonders for me lol

[NTSOG]

brinny: "... and the lambs just seem to push through the plains."

Especially if the little sods are Suffolks! I ran a mob of them until my back went bad and all the crutching and trimming of feet became too much. I also set a hot wire at about 12 ", but I was a lot younger and less banged-up then, but that did stop the little bulldozers. Now I've only got Angus with two hot wires in each fence. The fence is working really well. My wife has been going around trimming foliage along the fence lines and making sure the hot wires are clear. She kindly tested the voltage yesterday: I heard her scream from about 600 yards away - she'd forgotten to turn off the main switch on the lead-out wire.

Jim

[Die Judicii]

brinny: "... and the lambs just seem to push through the plains."

Especially if the little sods are Suffolks! I ran a mob of them until my back went bad and all the crutching and trimming of feet became too much. I also set a hot wire at about 12 ", but I was a lot younger and less banged-up then, but that did stop the little bulldozers. Now I've only got Angus with two hot wires in each fence. The fence is working really well. My wife has been going around trimming foliage along the fence lines and making sure the hot wires are clear. She kindly tested the voltage yesterday: I heard her scream from about 600 yards away - she'd forgotten to turn off the main switch on the lead-out wire.

Jim

Hot Wire: One, Wife: Nil

Dorpers Mate,,, the best sheep to have during a drought, cos yer neighbors always feed em.

Ya should try a couple of young Brahman bulls.
One that I used to have could walk up to a fence and stand just looking through it,, then just rear up and clear jump the fence.

100_5344.JPG (638.13 KiB) Viewed 1766 times

[NTSOG]

G'day DJ,

Sorry for the late reply. I've just come in after whacking a couple of hares for the dog. That's 4 hares and a hyper young fox in 4 days in the paddock just behind the house.

As for jumping cattle, I did have a Hereford bull that impressed me with a standing jump over a gate into the house yard. He just 'bellied' the gate which was about 4' 4". Nowadays I rent a bull from a bloke who breeds really good stock. Bulls present a set of potential problems and have to be fed for doing nothing for 10 months of the year.

Jim

[Oldbloke]

Bulls present a set of potential problems and have to be fed for doing nothing for 10 months of the year.

Jim

Get your facts right mate. I still work all year!

[brinny]

brinny: "... and the lambs just seem to push through the plains."

Especially if the little sods are Suffolks! I ran a mob of them until my back went bad and all the crutching and trimming of feet became too much. I also set a hot wire at about 12 ", but I was a lot younger and less banged-up then, but that did stop the little bulldozers. Now I've only got Angus with two hot wires in each fence. The fence is working really well. My wife has been going around trimming foliage along the fence lines and making sure the hot wires are clear. She kindly tested the voltage yesterday: I heard her scream from about 600 yards away - she'd forgotten to turn off the main switch on the lead-out wire.

Jim

Jim.....I have a Kabota 222 zero swing ride on mower that i ran up and down the fence lines before putting the hot wires down.....i could get right under the wires taking out the bulk of the long grass....then i poisoned under the fence and around the posts to kill all the grass that would grow through the hot wires....just have to go back over it periodically to hit any grass that has come back.....works a treat.....i have a 100 litre poly tank and spray unit set up on the back of the Polaris so it takes no time at all to go around all the fences.....Plus to this also is if my wife ever got zapped by my electric fence, reckon id be eating baked beans for a month.....

[NTSOG]

Oldbloke: "Get your facts right mate. I still work all year!"

Stop blowing your own horn! You'll make all those out-of-work bulls jealous.

Jim

[NTSOG]

brinny: "Plus to this also is if my wife ever got zapped by my electric fence, reckon id be eating baked beans for a month....."

My wife was actually pruning over-hanging branches off the top out-rigger hot wire and clearing the second hot wire in the fence at about 18".

Being a firm believer in female 'emancipation' I believe a woman who forgets to turn the switch to off on the feed-out line of an electric fence energiser has an absolute Right to experience the natural consequences of her own forgetfulness and get zapped. I would never presume to deny her the Right to give herself an electric shock as she climbs through a fence. [Remember Feminists are always rattling on that Women are able to do everything that Men can and are at least as smart.]

Yours, still laughing,

Jim

[Oldbloke]

Oldbloke: "Get your facts right mate. I still work all year!"

Stop blowing your own horn! You'll make all those out-of-work bulls jealous.

Jim

..