Barbed Wire Hedge

With all the fencing that we are doing I have inevitably cut my hands to ribbons. Really between farming and glass cutting my days as a hand model (!!) are well and truly behind me.....

So I thought I would research (ie wikipedia!) barbed wire and who thought up this clever but dangerous  invention. The first wire that was not just a single strand was made in France by Leonce Eugene Grassin-Baledans in 1860. His design consisted of bristling points, creating a fence that was painful to cross. In April 1865 Louis François Janin patented a double wire with diamond-shaped metal barbs.

More patents followed, and in 1867 alone there were six issued for barbed wire in the US. Only two of them addressed livestock deterrence, one of which was from American Lucien B. Smith of Ohio. The movement westward across the American Great Plains meant that ranchers needed to fence their land in against encroaching farmers and other graziers. The railroads throughout the growing West needed to keep livestock off their tracks, and farmers needed to keep stray cattle from trampling their crops. Traditional fence materials like wood and stone, were expensive to use and hedging was not reliable.

By the mid 1870s there were as many as 150 companies manufacturing barbed wire in the US to cash in on the demand in the West: investors were aware that the business did not require much capital and it was considered that almost anyone with enough determination could make a profit from manufacture of a new wire.  There was then a sharp decline in the number of manufacturing firms, as many were consolidated into larger companies, notably the American Steel and Wire Company, formed by the merging of Gates's, Washburn's and Ellwood's industries.
Smaller companies were wiped out because of economies of scale and the smaller pool of consumers available to them, compared to the larger corporations. The American Steel and Wire Company established in 1899 employed vertical integration: it controlled all aspects of production from producing the steel rods to making many different wire and nail products from the same steel; although later part of U.S. Steel, the production of barbed wire would still be a major source of revenue.

So barbed wire has become the choice of almost all graziers for fencing in animals....if only we could develop fencing that kept the native animals out effectively!!

Wild Weather

There was some wild and windy weather in mid June and we lost six mature gum trees which while not a disaster is a great shame. The pictured tree was behind the shearing shed and gave great shade to the sheep when in the yards. It must have been quite a storm as this tree had been there for over 60 years. As it fell it narrowly missed the power lines that run to the shed so we were lucky. It did however fall full square on a fence so yet another job to do. Our neighbours lost a greenhouse (completely and nowhere to be found) and further up the road a tree fell on a shed levelling it.

First we will have to cut the tree off the fence and then drag away the main trunk. Perhaps this is another one destined for the local mobile saw mill guys? Then we can get to the fence wires and re-strain and most likely re-wire everything.

We have been busy re-fencing the river alfalfa paddock - over a kilometre - so fencing seems to be our winter job of choice or, rather, necessity. All I can say is that putting a fence up is much more 'fun' than pulling an old one down!!

Silo Surfing - Do Not Try This at Home!

We would not recommend doing this without a great deal of experience and a certain lack of sense! The grain silo holds our supply of Triticale grain that we use to feed the rams over the winter. As the amount of grain goes down it becomes harder to get out of the silo and someone needs to climb down the ladder inside and use a shovel to push the grain towards the out pipe. Dusty and unpleasant job and not for the fainthearted.

The 70 rams get about one metric tonne of Triticale per month (13 MJ/kg fed Metabolisable Energy and 12% crude protein) between them and are fed via a Bromar lick feeder that holds about just that. A key component of this feeder is the 11 hole plastic inserts that are on both sides of the feeder. The sheep must lick the grain upwards and use the saliva on their tongues to get the grain out when closed down for supplement feeding. This prevents overfeeding which can lead to bloat and means that the rams have to 'want' the extra feed over and above what they can get from the pasture.

We hope that the extra feed this year will see the rams gaining weight through winter and being in top condition for the November 12th sale.

Garlic Shooting

We have planted over 100 garlic bulbs of about ten different varieties so we are having a mini field trial this year. So far the strike rate has been high but the heavy frosts and cockatoos/rabbits are a major concern.

Garlic should be okay to overwinter in the ground and come spring will shoot up and we expect quite a crop later in the year. Perhaps enough to supply a local greengrocer or even to have some at the Savitrine Glassworks stall at Paddington Markets every Saturday. I may become known as a garlic seller who also produces some glass art!!

Elsewhere the gardens are bare of much else edible. The artichoke plants are well established and the herbs are doing well. This spring will see us planting some more fruit trees and there is talk of a half acre of pumpkins as a small 'cash crop'. Now that we can plough to our heart's content there is no bare patch of earth safe from some sort of crop production!!

Minus 5 Overnight

It looks quite beautiful and idyllic but at minus 5 it was bitterly cold in June and early July. I guess in a way it keeps some moisture in the ground but hopefully the grass and clover will be able to withstand the below freezing conditions.

We have pruned most of the roses and the fruit trees and so it is looking a bit neater if bare around the place. A major few days of work are ahead as we cut wood for the fire. The stove eats wood at this time of year and seemingly we can never have enough dry wood ready to go. Chopping wood is good karma yoga so is a pleasant way to spend a day!!