Return to the Top Paddock

Well, I’ve started on the top paddock and I now know more precisely, that it is a big job. I have to remove the existing fencing and replace it with goat proof fence. At the moment it is about 3 feet high three strand fencing. The fence between our property and the vineyard next door also has two strands of barbed wire. The fence between our property and the property above us is sadly neglected. Overall, there is some 313m of fence line to be replaced. I will be placing 2.4m Koppers (pine logs) in every 3m and they will be set 60cm down into the ground so that they are harder to push over. At @$15 per fence post, that’s 103 x $15 = $1,575. Then the fence wire will cost another $500. I want to run two strands of electric fencing along the fence (one at about 30cm off the ground and another at the top of the fence). The solar power supply for the electric fence is about $300 and then there’s the pig-tails and electric fence line coming to about another $300. So re-fencing the paddock will cost me just shy of $3,000.

The field is currently divided into three. The smallest triangle doesn’t have any gates or easy access … you have to climb the fence to get into it! The dividing fences have been brought down already and I just need to remove the rabbit-proof wire and some star-posts. The rest of it will be done is stages so that I don’t disturb my neighbours too much. I need to start with the leftmost fence first, as that’s the one between us and the vineyard. I don’t want their cattle to run rampant through my top paddock (not a euphemism). Then I’ll do the top fence-line and finally, our internal fence-line.

What was the chook coop in this field will be extended and converted into a goat barn. There is an enormous amount of crap in this field from years of being left (bits of iron; bits of fencing; broken concrete slab from some previous farming enterprise) it all has to go. I will need to hire a bobcat for a couple of weekends to clear all of this crap out … that’s going to be fun!

Fortunately, there is a large pit next to my workshop that used to be a rifle range; this is my readymade free and easy access garbage tip. This will be nicely filled up with rubble and detritus (Woohoo!)