MOOVING COWS - Part 2

Above - happy cows will be tasty cows! (We hope!)

Moving the cows involves moving the electric fence. This is something I vow never to do and the dog agrees with me, since he touched it once and now hides behind the gator until we move through the opened gate and then he knows it’s safe to go in. My husband, on the other hand, has touched it several times (you figure it out!)

There are many wire winders involved, along with many white plastic fence posts that are easily moved, along with some metal fence posts that hold the unspent coils of wire.
The lengths of wire are called “runs”. You need at least two “long runs” that will go the entire length of the pasture area. Between those you have the “short runs” which change on a daily basis – he takes one down for the cows to move into the next area and then closes off the area they just left.

Naturally, the coils of wire do not come on the wire winders - you have to do that yourself.
My husband’s method is to involve three dining room chairs – two to hold the coil of wire on a metal rod and one for him to sit in while he cranks it onto the wire winder. My job is to stand and supervise. (I’m very good at it!) Of course, now we have 2 chairs with marks from the metal rod; oh well, you can’t expect it to last forever!

However, I digress . . .

The long runs have the white plastic fence posts every so often and they will basically stay a long time, until that run is finished. The short runs get their fence posts moved frequently, so he puts just 2 or 3 posts there. (These posts are neat – they have a metal spike on the end - you just push the spike into the ground a little and then step on the part that sticks out at the bottom and, if the ground is soft, they go right in).
Then the coil of wire for that short run will hang onto the metal post and he hooks up a short red wire with what looks like a red clothespin on either end – like a jumper cable – and hooks one end to the electrified wire (very carefully!) and the other end to the run he just put in and it’s now electrified!
The cows don’t seem to have an inclination to come out of the fence; neither the dog nor I will go anywhere near it; but, shockingly(!) the husband is in and out all the time.

Above - putting in a new run - unwinding from the spool as he walks.Above - winding up the wire to open up a new area - you can see the "girls" mooving toward him - they know they will be getting more food.Above - the electric wire - the spool sitting on the metal rod - and a fence post on the right side.