The Best "Thank You" Ever! (Thursday, Mar. 31)

The fence is done!  Herb finished it today (except for one gate that Tractor Supply didn't have in stock, so he tied a corral panel in place until the gate comes in.)

After all the open area was done, there was still the bit in the woods right below our house.  We cleared the underbrush out last fall so we could get in there to fence in an area of shade for the animals, and now the time had finally come to do it.

Thanks to All Flesh is Grass, by Gene Logsdon, we learned the trick of using cattle panels through wooded areas rather than trying to wrestle with a roll of wire fence.  Three fence posts hold up each panel.  Herb wired the next panel onto the end of the previous one, using the same post to hold two panels.  Occasionally a tree lent a helping hand.  He installed a small (4') gate to make it convenient to get into the pasture from the house, and the fence was done!

Instead of bringing hay for the evening feeding, we opened the double pasture gate and the double barnyard gate, hooked them together, and let the animals go through.  Brandy stood there nibbling grass at the edge of the barnyard for a whole minute until Angel got tired of waiting and charged past her.

Sara and Siobhan needed a little nudge from Herb.  No wonder--Siobhan has never been out of the barnyard in the four months of her life (except once when she escaped and ran around like crazy for several minutes until she found her way back to mama!)

They didn't go far before plunging their noses into the fresh, green grass.

This field has never been grazed and hasn't been bush-hogged since last year, so the grass has stockpiled over the winter.  Mixed with the stockpiled grass is some newer green grass coming up, but hopefully we won't have to worry about the horses colicking on it thanks to the older growth.

To keep the animals out of the area the horses grazed, I turned on the electric fence.  Siobhan was curious . . .

. . . and got a quick lesson about electric fences.  She's a fast learner and didn't need more than one lesson!

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John F. Kennedy

Herb has worked SO hard making this fence.  He has rough, bleeding hands and aching muscles, and he has worked under the pressure of a rapidly disappearing stock of hay.  He is TIRED!

But I told him the animals have given him the best thank you he could have wished for--without uttering a word--as they gamboled about, enjoying the freedom and feasting on the goodness of spring.