Sunday

Fencing the Painted Pony Ranch

The period since the acquisition of an additional 216 acres expanding the Painted Pony has been filled with work.  Closing the roads on the property, cleaning trash and other materials off the landscape, securing the building, and locating property boundaries has filled the majority of time.  The most ambitious project though is installing fencing around the property.  Existing fence is located on the north side where the property abuts State land and a section of fence on the east side where the property adjoins another parcel of private land.  The remaining 1.5 miles though is unfenced.  New Mexico like many other western states is a "fence out" state, meaning it is the responsibility of the landowner to erect a legal fence to keep animals from trespassing.  Although it is illegal for an owner of animals to allow animals to trespass a fence must be in place  (77-14-3).  A 4 wire fence (3 barbed and one smooth) with post spacing of twenty feet and 2 fence stays was chosen to blend with other fences in the area.  Two gates are planned, one at the entrance to the easement at the north end of the property and a second gate at the driveway.  A survey of material suppliers revealed that shipping charges for T-posts and wire was expensive so materials were purchased locally from the Valley Mercantile.

The most challenging task in fence construction is driving T-posts.  Hand driving 6 ft T-posts a foot and a half into the ground is slow laborious work.  To make this aspect of the job easier the owner purchased a hydraulic hammer that attaches to the hydraulic system on the Kabota.  Using a hydraulic driver makes post installation much quicker and significantly reduces the time required to install T-posts.

Much of the property line is across fairly level ground but 0.5 miles crosses a number of arroyos with depths up to 20 feet.  These areas will be challenging since pulling the bottom wire to locate the line for T-posts leaves the line stretched in the air across the tops of the  arroyos.  The plan is to establish posts at the edges of each arroyo, fence the level ground in between then fence down one side and up the other of each arroyo.

It should be an interesting couple of weeks installing this fence but the project is off to a good start. 

fencing the painted pony ranch
Shooting fence lines at the Painted Pony



18 comments:

  1. It sounds like you will be staying out of trouble till Christmas!

    It will be very nice when all this fence work is finished.

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  2. Hopefully before Christmas. With the help of the owner, I have the bottom wire completely strung and about a half mile of t-posts installed. Finished the northern end post for one of the new gates and will install the second gate posts tomorrow.

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  3. Our former neighbor, hung boulders from fencing on wire that hung down in the arroyo to discourage animals from going under the fence in the uneven areas. I don't explain it very well but you could see them if you drove up here. Or maybe I could take a photo and email you that. That might be easier. "A picture is worth a thousand words" and all.

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  4. Great post. this article is very informative. This is useful for all other blogger. It will be very nice when all this fence work is finished. thanks for sharing it.

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  5. Thank you. Installing fence line by yourself takes some planning and of course lots of time. I have seen the boulder technique myself on fences but the plan is to have t-posts on each side of the stream bed at the lowest point which should minimize the need to hang boulders. If necessary I will install check dams under the lowest wire to start raising the level of the stream bed to prevent cattle from getting through.

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  6. Very nice post I like it very much and especially the technical part you share and your post picture is very nice.

    Thanks.

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  7. As someone who worked in fencing in Dallas I can imagine how tedious the work must be. That backdrop looks barren and imposing. It looks like a great place for a ranch. Good luck!

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  8. My hats off to those who build fence for a living. Not an easy job and with a steep learning curve, especially over uneven terrain.

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  9. Hi there! great stuff, Thanks for sharing a very interesting and informative content, it helps me a lot in looking for fence supplies , keep it up!

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  10. Thank you. Finally finished the new fence line

    http://bloggingfromthebootheel.blogspot.com/2013/03/new-fence-at-painted-pony-ranch.html

    and as I said earlier my hats off to those who's livelihood come from fencing.

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  11. Thanks for great technology to build nice fence.it is best way for all kind of fence.
    Redmond Fence Company

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  12. I agree, technology makes the job easier.

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  13. Hi there, nice post. This is an interesting and very informative topic. Thanks for sharing you thoughts about fence materials. Keep it up, looking forward to read another one in the future. Cheers!

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  14. Hi all,

    Fence gate Repair typically used most commonly for cattle, sheep and horses and the most common type is barbed wire. It is hard to beat basic barbed wire on cost and simplicity for large animal containment.

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  15. Glad to see links to a number of fencing contractors available for installing fencing. It is hard work and a professional surely can make the difference between a slow hard slog doing it yourself and quick professional installation.

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