A Potential Meal or a Story of Life in New Mexico

The expansion of the Painted Pony Resort to include an additional 216 acres of San Simon Riverbed outside the isolated twin hamlets of Portal and Rodeo in southern Arizona and New Mexico meant fencing.  Not a particularly attractive proposition but cattle love good grasslands and a herd of 40 or so had moved into the area, grazing on the tall native grasses of the river bottom.  To protect the existing native grasses and allow re-growth of over grazed areas the owner had decided to fence the land and my job was to make it happen.  Fortunately only a mile and half of fence was required to completely enclose the newly acquired property since existing fence was in place on north and east sides so it was time to get busy.  Throughout December and January the daily sound of hammering t-posts was heard across the San Simon Valley as new t-posts and then barbwire was installed.  It was a busy time and although new at fencing, a rhythm was quickly established along the flat terrain allowing rapid progress, but the far side of the riverbed was another matter.  A steep bank rose from the riverbed which was cut by several deep arroyos, presenting a problem.  Driving t-posts into rocky ground along the bench above the riverbed proved to be a much slower task but stringing barbwire across arroyos proved even more challenging.   When strung, the wire was upwards of 20 feet above the bottom of each arroyo and just the right amount of tension was required to allow each of the 4 strands to be pulled down to the awaiting t-posts along the bottom of the arroyo and clipped in place.  To little tension and the fence line would sag and not do its‘ job keeping the cattle at bay, to much tension and it was impossible to pull each strand down and clip it to the t-posts.  The process of adjusting tension and pulling down wire was repeated with each strand of barbwire as work slowly progressed through the rocky arroyos. 

One afternoon while stretching wire along the bottom of one arroyo a particularly memorable event occurred.  After adjusting the tension on a strand of new barbwire crossing an arroyo the process of pulling the wire down to attach it to t-posts began.  Having misjudged the amount of tension required the wire would not reach its’ place on the t-post.  It was just a few inches short of its intended position but no matter how it was pulled the wire would not quite reach.  The prospect of hiking back to the end post and loosening the wire again was not particularly appealing late in the afternoon after a full day of fencing, so dropping one glove to get a better grip on the wire and putting my full weight on the wire one more attempt was made to get the barbwire to its intended location on the t-post and clipped in place.   It was at that moment the barbwire broke pulling through my ungloved hand.  As the barbwire suddenly parted several barbs raked through my closed ungloved palm that was gripping the wire.  That sinking feeling one gets when things go wrong immediately started to set in and the sight of blood only compounded the situation.  More in shock and angered at a preventable mistake I cursed.  I cursed the wire, the fence, and myself for the error.  Opening the injured hand there seemed less damage than expected.  Although there was blood, it was dripping and not spurting so shaking off the excess and pulling the glove back on it was back to work. 

A slight breeze from the north had made working conditions pleasant throughout the day and figuring only about an hour of good light left it was back to clipping the bottom unbroken wire to t-posts along the bench top.  Repair of the broken strand of barbwire would be put off till another day.  After climbing back out of the arroyo and working from t-post to t-post the bottom strand of wire was clipped in place which required kneeing down and pulling the wire up from the ground to install the clip.  After about 20 minutes of clipping wire across the bench top and upon arising from the ground while simultaneously turning around I found myself face to face with a well fed young coyote.  With a shiny coat this coyote did not appear spooked by my presence but rather he seemed to be sizing me up as a potential meal.  The sudden realization hit that I had been bleeding, was upwind of this coyote, and had been down on the ground not moving but clipping wire.  The smell of fresh blood indicated a meal and the coyote had come to investigate a potential stroke of  good luck.  We stared at one another for perhaps 30 seconds or so, neither of us moving, just staring.  Deciding to speak to this unexpected visitor, I first let him know I did not consider myself a coyote meal, then secondly apologizing for having nothing for him to eat.  Moving on to the weather I commented on the pleasant day for working outside while the coyote, not taking his eyes off me, explored a small mesquite that stood between us.  After several minutes of staring, the coyote seemed to realize that his potential good luck was actually bad luck, not a meal, and he slowly turned and quite casually began to saunter away.  I watched the coyote for about another 5 minutes as he descended back into the San Simon riverbed, crossing it heading towards some cattle but never looking back at his misfortune and lost meal opportunity. 

Across the riverbed

Up the river bank

Down in an arroyo

New Fence at the Painted Pony Ranch

On scale of things affecting the planet and people's lives it ranks close to the bottom (perhaps at the bottom) but sometimes the little picture is what requires focus, and fencing the expanded Painted Pony Resort is one of those things.  Starting in December 1.5 miles of new fence started going in.  Proper tools made the job easier but there is no way of getting around driving 400 new t-posts.  Well the t-posts are finally finished, the last one was installed the other day.  After taking a month break to work on the Resort and preparing for guests it was time to finish off installing t-posts so 2 days were spent hand driving t-posts through the last of the arroyos on the east side of the San Simon River (it is the desert and water is optional in desert rivers).  Once wire is strung and project completed the cattle will be kept out and the grasslands will have an opportunity to rest and restore themselves.  Below are a series of photographs documenting the project.

Building Fence in New Mexico

The previous post introduced the fencing project for the newly acquired land expanding the Painted Pony Resort to 316 acres (half a section).  While the owner was in residence we laid out the fence lines and pulled the bottom wire along the 1.5 miles of proposed fence line and placed 0.25 miles of t-posts.  Since then the project moved forward with myself placing t-posts, end posts, gates, and wire.  The procedure established to install the fence was:
1.  Locate boundary markers placed by the surveyor.  Required GPS (Google Earth was a great help in establishing possible locations of markers and the route of the fence line) and a telescope to locate markers.
3.  Remove trees and large brush along route.
4.  Layout bottom wire along the route.
5.  Tension lower strand using a come-along with a wire grab and temporary end posts.
6.  Straighten wire along the route by removing low brush and rocks.
7.  Drive T-posts every 20 ft.  Measure distance with 2 lengths of rigid plastic electrical conduit.
8.  Place permanent end posts where necessary, at gate locations, and corners.
9.  Place midspan posts where necessary.  One 0.5 mile and one 0.75 mile stretch required midspan posts since the wire is 1320’ in length.
10.  Fence arroyos.
11.  Install gates where necessary.
12.  Add 3 additional strands of 2 pt. barbwire along the 1.5 mile route.
13.  Secure wire strands at appropriate heights using fence clips, straightening any t-posts to create a uniform and pleasing look to the fence line.

The cost of materials was $ 0.55/ft and with the addition of the hydraulic driver the cost rose to $0.95/ft.  But the increased cost is countered by the time savings in driving T-posts and new equipment for the estate.

Looking south along newly installed T-posts

Looking north along newly installed T-posts

Kabota with hydraulic driver on a T-post.  The main buildings at PPR are visible in the background

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. 

Shooting fence lines at the Painted Pony