Shortly before my husband and I left for town this morning, I happened to glance out the window and saw a couple of the renters cows.

On the wrong side of the fence!

So I quickly went out to close the vehicle and person gates in the chain link fence, then messaged our renter to let him know about it.

Next to the barn is a wide open area in the fence that used to have a barbed wire gate at some point. That has long since disintegrated. There’s no real point of trying to built another gate, since the posts themselves have shifted. We’d never get a straight gate out of it, and it’s really not worth the effort to try and straighten those huge posts.

The only thing stopping the cows from getting through is an electric fence.

Our first summer here, the electricity cut out, and the cows made their way through. The first time it happened, it was just a few of them, with a cow and her calf making their way into the inner yard before we saw them. It happened again in the fall, and this time the herd went on a stampede!

Last spring, I made a simple rope gate across the opening. There’s no way the rope would stop a determined cow, but it would at least be something the cows could see as a possible deterrent.

Well, it didn’t really work. :-D

As I was heading out to prep the van and moving it closer to the gate (normally, I would drive into the yard to pick up or drop off my husband and his walker), I startled the few cows that were in the outer yard, and they went back through the gate by the barn.

When we got back, I went over to check the state of the ropes. The top one was doubled, and both were broken. One, I was able to tie back together, but the other seemed to be missing a few inches, so I just wrapped the ends around the line.

The bottom one had been pulled well into the barn side of the fence. Pulling it up, I found it was pretty tattered and wet. When I tried to pull it towards the other post, it broke again. So I took the broken part and hung it on the post, on the side with the caribiners.

As for the wire for the electric fence, I could see no sign of it in the tall grass. Just the insulated holders were still standing.

When I headed out to go into town again, several hours later, I found that the renter had already come by and fixed the electric fence. We never saw or heard him!

He also changed things up a bit.

He made use of the bottom caribiner! He took off the bit of rope that was still tied to it, and now it’s holding the wire securely. The insulated wire that makes up the end of the fence is now tied around one of the other large posts. It’s looking a lot more secure than it was before.

Not that it would stop a cow, if the electricity stops again. :-D

You can see part of what used to be the bottom rope. It actually looks like a cow had tried to eat it!

The rope itself has been out there for more than a year, and the sun and weather has clearly weakened it. I could probably tear it apart with my hands, at this point. When I get the chance, I will replace it with new rope.

And get another caribiner, so this one can be just for the wire. :-)

The Re-Farmer