Working On My Week Off

It turns out that I can get a lot done when I don’t have to go to work everyday.

I took vacation this week, and so far, I haven’t traveled farther than La Grange from our place in Cozy Corner. My mission this week is to fence off some small paddocks around our house so my cows can eat the grass that I would otherwise have to mow. So far, I’m off to a good start.

I really hate mowing grass. Perhaps it’s because I raise a few cattle - I’m of the opinion that grass is utterly useless unless some livestock are eating it. I’ve been trying to replace the grass around my house with landscaping. It will take years to transform these couple of acres that have been fenced off from the cows, especially the area behind our house with a few patches of brush.

I’ve been reading David Will’s ag column in the Record lately, and he has inspired me to undertake an aggressive rotational grazing program to better manage the drought.

Ever since we moved here about 10 years ago, I’ve been replacing the perimeter fencing and cross fencing with goat wire. There’s a lot of brush in my place, and I’ve always wanted to get some goats to clean it up. I still have a little ways to go on that project, but I’ve gotten to the point where I can create two small enclosures around the house with a couple of short fences.

These new fences only needed to be about 50 to 60 feet long. So instead of setting corner posts and stretching up fence for these short runs, I’m building them out of cattle panels.

But cattle panels are kind of expensive. The cheapest I found were $27 a piece. I have plenty of cedar posts and goat wire laying around. So why not use what I have? Well, I also have a lot of scrap metal laying around, and Janessa has been on my tail about cleaning it up.

So this week, I’ve been selling the scrap and converting the proceeds into cattle panels. At $6 per hundredweight, I’ve already bought six panels and fenced off one new paddock. It is Wednesday morning, and I have another load of scrap on the trailer. It should bring enough for another six panels. By the end of the week, I should be able to complete all the fences I need for the other new enclosure.

I already moved the cattle into the first paddock. I’ll probably rotate them out after two or three days. Best of all, or maybe worst off, the new enclosures should be able to contain goats. My wife Janessa had been leery about my plans to eventually put some goats out here. But she started working at the Jersey Barnyard about a year ago. Despite dealing with those curious little escape artists every day at work, she now wants to get some.

I’m not sure how I feel about this now. Am I punishing myself? This is my vacation after all, and I’m spending it by getting my place ready for goats. At least I hauled off a bunch of scrap metal. And instead of pushing a lawnmower, the cows are eating grass.