I hope everyone had a happy and Blessed Easter. We did, all the kids and grandkids and a couple extras were here. Such nice weather too!

Cindy and I hauled some cull bulls to the sale barn today and then when we got home I got a call from a male grandson, asking if I was done sorting bulls. I said I was and had hauled them. He said he wanted to help. So I told him I was sorry, but I was going to go tear out and roll up some old fence if he wanted to help do that. You bet! He is 7 and thinks getting to help Grampa is a big deal. So I went and got him and then we stopped and got Gramma and we all went up and went to work. I helped them get started taking the wire off and then I went to rolling the wire up, afoot… there is an art to it.

I remember many years ago when a neighbor moved back to the family ranch and he was going to run sheep so needed to add wire to the 3 strand fence. There was a large farm out on the gumbo and they let him have the wire off the existing fences, for removing it. Several of us went and helped him for a few days. Man, he could almost trot and roll up barbed wire. It was amazing.. we started out side by side and it wasn’t long and he was a long ways ahead of me. And it wasn’t that I had never done it, but he had made it into an art form! Every time I roll up wire I think of that.

I suppose in this day and age, rolling wire by hand is probably scorned on. After all, we have wire rollers that you can buy and it rolls it up. Or you can roll it up on a pipe with a loader mounted post hole digger. Chance and his kids tore out quite a bit of fence for some people a couple summers ago and then rebuilt with all new material. They didn’t want the old wire so he just rolled it up on pipes and I guess they hauled it in and sold it for scrap price. 

Different times! Not long ago I would have tore it down, rolled it up by hand and then brought it home to use. But they were in too much of a hurry to save it or any of the posts. Wanted everything new.

I am a believer in two wire barbed wire fences. When you have those, you will never over graze. As the cattle will just crawl out and go where the feed is better!

Here’s hoping your getting all your spring work done while we have this lovely weather!