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Stapling Barbed Wire on Rise and Dip Posts Across Rolling Ground With Fencing Pliers: Angle Down on the Knolls, Up in the Draws, and Never Drive the Staple Home

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. On flat ground, a staple only has to hold the wire at the right height. On rolling ground, the wire is always trying to lift off the posts in the draws and press down on the posts over the knolls. Staple barbed wire loose so it can slide, and set each staple turned slightly off the grain and away from its slash-cut point so the legs spread in the wood. On a rise post, angle the staple downward; on a dip post, angle it upward. Double-staple on steep rises and dips, and never drive any line staple home. What the factsheets say The British Columbia factsheet on dispensing, stapling, and joining fence wire says wire should always be stapled loose except at tie-off points, with a 9-gauge staple at least 1-3/4 inches long and preferably 2 inches. It says to hold the wire against the post by hand rather than pulling it in with the staple, because ha...
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Digging a Drainage Test Hole Before Planting a Tree in Clay or Caliche With a Post Hole Digger: 12 Inches Deep, Soaked Overnight, and Timed With a Ruler

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  Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. On a lot with hard clay or a caliche layer, a planting hole can turn into a bathtub that drowns the roots of a new tree. You will not see the problem until the leaves yellow. Dig a test hole 12 inches deep and about 12 inches across where the tree goes. Fill it with water, let it drain, and refill it the next day. If the second fill is gone within about 8 hours, drainage is fine; much slower than an inch per hour means clay, compaction, or a hard layer to deal with. What the extension guidance says University of Maryland Extension's soil health and drainage page gives a quick test: dig a hole 12 inches deep and 12 inches in diameter, fill it with water, then fill it again the next day. All of the water should drain within eight hours. The same page says drainage faster than 4 inches per hour means extremely sandy soil. Slower than 1 in...
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Re-Tensioning Sagging Barbed Wire After a Hard Winter With a Ratchet Wire Stretcher: Pull From the End Brace, Re-Wrap the Tie-Off, and Leave the Staples Loose

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Snow load, elk, and drifting tumbleweeds all put a belly in barbed wire over a mountain winter. A sagging strand is an open invitation for cattle to lean on it and push through. Clamp a ratchet stretcher onto it a few feet out from the end brace, anchor the stretcher past the post, and pull to roughly 250 pounds. Unwrap the old tie-off, take up the slack, wrap it twice again with no gaps, and check that the line staples are loose enough for the wire to slide. The target numbers The British Columbia factsheet on dispensing, stapling, and joining fence wire says about 250 pounds of tension is needed for all nonelectric wire fences, and half that for electric wires. It says tensioning when the air temperature is about halfway between the local extremes reduces swings in tension, though it calls temperature changes a minor concern. The same fact...
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Hoeing Kochia and Russian Thistle Seedlings Out of a Barbed-Wire Fence Line With a Stirrup Hoe: Catch Every Flush From March to September Before They Turn Into Tumbleweeds

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Every fall the same fence line on a dry place turns into a wall of tumbleweeds. Each one of those balls started as a seedling you could have sliced off in two seconds back in May. Kochia and Russian thistle are summer annuals that spread only by seed, and both are easy to hoe out while they are young. Run a stirrup hoe along the disturbed strip under the fence every couple of weeks from March into September, cutting just below the surface, and haul off any plant that has already set seed. Know the two seedlings Colorado State University Extension's kochia and Russian thistle fact sheet says both plants reproduce only from seed, so stopping seed set is the whole game. Young kochia shows up as a gray-green, fuzzy mat, and it germinates many times in a season, starting as early as March with the last flushes in August to early September. Th...
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Broadcasting and Raking In Native Grass Seed on a Dry Mountain Lot With a Steel Bow Rake: Double the Rate, a Quarter Inch of Soil, and a Late Fall Window

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Bare dirt left over from a septic job, a new driveway, or an old burn pile will not stay bare for long. If you do not seed it, the weeds will. Broadcast native grass seed at double the drill rate onto a clean, firm seedbed, then rake it in so the seed ends up about a quarter to three-quarters of an inch deep and pressed against the soil. For dryland seeding, the best window is late fall, before the first big snow, so the seed sits over winter. What the extension guidance says Colorado State University Extension's grass seeding guide for the eastern Front Range says a good seedbed is free of old weeds, rocks, and clods, and should be fluffy yet firm. Its test is walking across it: your footprints should sink about a quarter inch. The same guide says dryland seeding can be done from November 15 to April 30 on unfrozen ground, at a depth of...
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Tying Off Barbed Wire Around a Corner Brace Post With Fencing Pliers: Two Neat Wraps, No Gaps, and a Tail That Will Not Back Out

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. A barbed-wire fence is only as tight as the wrap at its corner post. A sloppy tie-off slips a little every hot afternoon until the whole run sags. At a corner brace, cut the strand and wrap it twice around the anchor post with no gaps; smooth barbless wire gets three wraps. Twist the tail around the strand five or six turns and staple the wraps tight. Never run a strand around a corner without cutting and tying it. What the specs say The British Columbia four-strand barbed wire fence specifications say wire is tied off at all brace panels except their Type III braces. Barbed wire is wrapped neatly twice around the tie-off post with no spaces between wires, and barbless wire is wrapped neatly three times. Virginia Cooperative Extension's high-tensile wire fence guide says fence wires should never pass an anchor post without being cut and...
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Planting Dormant Willow and Cottonwood Poles Along a Ditch Bank With a Post Hole Digger: Deep Enough to Reach Summer Water, Mudded In, and Three Buds Showing

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. A bare irrigation ditch bank in dry country is begging for willows and cottonwoods, and they will grow from nothing more than a cut stick. The trick is getting the bottom of that stick into water that is still there in August. Soak dormant willow or cottonwood poles at least 24 hours, then dig each hole deep enough that 6 to 8 inches of pole sit in the midsummer water table. Keep at least half the pole underground, leave 3 or 4 buds showing, and pour a soil-water slurry in so no air pockets remain. What the guidance says The USDA plant materials technical note on planting willow and cottonwood poles , hosted by Montana State University Extension, says cuttings taken from live, dormant plants establish far better. It says to soak cuttings at least 24 hours before planting and lists one- or two-person post hole diggers among the tools that have...
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