Barbed Wire. Why?

[Stereo]

A rocket surgeon is very much like a brain scientist only out standing in a different field. Hopefully with no barbed wire.

[muldonach]

In the Netherlands, barbed wire for stockfencing is not allowed. As a consequence leather from Dutch cows is exported at a premium price to mainly Italy for pretty bags and such. It commands a (much) higher price due to the lack of scarring from barbed wire or "them flies what lay eggs in boils in cows skin".

 

In Australia the fence what most of us would consider quite large areas with just plain wire, but then I suppose over there "the grass is just as brown....":biggrin:

 

 

I had to shoot a horse once after it had caught it's mane in a barbed wire, got distressed, got more stuck, more distressed, panicked and freaked out and broke 2 legs in addition to the horrible (but superficial) skin and flesh-wounds. Now it probably was not the best fence, or the smartest horse but without that barbed wire there it would not have happened.

 

 

There is just no need for it, it can cause animals harm and distress and there are perfectly fine alternatives:confused1:

 

I dont have much experience of the Netherlands other than the area between Rotterdam and Amsterdam but most of the field divisions I have noted have been wide deep ditches in pretty flat ground, there may be plain posts and wire between them but I have not noticed it. That ground is not similar to much of the UK and certainly not similar to my little patch.

 

We have had one wire incident caused by a cow getting tangled in a plain wire and ending up in a ditch. It ended up with a dead cow.

 

Not seeking to be contentious but we are not in the business of putting stock at needless risk. We use barbed wire because we see it as the best tool for the job we need to do.

 

Cheers

mac

[renewablejohn]

Have removed all barbed wire from the fences which I own and replaced with strand wire but still not been able to convince my neighbor on a joint fence so have resorted to an electric wire on hangers 1 foot in from the barbed wire.

[Ashes_Firewood]

If you had deer fencing everywhere it'd look awful.

[skyhuck]

Why are hedges OK??, IME Hawthorne and Blackthorn are for worse to deal with than barbwire.

[Daniël Bos]

Why are hedges OK??, IME Hawthorne and Blackthorn are for worse to deal with than barbwire.

 

Because of the "body" of the hedge, animals recognise it as a non-crossable boundary much easier. Obviously that only goes for a good, dense hedge with no gaps in.

 

Need a hedgelayer?

[muldonach]

Why are hedges OK??, IME Hawthorne and Blackthorn are for worse to deal with than barbwire.

 

 

Hedges are good because they offer shelter to domestic stock and habitat to wildlife. We rejuvenate them bu cutting back and fencing to protect the regrowth, hopefully able to lay in a few years time

 

 

Cheers

mac

[Jesse]

I've grown up on a dairy farm and we also did a lot of beef cattle / sucklers/ arable etc. So, I'm a farmer's lad. I know about blood, brains, death, balls, salt licks (yum) and Denkovit.

 

I went to buy some pig netting today and the guy was confused as to why I didn't want any barbed wire to go on top.

 

Why do farmers use barbed wire?

 

If it's a deterant, it's not a good one. The animals first experience of trying to jump it will usually end in a costly injury. I've never yet seen a bovine look at barbed wire with a look of comprehension of potential injuriy in his / her eyes.

 

If it's punishment, it is a good one. But I doubt bovines are clever enough to appreciate the subtelty of a human punishing them for busting through the fence. It's just retribution on a dumb animal.

 

So, what's it all about? What good does it do except harden up farmer's sons and daughters as they try to climb through hedges erected by their idiot, ignorant parents?

 

Convince me.

A reble farmer? have you by any chance been to univerity? injurys, bovines, hedges, bursting,punishing, dumb animals, retribution, human punishing, and a sister, and barbed wire ,what sort of farmer are you? you need to watch what you say on here you know , you could offend someone with words like that:lol:

[Stereo]

No, I never went to university. My History master wanted to get me into Oxford but he was a drunk and so was I. I'm not really a farmer either. I grew up on a farm, can drive a tractor, shoot a clay, fetch in bales, tip a trailer of corn or whatever. I was driving tractors when I was little enough to have to jump up and down on the brake to get it stopped. I know all about cattle (not sheep), I've milked cows at 5am on a winter morning with the worst hangover in history and puked up in the shipping and still had to go on milking.

 

Not much I saw as a boy rang true with me to be honest. I love my Dad and he's a great Dad and a great man but we seem opposed on just about every single subject on this planet. Fortunately we have found a way around that small matter! If I was to go back to farming it would be very much on my terms.

[Timbermcpherson]

Barbed wire is great when you dont have any power to electrify the fence. But having both ROCKS, that way if theres a power cut the stock dont treat your fences as a play thing.

 

Our bulls would break fences while fighting all to often. They NEVER got badly stuck in them. If you have a better way of economically contain 120 500 - 600kg plus, angry, scrappy bulls one steep farm country in summer, Id love to see it!

 

Our farm had 50m bluffs in places, swamps, rivers, caves, if the fences didnt contain them, they died in large numbers.