Fencing

A fence is more than a line around a field. It decides where animals graze, keeps the right animals in and the wrong ones out, protects young crops from straying cattle, and lets a farmer rest one paddock while another is grazed. A good fence pays for itself in saved crops and healthier pasture; a poor one lets stock wander, damage neighbours' land and injure themselves on loose wire.

In this lesson you will learn how fence posts are treated to make them last, how a post-and-wire fence is built and strained, and which type of fence suits which job, from a cheap living hedge to a powerful electric line. You will also see how hedges and windbreaks do double duty, marking a boundary while sheltering crops and soil from the wind.