Proper fencing, both to keep animals in or out, is important on a farm. However, if the purpose and functionality of a fence is not thought through, it can have some devastating consequences. My own experience as a child informed me of this very fact one wintery day in NH.
       The farm I grew up on in Farmington, NH had a few ponds fed by a small stream that came down from a ridge behind the property. We had cattle and mostly wooded areas, but that did not deter my Dad from thinking that fencing in an area of woods and bisecting the pond at the upper edge would be a great new area for the animals to roam. There are many things wrong with this, mainly that animals should be kept out of our streams and ponds to prevent degradation of the water supply, and erosion of the soil at the edges. One other minor detail was that my Dad used barbed wire fence for this purpose, to include running three strands across the upper part of the pond.  I have already mentioned why this is a bad idea environmentally, but there are two practical reasons this was a bad idea.
          First, this particular pond would almost always dry up in the summer months. If the animals were not savvy enough to wade into the pond and go under the fence when it had water in it, you can bet money they surely wandered right on out of the fenced in area and into my Mom's corn patch when the water level revealed this major gap in the fence. That left us kids chasing cattle on a fair number of occasions one summer. But there is still one major flaw with this fencing situation which came to light on this wintery day when I was about 10.
         I loved to ice skate, and this pond, with those three strands of barbed wire fence running across one end, happened to be the best pond for skating. I liked to do spins and act like I was going to be the next figure skating world champion.....a complete delusion....but that is neither here nor there. However, on one of my passes around the pond, showing off to my little sisters on the proper execution of a spin, I happened to slip and ended up landing in that $%(*@ barbed wire fence. Now it was a rather cold day of about 10 degrees F, and this was not the best place to hang around without moving to stay warm.  My sisters yelled at me to get up and off the cold ice, but alas I could not.  I was stuck!  Not only because the barbs were in my jacket, but because one barb had made its way through my multiple layers and into my side.  Yup, I was kind of stuck and wondering how the heck I was going to get out of this predicament. My sisters high tailed it back to the house to grab my Dad, while I sat there contemplating how hard it would be to get me unstuck, and how cutting the wire might result in some serious damage to my side since it was strung as tight as a guitar string. I might have also been a wee bit worried about the tongue lashing I would get from my Dad too.
        Thankfully he was in the house and came right over. Another plus was he has some compassion for my situation and did not yell at me. He just nonchalantly walked to the other side of the fence from me, grabbed on either side of the wire imbedded in my side and yanked. He picked me up, carried me back to the house, deposited me in the living room on a piece of plastic already laid out by my mother in preparation for my arrival (and the potential copious amounts of blood she envisioned) and proceeded to pour hydrogen peroxide on the wound. I survived, did not need additional medical attention nor blood transfusion, and other than a weird scar on my side, I made it through, but not without a lifelong hate for all things barbed.
         So if you are considering fencing in or out some animals on your farm, considering consulting someone knowledgeable in proper fencing installation, your family might thank you one day. And perhaps check out the Fence School we have coming up on May 5, details below.

Present Use Value is a NC program administered by County governments. But confusion abound. Join Us April 28 from 6:30 - 8:00 PM to have all your questions answered.

This in person event will be held at Durham County Cooperative Extension office located at
721 Foster Street, Durham, NC 27701.

Present Use Value is a tax deferral program for commercial agriculture, horticulture, and forestry land in North Carolina. We will have a member of the Durham County tax department here to present briefly about the basics of Present Use Value, and then most of the time will be dedicated to getting your questions answered.

This event is free but registration is required.

Register Here