The Rural Voice, 2003-10, Page 38Don't fence
me in?
In the days when every farm had
cattle, good fences really did make
good neighbours
By Arnold Mather$
34 THE RURAL VOICE
The writer of the 1930s popular
song "Don't Fence Me In"
didn't have any experience
with farm life in the 1930s and '40s.
Fences were not only absolutely
necessary but were a sign of the
ambition and success of a farmer. For
some farmers building a good fence
was an art that yielded satisfaction.
For others fixing fences was a lowly
job on a par with picking stones and
splitting wood. Dad was a proud
fence builder although it is doubtful
that he looked forward to the job.
In the spring all the pasture field
fences had to be repaired. The winter
snow and frost broke wires and
heaved posts. Some posts succumbed
to old age and rot and just fell over.
Rail fences fell down from wind or
gravity.
Beginning the first nice day in the
spring Dad would begin walking the
fences. Each nice day he would try to
repair one field. This process would
take a couple of weeks and had to be
completed before the busy seeding
season began and before any cattle
could be tumed loose from the barn.
Dad carried a pocketful of steeples
(horseshoe -shaped nails for securing
wire to posts) a hammer slung in a
loop on the pant leg of his overalls,
and a pair of pliers (which is just one
tool for pulling and twisting wire). He
also usually carried a small roll of
wire over his shoulder. With this
equipment he could fix small breaks
in the fence and tighten up the wires
here and there. To check the fences
around one field was a walk of about
two kilometres. Major problems with
the fence would require returning at a
later time with a shovel and digging
in a new post.
Sometimes it was necessary to add
a new wire to the whole length of
width of the field.' Originally the
wires were single strand and very
brittle so they broke easily and it
required about six sets of wires high
to keep the cattle in the field. Then
after World War II barbed wire
became available at a reasonable
price. This wire was two strands
twisted together with a sharp barb
added very few inches. This wire
lasted much longer and required only
three wires high. However this wire
was definitely more difficult to
install. To unroll the wire Dad needed
someone to help him. He put a pipe
through the centre of the roll of wire,