We had a moonlight visitor recently who raised an interesting difference between living in a western state vs an eastern state. Although we did not get to see our visitor in the flesh, there is no doubt about who it was. (Photos of hoof prints and cow flops)
Our neighbors, and just about everyone else we've met out here, keep cattle. We do not keep cattle. We do, however, have an expensive pole mounted solar array that would make a prime steer scratching post, and bales of straw for our compost system that are attractive to cows, and we do plan to have a vegetable garden at some point. To protect these investments, it was important to learn who was responsible for keeping the 2,000 lb walking steak factories out of areas where they are unwelcome. Who has the responsibility for building the fences shows the difference between eastern and western states.
It works like this: back east, if you have an animal that your neighbor does not want crossing on to their property, it is your responsibility to fence your animal in. That is a "fence in" state. Here in the west, if your neighbor doesn't want your animals crossing on to their property, it is their responsibility to fence your animal out. That is a "fence out" state. New Mexico is a fence out state, so it is up to us to build fences around any areas we want to be steer-free. Here is attempt #1 at a fence around the delicious straw bales. (Photo is compost area fence)
We will also want to keep deer and elk out of the garden, and they may not be too impressed with this fence design. The plan is to use local experts to construct fences for the solar array and the garden. We'll write up a separate entry when that happens. For now, keep your cloven hooves crossed that this fence keeps the one-ton moonlight visitors fenced out!
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