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March 20, 2005
Cleared At Last!
Good grief I can't believe it's finally done. I've cleared the entire perimeter around the deer fence so we can finish digging the holes and get started on the installation. The last piece involved cutting in a small pass underneath a powerline support cable. Now don't think I did everything I could to avoid having to do this, but the way this worked out is that the road bordering our property has a curve in it. So of course that is where the powerline pole would have to go so that the powerline can follow the curvature of the road. Making matters worse is the fact that the road curves away from the vineyard, so to maximize the amount of area we could plant we decided to put the deer fence right on top of where the support cable is anchored to the ground. But then the problem becomes getting the tractor safely under the cable, otherwise I wouldn't be able to mow around the deer fence (very bad.) And as I mentioned yesterday this part of the vineyard is on a slope. Long story longer - I needed to cut a level path under the support cable to be able to maintain the deer fence and not have to shift all the rows 8 feet away from the road (which of course is too damn late anyway since they are already subsoiled.)
Support cable mess before...
So it took quite a bit of digging and leveling with the tractor loader, but eventually I got it cleared and now can cruise right under with no worries. And in the summer we have a canopy that goes over the tractor rollbar for some shade, so there had to be enough room to get that under as well. So the pass is done, the last of the trees were moved to a brush pile (to be burned later) and the final bush hawging is done. Done - what a wonderful word.
Support cable mess after...
So as close as I can figure it I've put about 100 hours over the past few months into clearing out the old fence and brush in preparation for the installation of the deer fence, plus another 75 hours in prepping the vineyard for planting. But the great thing about clearing the old fence is that it never has to be done again. From now on it just needs mowed down around the perimeter 4 times a year and herbicide sprayed under the fence to keep growth from going up into the netting - uh, no I'm not using a weed trimmer on 2,500' feet of deer fence!
Safety note - I remember reading about bush hawg safety before we bought ours, and was stunned by the power these things have, specifically the minimum safe distance behind one while cutting. I feel obliged to emphasize this point after what I saw today. I took the bush hawg over a piece of tree stump, not in the ground but laying on top. I heard a bang and caught something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw this piece of wood - probably 12" long and 5" diameter lofting out over the vineyard. I counted the rows until it landed, and my best guess is that piece of wood flew about 60' and reached a height of at least 30' as it arched out over the rows. So when the manual says stay 200' from a moving bush hawg you better listen, cuz if a piece of wood about the size of firewood can go that far, how far do you think a small rock would fly...?
Posted by
Stephen
at
March 20, 2005 10:37 PM
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