Rufus Laggren wrote:Gail
Sounds like you're pretty familiar with your territory and country practices. I'll be betting on You. <g>
It's hard to tell how much somebody knows when one responds to questions. Until more info is flowing, I error on the side of stodgy nit picking conservative safety blurbs. When something happens it happens instantly and usually without the slightest hint or warning. It can be as simple and ordinary as slipping on a dog's toy while using a power tool or catching the power cord of the saw (if it's a corded type) in a way the throws you hand off. You never know, you never will know, until it's over and sometimes not then. Safety is about doing things in a way that even when "stuff" happens, you end up all in one piece. It's a life style.
+10 on the locked elbow using a chain saw. That applies to a other power tools as well. The classic circular saw disaster is when the saw catches when cutting ply wood or ripping a long board, jumps the cut and runs back along the work piece toward the user and sometimes right up their leg or into their lap. A locked elbow can be your friend in a lot of situations where you DON"T want that machine to touch you.
> ladders
Ladders are considered dangerous tools because they put people up where they can fall and if unlucky break something critical. I didn't mean you were on a ladder using a chain saw. Never crossed my mind. _That_ is seriously perilous. Many professionals cut trees while hanging on a limb or a ladder, but they don't do it alone and it's the pinnacle of a wild and woolly trade. And it's only done by people the boss decides, after seeing them work for some time, won't cause him problems by getting hurt, hurting others or damaging equipment. IOW, it's a special place where very few belong.
Cheers,
Rufus
leila hamaya wrote:here's some info on Dead Hedges / living hedges-->
Dead Hedge images
food forest dead hedge thread
building a dead hedge; how it'll be magically (naturally) transformed into a hugelultur hedgerow
https://permies.com/t/53469/Grateful-Dead-Hedge
https://permies.com/t/65279/Giant-hugel-beds-living-fence
https://permies.com/t/132273/Planting-hedge-shade-deep-forest#1086852
Juniper Zen wrote:Dog person here:
If the dogs are already adept at going over a 4’ fence, a 6’ fence may not hold them. People can inadvertently train their dogs to climb/jump higher and higher fences by only raising it 1-2 feet at a time. To truly be secure, their holding area should have a chain link or solid roof, without any gaps for the dogs to squeeze through between the walls and roof. AND a solid bottom or buried walls to keep them from digging out. You may be able to get away with skipping the roof if you raise the walls to 6’ and then add one of those toppers that leans in toward the dogs, so they can’t get good purchase as they clamber over. Coyote rollers are also effective for some dogs, but no guarantees, and again you risk just reaching them to be more skilled climbers/jumpers.
I’ll second the above poster to say that you shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking of these dogs as “killer pit bulls.” There are good and bad dogs of every breed. Their current bad reputation is caused by media sensationalism, which causes people who want “intimidating” dogs to get poorly bred pits and not raise them properly, which adds to more media sensationalism, etc. In past decades other breeds suffered from the same stigma - Rottweilers and German Shepherds, for example. Not to downplay your specific situation, because obviously THESE pits are dangerous, but don’t assume that they all are.
I can’t comment much on building a secure goat shelter as my experience is with keeping dogs contained rather than out, except that the same principles would work - chain link or solid fence, secure roof, buried wire. I don’t know about the right spacing for electric wire, but I agree that you would want to make sure that it is a STRONG current. Dogs with serious aggression or predatory instinct will blast right through what is typically used as underground electric fencing in people’s yards.
Trace Oswald wrote:This isn't a great situation to be in. I can tell you this. I raised "pitbulls" for many, many years. Remember, above all else, they are still just dogs. People that haven't been exposed to them seem to impart almost supernatural abilities to these dogs, mostly due to the media. That isn't to say they can't be dangerous. Any pack of dogs can be dangerous, and a pack of strong athletic dogs can be very dangerous indeed. My point is just that you don't need to build Ft Knox to keep them out. I kept my dogs in a kennel with a 6 foot chain link fence and never had one get out. As far as your own enclosure goes, a 6 foot fence should be all you need, but some dogs can and do dig. To be extra sure, you could run a single strand of electric wire a foot or so above the ground. If it is powered by a horse charger and not one of those cheap pet store ones, one zap is all it will take.
Another thing I would do, and diligently, is call animal control every single time you see one of their dogs outside their area. If they have attacked animals before, it's hard to believe nothing has been done about it yet, and if they attacked a person, some action would surely have been taken. A person that owns a "pitbull" that mauls someone is in very deep water. They will almost surely be sued and the dog put down. If that didn't happen, I think someone is exaggerating the stories to you. People that owns dogs like that are often the type that think "killer dogs" are impressive and love to talk about how "bad" their dogs are. They give a very bad name to all the responsible APBT dogs and their owners. As I said, I raised them for more than 30 years and I've never had one bite, or attempt to bite, a person. Mine weren't even good watch dogs, because they pretty much just loved everyone. I have had some that were dog aggressive, but I had other breeds that were just as much, or more so. Lots of dogs simply don't like dogs they don't know. Regardless of any of that, I would call the local law enforcement agencies any time they were not fully under the control of the owners, and I would talk to all the other neighbors about doing the same.
John Clayton wrote: Hi, my name is John and I live in Timberlake, NC. I'm looking to relocate soon, maybe early summer. I am a 45 year old single male with a very handsome, well mannered dog named Jack. I grew up on a 32 acre farm here in North Carolina. We raised Black Angus cattle, horses (Quarter and Tennessee Walkers), sheep, goats, etc... so I have plenty of experience with livestock. We also did a lot of growing so I know my way around tractors, plows, bush hogs, gardens and so on. I am a Army veteran. I served from 1992 to 2000 and again from 2004 to 2006. Right now I work for myself as a carpenter and am the care taker of an old farm for an elderly couple. However, I am ready to move on. There are a lot of reasons why I want to relocate, it's a very long, sad story and I won't bore you with it. I don't drink alcohol but I'm not against it in any way nor am I into drugs. I can give references to people who can back up my character if needed. Well, I'm not very good at this sort of thing so I hope I came across clear enough. Thanks.
Mike Barkley wrote:Well, it's sure hard to grow vegetables in rocks. Three degrees isn't too steep so I think a small pump &/or kid power will work fine. I have an IBC that fills from a roof. It is below one part of my garden. The water in the IBC provides enough pressure to run about half of the tank of water uphill if needed. If you use a pump (or a roof) to keep the IBC full a garden hose can be attached & if the garden is reasonably close my guess is most of your tank could be used via a garden hose. That's more than a ton of weight per full tank.
Pearl Sutton wrote:My guess, based on the Berkey I run, is 99% odds you'd be ok filtering with it. If you can get the filtered water tested (ask local health dept who can do it) (or mail it someplace if you don't want locals knowing what you are doing) it would be MUCH safer. Odds are high, but not 100%. Testing might save you some serious misery. Be sure to put your toilet area well away from your water, failing that will kill you fast.
:D
John Indaburgh wrote:Rather than counting on electric you might consider whether you can utilize a spring above your garden. You'd need a pipe driven in the ground that flows into a tank. This needs to be above the garden, if that's possible. You'll get two pounds of water pressure for each foot the tank is above the garden. That's called the head. There's a fitting that screws onto the end of steel pipe called a well point. The one time I tried this I got nothing. I wanted water for cattle that didn't need me hauling water and a supply for them that didn't freeze. I didn't use an expert or even an amateur effort with "divining rods". I drove the pipe in about 5 foot and couldn't get it farther in.