The Devil's Rope & Other Fencing

This is the first year since we bought the farm(stead) that our farming neighbor has planted corn in the field south of the house. We've got the visual equivalent of a green 12 foot tall privacy fence, which I have to admit is something to see.

We don't think about fences very often. We're reminded when we notice the sign along US 6 & 34 between Cambridge and McCook that advertises horse high, bull strong, and sheep tight fencing. For us former city folk, we were more accustomed to 4 foot chain link and 6 foot tall cedar privacy fencing, and we don't see much of that near our place.

I recall some American history and the importance of the invention of barbed wire, but I never thought about the impact it had on the animals. Doing a bit of research on fences found that early day animal rights activists called barbed wire "The Devil's Rope" for the injuries it caused. Here is an interesting website if you want to know all about barbed wire... http://www.barbwiremuseum.com/barbedwire...

Of course before barbed wire, there were many different styles of fence to enclose and protect property and livestock, but in my fence research, one statement jumped out at me... "The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said 'This is mine,' and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society." http://fencehistory.blogspot.com/

I'm not so sure about that last statement, though it could certainly be argued, but there have been songs about fences... "Don't fence me in" is a great example, but if you Google songs about fences, you will find more than you thought possible.

Of course any discussion of fencing should include those guys and gals that don face shields and swords and poke at each other. Heck, it's even an Olympic event.

It's crazy where your mind can wander from looking at some twelve foot tall corn.