Now Is The Time To Think About Your Fencing Needs Glenn W. Michalak Delaware Valley College Equestrian Center Manager For any horse owner, proper upkeep of fencing is essential to the health and well being of his or her animal(s). Proper fencing for your horses is a critical choice. Good, correct ly installed and maintained fenc ing will make all the difference for your horse’s safety. As spring approaches, now is a good time to re-evaluate existing fence, as many installers are booking jobs for the upcoming year. The most commonly used ma terial is wood, usually in the form of post and board. Wood fencing Sometimes You Need a Spreader Built Like A Tank When spreading stockpiled lime, for example. The Stoltzfus Wet Lime Spreader is likely the most powerful spreader of its kind on the market today. You see, we’ve been building them since 1945, and farmers are still using Stoltzfus Wet Lime Spreaders they’ve had for 20, even 30 years. Our special drag chain is 4 times stronger than stainless steel, and handles frozen and heavy stockpiled lime with ease. Plus for spreading compost, composted sludge, poultry litter and certain fertilizers, the WLS is without equal for sheer volume spreading. • Two-ton, five-ton, eight-ton models • PTO, 540 rpm or 1,000 rpm • Two-speed conveyor chain • Leaf spring suspension • Dual 24 ” spinners • Spreads 40’ effectively • One-sided spreading capability • Truck-mounted models available is the least expensive material of all fencing. It comes in various forms, such as split rail, three or four boards, or sometimes a wire mesh topped with a sight board. Most wood fencing is treated, and has lon gevity of 20 to 25 years. The downside is that it will need painting every three to five years and can be an inviting substance for a horse to chew on. Currently, a popular fencing material is various forms of PVC (polyvinyl chloride). It has great durability and is resistant to chewing. It and has little or no maintenance, save being power washed from time to time. It is more expensive than all other materials, and there is a slight risk of a board shattering in very cold weather if run into by a horse. It is wise to install an 1-800-843-8731 www.stoltzfusmfg.com STOLTZFUS Morgan Way, P.O. Box 527, Morgantown, PA 19543 electrified tape running along the inside of the rail to keep the horse from chewing or leaning over the fence. Flexible rubber fencing, such as Centaur, is also popular for the same reasons, but has the ad vantage over PVC of being flexi ble enough for a horse to hit the fencing and bounce back. Woven wire fencing is a good choice as well, especially for pe rimeters of pastures. Box wire fence has a weave creating a box, which gets progressively smaller from bottom to top, allowing a horse to kick it, but not have its leg become caught. Diamond wire mesh is a tightly woven fence material, which, be cause of its design, resists a horse’s kicking, but will give some so a horse may not be se verely injured. Diamond wire has little downside, outside of ex pense. It is virtually maintenance free when properly installed, and has a life span of 20 to 25 years. One word of caution a barbed wire fence should never be used for horses! Unlike cattle, their skin is easily cut by the material and may leave permanent scars. Whatever product you choose, a lot will depend on your long-term maintenance requirements, and how much you can invest in the short term. Cut your fertilizer bill by liberating nutrients tied up by acid soil. Use Lime. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 15, 2003-A27 Equine Tack Swap Scheduled DEANNA CONFER Carbon!Schuylkill Co. Correspondent NAZARETH (Northampton Co.) —As spring approaches the Northampton County 4-H Center is once again gearing up to host a variety of events throughout the summer. One of the season’s opening events is the annual Equine Tack Swap scheduled II a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 12. The 4-H Center is located on Bushkill Center Road, Nazareth on five acres with an outdoor arena, pole bam, kitchen, a large indoor ex hibit area and modern toilet fa cilities. The tack swap is open to any one who wishes to buy or sell horse related items, apparel and tack. No live animals or consign ment items will be sold. All sell ers must have a table. Anyone wishing to sell items in the indoor and pole bam areas must preregister at a cost of $l5 per table in the indoor area; $l2 per table in the pole barn area and $lO per spot in the outdoor arena, weather permitting. Out door arena spots will be allocated on the day of the event. Persons with large equipment to sell are welcome to display on the open grounds for the registration fee. This annual Tack Swap is an excellent means to buy and sell horse related items as it draws visitors and vendors from far and wide, many from neighboring states that make a point of at tending the event each year. Food will be available for pur chase during the day courtesy of Backtrackers 4-H Horse and Pony Club. Admission to the grounds is free and open to the public. For more information contact Jan Martin at (610) 837-7294 or call the Northampton County Cooperative Extension office at (610) 746-1970. Sheep, Lamb Inventory Five Percent Lower WASHINGTON, D.C. All sheep and lamb inventory in the United States on Janu ary 1, 2003, totaled 6.35 million head, down 5 percent from 2002 and 9 percent below two years ago. The inventory has trended down since peaking at 56.2 million head in 1942, accord ing to the National Ag ricultural Statistics Service (NASS). • Breeding sheep in ventory declined to 4.68 million head on January 1, 2003, down 5 percent from 4.91 million head on Janu ary 1, 2002. Ewes one year old and older, at 3.79 million head, were 5 percent below last year. • Market sheep and lambs on January 1, 2003, totaled 1.67 mil lion head, down 6 per cent from January 1, 2002. Market lambs comprised 96 percent of the total. Twenty-six percent were lambs under 65 pounds, 17 percent were 65 - 84 pounds, 24 percent 85 - 105 pounds, 29 per cent were over 105 pounds, and 4 percent were market sheep. The 2002 lamb crop of 4.36 million head was down 3 percent from 2001 and estab lished a new record low. The 2002 lambing rate was 110 per 100 ewes one year old and older on January 1, 2002, unchanged from 2001. The number of oper ations with sheep dur ing 2002 totaled 64,170, down 1 percent from 2001 and 3 per cent from 2000. Shorn wool produc tion in the United States during 2002 was 41.2 million pounds, down 4 percent from 2001. Sheep and lambs shorn totaled 5.45 mil lion head, down 4 per cent from 2001. The average price paid for wool sold in 2002 was $0.53 per pound for a total value of $21.8 million dollars, up 42 percent from $15.3 million dollars in 2001. All goat inventory in Texas on January 1, 2003 totaled 1.20 mil lion head, down 4 per cent irom 2002 and 14 percent below two years ago. Mohair production in the three major pro ducing states (Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) during 2002 was 2.13 million pounds, up 8 percent from 2001. Goats and kids clipped, at 283,000 head, were down 9 percent from 2001. Average weight per clip was 7.5 pounds compared with 6.4 pounds a year earlier. Value of mo hair was $3.4 million dollars, down 20 per cent from 2001.
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