Split Rail Fences - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Split Rail Fences

As a young kid growing up on the farm, I can just barely recall split rail wooden fences on our farm. They were old, dilapidated , ineffective and soon replaced with wire fencing strung between steel posts. The split rail fence required no post holes or nails, so were easy to build in wooded areas. And since pioneer farmers were always clearing more and more land, logs for the rails were very plentiful. Their usefulness in holding livestock was suspect, plus the wood rotted and needed maintenance. Here’s an interesting article on split rail fences And as a first grader, I can recall learning about honest Abe Lincoln splitting rails on the family farm in Illinois.

The demise of the split rail fencing began in 1868 when barbed wire was invented. Wire fencing provided a significant improvement over split rail fencing, but required many different materials and was labor intensive to install, providing a costly but effective fencing solution. Driving in the posts and stretching the wire fence was hard work and somewhat dangerous if the stretcher gave out especially while stringing barbed wire that would snap back and invariably injure those installing the fence.

Mending fences on the farm to keep the cows and pigs contained was almost a full time job for us. The hogs would tend to root under the fences, while the cows always were stretching their necks over the fence to reach the greener grass on the other side. Many times Dad would get a call early in the morning from a neighbor indicating his livestock had escaped. The worst was when they were roaming the adjacent roads, although fortunately none were ever hit by a car. Eventually, Dad strung barbed wire above the fences to keep the cows from reaching over.

Every field was fenced in so the livestock could be contained in the pasture and kept out of the fields during the growing season. But then after harvesting, the livestock would be let into the various fields since by then the grass in the pasture had been nibbled down to nothing. The cows really seemed contented with their time in the harvested fields, as there were always ears of corn that were missed by the corn picker. But the cows and pigs could literally clean up a 20 acre corn field in about a week, then the herd would be moved to another harvested field. They also chomped down on the emerging alfalfa and clover in the combined wheat and oats fields. The only problem was the green grass would give the cows diarrhea (we had better name for their ailment back then - the sh#@tz!), which needless to say made for quite a mess at milking time!

The larger fields sometimes were divided and planted with two different crops, so to keep the livestock from accessing the part that had not yet been harvested, a temporary electric fence was strung between the two crops. That was always a challenge to get the electricity to the line and to make sure all insulators worked on each fence post otherwise the fence would be grounded and not work. To do so meant the electric fence had to be tested, which amounted to touching the wire and getting a jolt. Never did pee on the charged wire, but was warned many times not to do so! This guy missed the warning.

Not only did each field have a wire fence all the way around, a gate had to be constructed so farm implements could gain access to the field for planting and harvesting and also a way for the livestock to enter and be contained in the field. Those gates were heavy so were very difficult to open, with the hinges rusted and creaky. Some farmers had slatted livestock gates to allow equipment to travel over them but livestock could not as their legs would slip between the metal slats. Dad couldn’t use them because there were times when he wanted the livestock to cross.

Probably the most serious fence breach on the farm occurred after a flood, as we had three spots on the farm where a waterway crossed the outer boundaries. Something Dad called a flood gate was used to keep in the livestock. It was essentially two strands of barb wire strung across the creek with one side tied very securely and the other side tied so that it would breakaway but not be torn by any debris floating down the creek during a flood, which invariable occurred several times each year. While the water was high, the livestock couldn’t get out through those openings, but as soon as the water subsided, Dad was quick to make the repairs, going in with his waders to pull out the two strands of barb wire that were typically embedded downstream along one shoreline among debris that got caught by the barbs. It was a tough job to restring the strands across the creek in the three spots. Here’s a youtube video on a creative design for a flood gate to avoid flood waters from breaking down the fence.

One of the three waterways flowed through neighbor Ben and Carrie Olding’s farm. Because they were older and retired, he always maintained the fence across the ditch and along their property line rather than sharing the expenses similar to other adjacent neighbors. While researching this blog, I actually discovered that the fence line encroached on old Ben and Carrie’s property by about 20’ because the actual property line ran right through the middle of the creek. Probably the line was located there to provide any livestock access to the water from both sides.

The fences bordering neighbors farms were maintained jointly; however, for the fence lines adjacent to the roadway, Dad had to maintain those on his own. He always complained to the local township trustee that they should share in the cost, to no avail! In fact, the township wouldn’t even pay to fix a fence damaged by a vehicle going off the road. Our lane also had a fence on both sides. so the field on the house side of the lane meant the cows had to be driven across the yard and lane into that field 4 times a day before and after each milking. Needless to say, the cows made a mess of the yard and seemed to always poop on the driveway to Mom’s consternation. Eventually Dad figured out another way to get the cows to that field by adding a gate from the adjacent pasture and installing a temporary barbed wire to block the field from the lane and yard. It was always amazing to me how the cows so quickly figured out they could access that field. It’s as if the herd explored the perimeter of the entire pasture exploiting any weak spots to break through and during the process discovered the open gate to the field with the fresh source of food.

Hogs on the other hand simply made their own spot to escape, burrowing under the fence whenever something better to eat was on the other side. For the hog yard itself, we had to literally bury the first row of fencing under the ground to keep them in. I can recall putting hog rings in their noses that must have caused them a pain that prevented them from rooting so much.

Chickens were generally kept inside the coop except when they were young and couldn't fly. There were always a a dozen or so roosters in each brood, so they were allowed to roam free, but not for long as Mom was uncanny at catching them with a long wire looped device, and almost in one motion chopping off the roosters head to put in a pot for supper! Once Dad no longer had livestock on the farm, colorful Banty roosters roamed everywhere and also provided Mom her source of chickens for cooking.

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