A phascinating fenomenon

[Soapweed]

A tree that grew up around an old-time steel post

It's there to stay

Been there quite awhile

Let me count thy years

Peach Blossom said I'm thinking too much like a photographer and not enough like a rancher, or I would have untangled the wires. I told her it wasn't my fence. :wink:

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Sooooo yer sayin you weren't the one that patched that next to the bottom wire........ :wink:

We have quite a few of those old posts around on the place that have grown up in trees......not a rare thing to happen round here. I'm sure it is rare out there tho...with yer lack of trees....what's the odds that a tree is gonna be in a fence line? LOL

Thanks for the pictures Soapweed....looks chilly there too.

 

[Shorthornguy]

Thats an old fence. In this neck of the woods a lot of the old timers would nail barb wire to the trees to save on fence posts. When we cut firewood along a line fence we leave the bottom 4 feet because there is no telling what you might find.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Uh huh...when yer chain saw starts makin sparks...that's not a good thang. We too leave the bottom 4 feet or so. Lots of folks would use trees for fence posts.....I've even been known to do that myself in them old fence lines, where there's more trees than there are posts. Especially the trees on the creek banks where the creeks come in or go out of the property.....bout the only thing you can tie to that's still gonna be there after the water goes down.

Our flood gates are washed away as we speak. Noticed yesterday while drivin down the road that even the fence between the two creek entrances is pushed over.....the water got extremely high. So we'll be havin us a major clean up job when we can get in there to do repairs. Gonna be more like rebuildin than repairin. :roll:

 

[IL Rancher]

WE have a whole old fence line like that.. Posts, field fence, barbwire, all imbeded in Hedge trees.. Also have an old roll of fence with a tree growing up the middle.. .. We need to start planting some trees again as the ones we have keep getting knocked over from wind and lightning... At least the ice didn't get anything here... And now we are finally getting some snow but it doesn't look like it will amount to much.

 

[Hanta Yo]

It is not much appreciated here where people from the distant past have stapled all 4 or 5 wires to trees. Wind blows the trees over, fence is down, cows are GONE!!!

 

[IL Rancher]

Yep.. We actuallly moved fence about 20 feet all over the place when we put up new stuff so we didn't have to deal with the trees anymore... Still have remnants here and there of the old stuff but it doesn't cause any problems.. Lucky for us, if we really need trees they can be grown failry quick.. One reason the fence is where the old hedge trees are was because the old hedge lines were the old fences.. Osage Orange, when kept under control used to make a great fence....I know the thorns are heck on vehicle tires.

 

[nr]

Yep.. We actuallly moved fence about 20 feet all over the place when we put up new stuff so we didn't have to deal with the trees anymore... Still have remnants here and there of the old stuff but it doesn't cause any problems.. Lucky for us, if we really need trees they can be grown failry quick.. One reason the fence is where the old hedge trees are was because the old hedge lines were the old fences.. Osage Orange, when kept under control used to make a great fence....I know the thorns are heck on vehicle tires.

In the development we live in which was a farm there is a tight row of osage orange trees still going strong after all these years and dropping their oranges that get smooshed on the road. Too bad nothing eats them. But they made a strong fence.

 

[IL Rancher]

Put them in your basement NR.. Supposedly help keep vermin away (No, not saying your house is infested but that is one use for them)....

Something eats on them out here but they sure have a strong odor to them..
The wood is something special on them too..Rock hard, darn near rot proof...

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

osage orange is the same thing as bois d'arc (bordark) or horse apples.

Horses eat the apples....squirrels, and turkey eat the seeds from them.

Also if you slice them in 1/4 inch slices......put in a 200 degree oven for about 2 hours....they curl and turn a real deep red color and can be used as flowers in a dried flower arrangement.

The wood of the tree makes fence posts that will last FOREVER!!!! but don't expect to be able to drive a staple in one after they've dried. We have alot of them here.

the indians used the wood to make bows from.