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Wiring
Before wire fences were used, the cattle used to walk along the farms and it
was impossible to control them. That is why neighboring farmers used to organize
rodeos so that each owner could pick up his animals. Different kinds of fences
were used according to the areas, they could be made of stone ("pircas"), thorny
bushes ("cina-cina"), or prickly pear ("tuna"), it was also possible to find
ditches.
The rancher Ricardo Newton, brought from a trip to England in 1845, the first
wire fence which he put in his farms to keep his animals inside. Then his neighbors
asked him to get the same fences for them so that their farms would also be
safely and practically wired. The wire fences are held by hard wooden posts
strongly buried in the ground. Seven or eight meters separate the posts but
between the posts, keeping a distance of approximately one meter, there are
several sticks.
The wires go through the holes that the posts and sticks have. The distance
between these holes vary between 0,14 and 0,30 meters, and the distance is reduced
as long as the holes get near the ground. The wires are stretched by means of
a special tool. The corner post is the one that marks the corner. It is made
of hard wood and the end buried into the ground has one or two sticks in a cross
held by screws or wires. There are different kinds of wire fences and they are
chosen taking into account the way that the owner of the farm will use them.
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