The Fence

I never knew how much I loved (or hated!) fences until I built one in Somaliland.

Why fence the land?

Back in 2015, when we first began exploring how to use animals to restore the land, we had an assessment done to tell us how best to approach it. From that assessment, we learned that without fencing, it would be nearly impossible to implement something like this in Somaliland successfully – the communal nature of land ownership meant that even if land-use agreements could be made between neighboring communities, they couldn’t be enforced on passing herds and visiting nomads. If we were going to do this, we would have to use a fence.

I love fences

After we acquired our land, we began searching for someone to build our fence. And that’s when I realized how much I love fences – or at least how much I love quality fences! Haha. Maybe it’s because I’m a farm boy from Iowa, but after looking at the fences that had been built here, there was no way I was going to pay anyone to build one of them for us! And I really don’t think my standards were that high… haha. However, it became clear that we would have to build our fence.

Building the fence

Since I had never built a fence like this before, I asked my new buddy Joseph if he would come and help us get started. Amazingly, he jumped on a plane and flew right out! He brought with him fence stretchers, fencing pliers, and other equipment we can’t get here. We installed some of the H-braces together, and Joseph showed us how to stretch and install the barbed wire fence.

We also had a local workshop construct a fence post pounder for us to use for installing the fence posts. With the fence post pounder, it was incredible how quickly they popped into place. “At this rate,” I thought, “we’ll be done halfway through June!”

I hate fences

Three months later, in September 2021, we were still placing fence posts! Haha. But now, instead of pounding fence posts into place, we were pounding solid rock to make way for the fence posts. While the soil had been nice and soft on the lower parts of the land, as we moved up the perimeter towards the higher parts of the land, the soil became very hard and rocky. Nothing like the soil you would find installing a fence in Iowa! This meant that we had to dig a hole in the rock for every post. We ended up spending the better part of two months with the small, digging-rod-wielding army we had hired, pounding rock under the Somaliland sun. And that, my friends, is just about as much fun as it sounds! Interestingly, that is around the same time I realized how much I hate fences… Haha.

The Finished Product

Though we clearly had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we started the fencing project, in the end, all the blood, sweat, and tears were worth it – well, most of them anyway! Not only did I learn about my range of emotions surrounding fences, but we also gained a wealth of knowledge about building a fence in Somaliland. We now have 4,400 meters of strong, 2-meter-high fence installed, protecting the perimeter of our farm. Feels great to have the wall done!

Next step: building the water cistern. How hard could that be?!?