Build a flood-proof cattle gate

Before he reinforced his creek fence, Harry Pugliese had repaired it several times after flooding damaged his property.

"I may have overbuilt this time, but I did not want to do it again!" he laughs.

The resourceful Georgian from Kingston set utility poles 5 feet into the ground with concrete poured around the base. Then he wrapped them with steel cable secured with U-clamps. Pugliese also used extra-long fencing staples with chiseled ends.

Floodwater goes through, cattle stay in

Hard steel wire forms loops large enough to let the gates swing from the bottom cable. Those gates are a repurposed footboard and headboard from an old bed.

"They are the perfect size to fit the width of the creek banks," he says.

"The water has been up and nearly over the fence posts, so it is working," he says. "We've had a lot of rain this last couple of years, and the cattle do not go near it."

About the contributor, Harry Pugliese

Farm: Along with 119 acres of hay and an Angus cow-calf operation, Pugliese has 17 acres of hybrid loblolly pine, which he's clear-cut and replanted three times.

Hay contest winner: His Bermuda hay won him a Vermeer mower the year he improved his soil by drilling Bulldog alfalfa into a dormant (winter) field.

Family nearby: Pugliese and his wife, Ellen, have three grown children who all live nearby.

Former teacher: The Berry College graduate taught health and PE for 30 years.