Profitable livestock farming is built around good grazing, and paddock size plays a big role in determining mob sizes and days of grazing in each paddock.
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Fencing most times will be a silent servant in all this.
The use of wire in controlling the movements of livestock whether it be permanent or electric fencing is paramount to the success of a grazing operation.
Average family sized grazing operations would have around one thousand kilometres of wire in their fences keeping stock in and unwanted animals out of their properties.
The value of wire to a farming operation can never be underestimated, so many times it is used as a "get out of trouble" material with such a diverse range of uses.
On most farms it is not hard to find a gate being held up or tank secured on a tank stand with a double strand of wire.
In my early farming days, fencing was done with soft plain and barbed wire, then cyclone and high tensile wire hit the scene.
The high tensile wire was more difficult to work with but the long-term benefits proved to be a great advancement.
My father would say to me as a teenager, if you build a fence properly you should never have to rebuild it in your lifetime.
That provided me with the incentive to do the best possible job the first time.
Small square hay baling in the early days on our farm saw the use of wire, not baling twine to secure the bales.
Dad would make his own cables by inter twining multiple wires into very strong cables, which were used for heavy towing.
On many occasions a piece of wire was used to clean grease, dirt and chaff off machines.
Wire as a product is so versatile, yet it is taken for granted.
Fencing is exposed to below zero and above 40-degree temperatures and after decades of exposure to the weather it remains sturdy and resilient.
It always amazed me such a thin strand of metal could be strained with such tension and not break.
To see cows and ewes crash into a fence, bounce off and the fence resume its shape as if nothing happened endorsed my dad's statement of do the job properly the first time.
Our motor vehicles have wiring throughout, carrying current to ensure not only the vehicle starts but also to activate so many systems required for operation.
Even surgeons send fine wire down human veins and fuses used to protect a range of systems usually involve some form of wire.
On many occasions in my life a lump of rag tied on the end of a length of wire has been used to clear a blocked pipe.
There is wire in tyres reinforcing them and there is always a handle on a bucket. Welding and soldering wire is never in short supply on most farms.
A "rough diamond" of a farmer once told me that if you have a hammer, shifting spanner, screwdriver, a set of plyers and a coil of wire you should be able to fix most things and get yourself out of trouble.
Even now living in a major regional city I find that I am reaching for a small coil of wire to serve a need on the odd occasion.
