An 1860s icon

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By Dwain Duxson

An 1860s icon - Barbed Wire was part of the making of the great Cattle takeover of the Mid West of America from the late 1860s onward. Before then, Bison dominated the Landscape, but a period in the 1870s saw averages of 5000 Bison killed every day until they got the population down to under 1000 head by mid-1880s, as the more lucrative Cattle dominated the Landscape. 

Barbed Wire changed the shape of the Cattle Industry during this period, as they could fence their Herds off rather than have them run free and get boxed up with other Herds in the area. 

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The first patent in the United States for barbed wire was issued in 1867 to Lucien Smith of Ohio, who is regarded as the inventor. Joseph Glidden of Illinois, received a patent for the modern invention in 1874 after he made his own modifications to previous versions.

If you trot around the Australian Landscape, you will still see plenty of Barbed Wire around. Mainly used as a top line. In the North of the Country, it is widely used for Cattle only Fences. It's not a prerequisite with Sheep only Fencing anymore, and if you are running Cattle more to the South end of the Country, you are more inclined to use a Hot Wire instead. Oh yes, and that bloody high tensile stuff is just wonderful to work with, not…. Do you use Barbed Wire?

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