Each year, Stockade sponsors a “New Recruit Challenge” to encourage fence builders who have never attended the Fall Fence Forum to step out of their comfort zone and come see what the event was all about. We had several excellent candidates, but the chosen winner was Drew Rasmussen of Pawnee Fence Company in Northeast Colorado. Drew has a number of different ventures, include a biomarker software program for tracking cattle, but his passion is building quality ag fence for his valued clients.
Stockade covered the cost of his lodging and entry to the Forum so he could experience it for the first time. He fit right in and spent several days learning new tips & techniques with other contractors. Drew hadn’t planned to enter the competition, but on Saturday, Oct 4th he surprised everyone (including himself) by entering the Machine Competition Shootout.
Drew was kind enough to recap his experience for us on the Stockade Blog:
I wanted to post more about the Machinery Doubles Competition at Farm Fence Solutions, LLC Fall Fence Forum, but I hardly feel recovered enough to think about it much!
On Thursday, James Harken of B&H Midlands (an English fence and dirtwork contractor) was looking for a competition partner for the machine doubles. If you know anything about me, you’ll know I never say “no” to a good challenge – especially when it comes to a fence!
James seemed unconcerned that I had built little to none of the ‘Kiwi-style’ fence that is spec’d for these competitions. We rounded up a borrowed machine and a wheelbarrow of tools (courtesy of L.A. Gibson) and decided that even if we placed last, all we needed to do was finish.
Friends, that was about the hardest I have worked in my career. The ground was hard, the hill was steep, and I was wearing a pair of Hooey brand driving moccasins instead of work boots Stockade came in clutch, as their care package to me included a pair of Stoney Creek contractor shorts that I promptly slapped on to compete.
James carried our team without a doubt – he’s a master on the Protech post driving machinery while I just tried to keep myself busy digging breast blocks, fitting stays, and bumbling around like a lost puppy.
There’s a sense of accomplishment for doing the hard thing. For taking the high road and crossing the rickety bridge. I’m glad we persevered, and I’m especially thankful for all the professionals who believed in us and encouraged us to dig in and finish.
About 5.5 hours in, we converged to drag our 949-6 high tensile net wire down to our drop-post at the bottom of the hill and discovered that about 400 lbs of man and tools would hardly budge it down into the gap. I was about ready to quit- it was about 90 degrees, I’d just taken a chain-strainer handle to the chest like a mule kick, and all other teams were finished. James rushed to the top of the hill to grab our post driving machinery and we used it to force the wire into the gap and propertly staple it into place, banjo tight.
The story doesn’t end with a Rocky Balboa-style victory snatched from the overwhelming jaws of defeat. No, we finished dead last after a massive time penalty for taking some 90 minutes or so longer than the winning team, but we did finish. I dropped everything and dashed to the airport to catch my flight back home without hardly a minute to spare.
Would I do it again? Absolutely!
There’s a sense of accomplishment for doing the hard thing. For taking the high road and crossing the rickety bridge. I’m glad we persevered, and I’m especially thankful for all the professionals who believed in us and encouraged us to dig in and finish.
We’ll get ’em next year!
Congratulations again to Drew on earning a spot at the Forum and winning the 2025 “Stockade New Recruit Challenge” – see you next year!
For more information on the Fall Fence Forum, contact Andy Schoenherr, Stockade Country Manager at andy.schoenherr@stockade.com, or Farm Fence Solutions: https://farmfencesolutions.com/
