“No Fences” was a 1990 album by Garth Brooks that reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart. In a world where we commonly separate ourselves from each other with fences, his choice for this album title had a deeper meaning.
Consider this. According to grandviewresearch.com, the U.S. fencing market was estimated at $8.2 billion in 2021 and was expected to expand at 5% per year from 2022 to 2030. That’s a lot of fences.
The site says the growth can be accredited to the availability of high-quality materials, consumer affordability, and varied designs and is primarily driven by factors such as increasing housing construction and growing demand from end-user industries such as the residential, industrial and agricultural sectors. But there is more to it than that.
Fences made sense when early pioneers needed a way to gather and hold livestock. Those fences changed the West from vast prairies to a land of farming and settlements. They were a necessity, but, interestingly enough, the Native Americans seemed to survive just fine without them — until the barbed-wire fence changed their lives dramatically.
Michael Kelly twisted two wires together and formed a cable for barbs known as the "thorny fence." This design made fences stronger and forced cattle to keep their distance. Joseph Glidden improved on this with a simple wire barb locked onto a double-strand wire. As a result of the mass use of barbed-wire, the lives of the nomadic Native Americans were radically altered. Just imagine how they discovered barbed wire, or what they called “the Devil's rope.”
Today, we construct fences to distance ourselves from outsiders, both in our rural areas and in our cities. But why? Is it because we are not as willing to share? Is it because we are too territorial? It is out of fear? Or is it simply because we are packing too many people in too small of an area? I tend to think it is mostly the latter.
Some people say we need more fences. Others say they are unnecessary. In many ways, it may be difficult to imagine a world without fences. But, if you are really curious what it would be like, venture across the wide swaths of land in Montana.
Fences may be great for keeping animals in place. But people? As a society, I would like to think we could learn from the Native Americans and make “No Fences” more than an album title.
Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com | 
