source: Farm and Food Report
It is one of these small challenges Punnichy’s Schlosser family had been wrestling with for years: how to lay fence across sloughs without getting wet and covered in mud?
According to Kevin Schlosser, “this is something everyone dreads in the spring — venturing out there in boots or hip waders to fix fence and realizing that they are not quite high enough to keep you dry. If you have a slough you must lay fence across, posts rot, wires rust out. It is a problem that just doesn’t go away. What if we could actually come up with posts that float?”
Kevin, his brother Dan, their father and mother went to work on this eight months ago, after many years of accumulated frustration. Easier said than done. Coming up with fencing structures that are buoyant, yet stable enough to prevent tipping in high winds, requires all the patience in the world.
“There was a lot of experimentation involved,” explains Kevin Schlosser. “We figured that the base would have to be made with urethane foam, but designing the shape the moulds should have was very much a trial and error process. We came up with several widths into which a fibreglass rod would be inserted, to which different types of fencing tapes and wires would be attached, using regular fencing clips. Then we took our prototypes to the sloughs to test them.”
Eventually, they found the right configuration. They launched a company: Jaddak Creations Inc. They prepared a business plan with the help of Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization. The Schlosser family came up with a name for their product: they call them Slough Sticks. They even went through the patent process, successfully.
“I can’t believe no one had thought about it before,” Schlosser says. “The idea is to actually lay the fence and posts in the winter when the sloughs are frozen. It is much easier. We recommend a maximum distance of six meters between posts for increased stability. When the ice melts in the spring, the floating fence posts just float in their position on the water, and they’ll freeze in the same spot the following winter. It really is a low maintenance solution to a perennial headache.”
The company recently acquired the old Punnichy community theatre and town hall to manufacture their product, which should hit the market at any time.
“Right now, we are working with the local Co-op store. We went around to show our product. The posts will be made available on pallets for shipping and sales purposes. Other potential distributors across Canada have also expressed interest. This is all pretty exciting for us,” Schlosser says.
Apparently, the local population is just as interested in what the Schlossers are working on.
“There isn’t a day that goes by when we don’t to go to the local hardware store to pick up one thing or another. People are always asking us what we are up to. I was born and raised in Punnichy,” says Kevin Schlosser, “and there used to be five restaurants in town. Like many, I had to move away for a few years, but I’m really glad to be back now. Just looking at people’s expressions, you get a sense they are thinking that perhaps there is a future for Punnichy.”
If fencing through water can be made easier, it may be that anything is possible, after all, in a small town where creativity is allowed free expression.
For more information, contact:
Kevin Schlosser
Jaddak Creations Inc.
(403) 852-1510
It is one of these small challenges Punnichy’s Schlosser family had been wrestling with for years: how to lay fence across sloughs without getting wet and covered in mud?
According to Kevin Schlosser, “this is something everyone dreads in the spring — venturing out there in boots or hip waders to fix fence and realizing that they are not quite high enough to keep you dry. If you have a slough you must lay fence across, posts rot, wires rust out. It is a problem that just doesn’t go away. What if we could actually come up with posts that float?”
Kevin, his brother Dan, their father and mother went to work on this eight months ago, after many years of accumulated frustration. Easier said than done. Coming up with fencing structures that are buoyant, yet stable enough to prevent tipping in high winds, requires all the patience in the world.
“There was a lot of experimentation involved,” explains Kevin Schlosser. “We figured that the base would have to be made with urethane foam, but designing the shape the moulds should have was very much a trial and error process. We came up with several widths into which a fibreglass rod would be inserted, to which different types of fencing tapes and wires would be attached, using regular fencing clips. Then we took our prototypes to the sloughs to test them.”
Eventually, they found the right configuration. They launched a company: Jaddak Creations Inc. They prepared a business plan with the help of Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization. The Schlosser family came up with a name for their product: they call them Slough Sticks. They even went through the patent process, successfully.
“I can’t believe no one had thought about it before,” Schlosser says. “The idea is to actually lay the fence and posts in the winter when the sloughs are frozen. It is much easier. We recommend a maximum distance of six meters between posts for increased stability. When the ice melts in the spring, the floating fence posts just float in their position on the water, and they’ll freeze in the same spot the following winter. It really is a low maintenance solution to a perennial headache.”
The company recently acquired the old Punnichy community theatre and town hall to manufacture their product, which should hit the market at any time.
“Right now, we are working with the local Co-op store. We went around to show our product. The posts will be made available on pallets for shipping and sales purposes. Other potential distributors across Canada have also expressed interest. This is all pretty exciting for us,” Schlosser says.
Apparently, the local population is just as interested in what the Schlossers are working on.
“There isn’t a day that goes by when we don’t to go to the local hardware store to pick up one thing or another. People are always asking us what we are up to. I was born and raised in Punnichy,” says Kevin Schlosser, “and there used to be five restaurants in town. Like many, I had to move away for a few years, but I’m really glad to be back now. Just looking at people’s expressions, you get a sense they are thinking that perhaps there is a future for Punnichy.”
If fencing through water can be made easier, it may be that anything is possible, after all, in a small town where creativity is allowed free expression.
For more information, contact:
Kevin Schlosser
Jaddak Creations Inc.
(403) 852-1510
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