Fence Post HowTo

[cmuncy]

Well after some very good time on the tractor this weekend, the wife and I are planning our fence.

SInce we will be moving our horses here, we will need almost 4000 feet of fencing to surround the perimeter of our 13 acres.

Looking at the cost of materials, T posts and 2 1/2 inch treated wooden posts cost the same. If we use T posts, we will have to use toppers on the posts. If we use wooden posts, that wont be required.

Now, these 2 1/2" wooded posts are great. The problem I currently se is getting a tiny auger for my phd to sink these things.

So, I am looking for your methods on installing these smaller posts in a clay/sand/red ore soil about 2 1/2' deep.

Thanks as always.

 

[bgott]

I could lean on a 2 1/2" wooden post and break it off. If you use T- posts and happen to bend a couple while swinging an implement in a turn with your tractor you get off and bend 'em back straight. If you accidently hit those thin posts you're out there rebuilding the fence. I would find it easier, especially as wet as it has been this year, to pound in T- posts rather than dig holes. You could probably just push them in with your loader. What are the "toppers" that you supposedly need on the T- posts? You could re- think those being that most, if not all, T- posts I've seen don't have them. I don't remember seeing anything on top of a T- post other than a little horse hair. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Lazy]

T- Post Toppers

A cap for the top of T-posts. Prevents horses from being impaled on the top of T-posts.

Charlie

 

[Lazy]

t-post toppers

 

[slowzuki]

Here we take a crow bar, make as big of hole as it will make. Sharpen fence post with chainsaw, take sledge or wooden headed post mallet and drive in post.

This is for 2-5" diameter round posts.

 

[theboman]

Hillbillies do it different.
We use barbed wire and on corners you set your post and brace it with another post running diagonally in the directions the fence is running on both sides..... OR, you hope you have a tree where the corner happens to be.

 

[Poppa]

CMuncy,

bgott had it right when he said: "I could lean on a 2 1/2" wooden post and break it off." I doubt he is as big as a horse and horses do love to lean into a fence. If you go wood, I would suggest nothing less than 4 inch min diameter.

For four thousand feet and assuming you aren't rich, go with the t-posts. And don't even think about driving them with a simple fence post hammer. either rig something for the FEL or better yet, go to the rental yard and rent a pneumatic pounder and a big air compressor.

Good luck and take your time. You are going to spend many years looking at and maintaining this fence. Make sure the sight of it doesn't make you physically ill.

Mike

 

[cowboydoc]

I would go with at least a 4" post for horses. T-posts are fine with the caps on top but don't look as good to me. Also by the time you figure insulatars for t-posts the 4" posts come out cheaper in the end.

As far as putting them in they make augers from 4" to 12" for the average PHD.

What are you planning for your fencing material?

 

[MuncyBob]

While we don't have as many acres fenced as you will...I have used T-posts and I have topped them with old tennis balls from the local tennis club...they throw them out anyway...a couple of slits and pop them on.....horses haven't popped one off yet.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">...we will need almost 4000 feet of fencing...</font>
This works out to between 250 (16 foot spacing) to 500 (8 foot spacing) posts. That's a lot of posts! I know because I just finished using a post driver to set 227 posts. Forty of them were T-posts, while the remaining 187 were 4" x 4" x 8' PT posts. The 187 PT posts are around our 3 acre pasture (8' spacing), while I used the T posts to create a 12' wide 'chute' that connects this new 3 acre pasture with our existing pasture. Since this 'chute' crosses our back yard, I didn't want to use something as visually large as the 4" x 4"s so I used the T-posts with covers from Horseguard Fence.

At a minimum, your corner posts will have to be something substantial, not just a T-Post or a 2.5" post in the ground.

Depending upon your soil conditions (rocks?), you might be able to use your FEL, loaded with something heavy to 'drive' the T-posts into the ground. If not, I recommend buying/renting something that drives the posts into the ground. This turns putting the posts in to a 1 step process. Using a post hole digger is a tiring, 2 step process, i.e., dig the hole, install the post, tamp, tamp, tamp....

I have experience with both using a post hole digger and a post driver. To give you an idea of the time difference. I first tried the PHD. I spent 74.4 tractor hours to dig 186 holes and install 29 4" x 4" x 8' posts, approximately 24 minutes/hole. My original plan was to dig all the holes, then install all the posts. I dug all the holes over the summer, and began installing the posts. I only got 29 posts installed before winter arrived. The next spring and summer were so wet, I couldn't get any posts installed. Guess what? Most of the holes I dug, filled back in! There had to be a better way! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I bought a post driver from Worksaver and in 39.2 tractor hours I drove in 162 4" x 4" x 8' PT posts, which averages out to 14.5 minutes/post. Towards the end, I was averaging 10 minutes/post.

So, roughly 20 minutes just to dig the hole versus 10 minutes to put in a post. No contest!

The only 'requirement' for driving in the posts is the ground has to be somewhat soft, like in the spring after some rain. Definitely not in the summer, when the ground is baked, particularly since you mentioned clay.