Posthole Digger Options for Fencing Across Boulders

[boggen]

Get a big @$$ hammer drill from a rental place and set anchor bolts or threaded bar into it or angle iron. Either cement them in or use epoxy then either bolt the post down in some way or weld it to the angle you put in there. I think renting a drill and welding would be cheap. Course this assumes you have a welder and you have a generator to get power to the field, and that you can weld.

what i thought of first as well.

you can rent the large concrete drills. with "whole saw drill bits" for rock / concrete from the rental place as well.

normally the drills have a garden hose hook up, due to the need for water to keep the wholesaw bit cool down as it drills.

once drilled down so far. you would need a wedge or something to pop the core back and forth to break out the piece. so you can drop the post down into it.

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a hammer drill. with a smaller masonary bit can work as well. but would advise if buying the actual drill, is go with something in mid range pricing vs cheapest thing out there. and buy a couple extra bits.

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the one problem you may face long term. is water getting down into holes, then freezing / expanding, and as a result cracking of the rock. and fence post becoming loose. or possibly falling over.

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if electric fence is being setup. you my take some 5 gallon buckets, or sono tubs or other. and fill them up with concrete. and before concrete dries drop a piece of rebar into the bucket.

not a permanent solution. but more about keeping the post standing up and not falling over in winds / rain / snow.

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other option, instead of having posts go into the ground. each post = X or A frame like setup. so fence can not fall backwards or forward.

 

[Garthhh]

How tall fence you need? Is it electric or barbed wire? For electric I would use fiberglass posts. They are about 3/8 in diameter and the hole for them won't be too hard to drill. Other option is to use a form such as plastic bucket, concrete the post in and have it free standing.

about a 4foot tall fence
3 strands of barb, hotwire along the inside between the top 2 strands
I could add more hotwire, if there any areas the horses show too much interest

I'll look into fiberglass posts

 

[moored4]

I don't know where you are located at but if you got boulders then you probable have got rock. I have used rock post in several places and for different reason!
Take some mesh wire fencing, at least 8 feet of it and make a square tube out of it and fill it with some "2 hander size rock" I have used these for line post and made corner post out of them!

 

[blueriver]

I don't know where you are located at but if you got boulders then you probable have got rock. I have used rock post in several places and for different reason!
Take some mesh wire fencing, at least 8 feet of it and make a square tube out of it and fill it with some "2 hander size rock" I have used these for line post and made corner post out of them!

We use field fence (woven wire) and make a cylinder about 2-3 ft in diameter fill it up with smaller 3-12" rocks ... excellent line or corner post.

 

[Garthhh]

I don't know where you are located at but if you got boulders then you probable have got rock. I have used rock post in several places and for different reason!
Take some mesh wire fencing, at least 8 feet of it and make a square tube out of it and fill it with some "2 hander size rock" I have used these for line post and made corner post out of them!

another good option
heavy enough to stay put, I have short sections of no-climb
there should be plenty of rock
we're in california outside of yosemite
I haven't been able to explore all of the property yet
been busy try to get the house [a bit of a fixer upper] ready for winter:laughing:

 

[inveresk]

Where I hit rock in a couple places in forming our horse paddock, I used cedar snake fence locally then reverted to post and rail when I could auger again. Cedar snake just needed rebar drilled and epoxied 12" or so into the rock. Looks sweet too.

 

[Garthhh]

Where I hit rock in a couple places in forming our horse paddock, I used cedar snake fence locally then reverted to post and rail when I could auger again. Cedar snake just needed rebar drilled and epoxied 12" or so into the rock. Looks sweet too.

cedar snake?
is that like split rail?

 

[inveresk]

cedar snake?
is that like split rail?

Yes, local lingo for split rail zigzag cedar fencing.

 

[Jerry/MT]

I'd like to go across instead of around some large granite boulders [at ground level]
I have a 30hp yanmar tractor, which gives me access to PTO & hydraulic power
T-posts or pipe posts
I could weld plates & wedge anchors on the bottom of the posts
I'm not sure how permanent of a solution that would be?
we are trying to expand our horse pastures

suggestions?

I live with large rocks (the size of VW's and PU Trucks). I have irrigated pastures and i just had some rock work done preparing a pasture for wheel line use. The rocks were so big that the Komatsu 120 trackhoe could not pick them up and we ended up burying them. (see thumbnail)

Is there a way you can fence around them? That's the easiest way to do it.
Another option, is to use high tensile fence above don't sink the line posts, just use them for wire spreaders and let them rest on the ground/rocks.
You can also build a platform supported post and you pile rocks on the platform to hold the post in place. These are use a lot on open range in rocky areas here in the West. I have a rocky irrigation ditch crossing where iI am considering making a basket out of field fence, 4 ft high, filling it with rocks and having a treated post set on the edge of iof the rock filed basket to nail the wire to. The rock basket holds the post in place which it turn holds the wire. There's also jack leg fence.
Without seeing the specific kind of problem you have it's hard to provide any better ideas. Maybe you could post a picture of the area you are talking about.

 

[Garthhh]

I live with large rocks (the size of VW's and PU Trucks). I have irrigated pastures and i just had some rock work done preparing a pasture for wheel line use. The rocks were so big that the Komatsu 120 trackhoe could not pick them up and we ended up burying them. (see thumbnail)

Is there a way you can fence around them? That's the easiest way to do it.
Another option, is to use high tensile fence above don't sink the line posts, just use them for wire spreaders and let them rest on the ground/rocks.
You can also build a platform supported post and you pile rocks on the platform to hold the post in place. These are use a lot on open range in rocky areas here in the West. I have a rocky irrigation ditch crossing where iI am considering making a basket out of field fence, 4 ft high, filling it with rocks and having a treated post set on the edge of iof the rock filed basket to nail the wire to. The rock basket holds the post in place which it turn holds the wire. There's also jack leg fence.
Without seeing the specific kind of problem you have it's hard to provide any better ideas. Maybe you could post a picture of the area you are talking about.

jack leg fence?

there are really just a few posts that are a problem
in 2-3 places where I zig zagged around the exposed boulders
the entire edge [150 yards or so] of this particular pasture is on a boulder
the depth of the soil varies from 0 to a couple of yards
I'll be adding fill as I ditch the road, that is the other fence line

I'm gathering information, next year I'm going to be fencing 20 more acres
there will be other areas with similar problems
I'm gathering rocks as I level the area for the stables
rocks with a post on the corner looks reasonable
a self supporting post with a ramset or anchor as pin, may be ok
I'm keeping my eyes open for access to concrete or rock boring tools

right at the moment. I'm busy fixing the roof & walls of our house, before winter really gets here [outside yosemite], this thread is a nice way to take a break:laughing: