Fence posts

[SouthOfSouth]

Hi,

 

I have been interested by the discussion on goat fence vs horse fence, but would like to add some questions on fence posts. We will soon need to replace and/or move several fences; prior to this, we have mainly upgraded pre-existing wire fences by adding mesh. Most fences in this region are built using naturally dried Australian hardwood posts, whereas most fences near my mother's farm have a ratio of 1 wooden post to 3 steel posts ("star-pickets" or "y-bars"). I am not sure whether this difference is due to local conditions, product cost/availability or tradition. However, the wooden fence posts seem to rot out at the base (occasionally due to termite attack, but often not) and this has a domino effect, as one leaning post puts additional stress on the adjoining posts.

 

I would be interested to know what materials are used for fence posts elsewhere, and whether the materials are pre-treated in any way. (I know some farmers here pour used sump-oil over their posts, but I am reluctant to do that.) Also, how long do your fence-posts last?

 

Finally, what are the pros and cons of top rails on fences? Do feral dogs scramble more easily over fences with top rails? Our neighbours have had problems with feral dogs (possibly dingos - they found a family of apparently purebred dingos denning under a fallen willow-tree), although the feral dogs have never troubled our animals.

 

Kerry

[juliepoudrier]

For cost, effort (having to have a tractor with an augur, unless one is masochistic and wants to dig postholes by hand), and terrain reasons (going through wooded areas), I generally choose to use wooden post for corners, corner braces, and to hang gates and use t-posts (I assume these are our equivalent of your Y-posts) in between. I have had good success with cedar posts that have been cut off the property (or the properties of friends). The downside to cedar posts, if you use then au naturel is that they won't provide as uniform a look as posts obtained from a lumber mill. But since I'm not so worried about looks as I am about cost and utility, I don't mind the look of non-uniform posts. If I were going to put anything along the top of a fence, I'd use hot wire. If there's a good reason for putting a solid board at the top, I'd probably either put a strand of hot wire above the board, or offset hotwire along the outside of the board to help deter anything from trying to climb in.

 

J.

[Sue R]

^^ What Julie said!

[Pam Wolf]

We recently had a fence system from Power-Flex fencing put up on the majority of our property. We used wood posts for the ends and a high tensile woven wire (the whole fence can be elec). For line posts we used the powerflex plastic posts. So far we are VERY happy with them. They are working well. They are near impossible to pull out. And being plastic we don't need insulation for the woven wire should we choose to electrify the fence.

 

We ran a strand of hitensile smooth on the top which will be elecrified when in use. It has done well to keep the LGD's and therefore should be good at keeping dogs out.

 

since our materials come from NZ this sort of stuff should be available down under. I am currently waiting a shipment of fencing (since some %^&@$% stole a whole roll of fencing)

[SouthOfSouth]

Thanks for the interesting comments - much to consider!

 

Kerry

[Bill Fosher]

When I built my perimeter fence (13-48-6 solidlock with a HT hot wire at 54 inches) it was actually cheaper to have pressure treated line posts pounded than to buy and install steel T posts for line posts. That had to do with the cost of steel at that point in time and the fact that I was having corner posts pounded anyway so the equipment was already on site.