Several weeks ago I had a thread here about the ideal kinds of fence. I was pretty sure I wanted to do Horseguard but ended up doing what I've always done... the electric rope stuff from the farm supply store. I just wasn't fully committed to my plans and I wanted to be able to get more of anything I needed the day of by running to Rural King. It was also a lot cheaper... I have more to fence come 2014 so I might be more ready for that then. Much thanks to Joie who answered more than a few stupid questions about using the sharpened wood posts. They slid in like a dream. Don't go to the Urbana Farm n Fleet to buy any... I cleaned them out. These are close to or less than a t-Post, and very solid. My buddy with the backhoe liked them so much his family is going to use them to fence in 80 acres. http://www.farmandfleet.com/products/239365-hartbrand-7-drive-stake.html I had my friend's hubby/my farrier, Rusty Copsy, who helped me make some decisions about where to put fence and gates. My old barn owner, Brandon brought his beautiful little backhoe... I loved that machine. A scoop of gravel in the bucket and he dug out for my corner posts. He put in about 50 drive stakes and maybe 8-10 8" round corner posts in about 2 1/2 hours. The guy I'm seeing helped set posts, installed the fencer, and helped screw on insulators. I had a friend's ex boyfriend who is a REALLY good carpenter and designer plus his younger sister as assistant work on my stalls. I'll get more pictures later. I'm SO proud of this. Also I'm proud we did this all in 1 day. I love my friends. I paid the carpenter (gladly!) but no one else would take my money. I'll have to mail them a restaurant gift card or something! These pics are kind of dark... and they're from my phone. I'll get some better pics when I bring the horses home. So after the backhoe was unloaded, I ran to Rural King and I get a text "Hurry up, it's going really slow." I was like.. WTF do they think I can do that they can't with a tractor and 3 guys raised with livestock? I got home 2-3 minutes later and saw they'd set like 20 posts in 30 minutes... My younger horses will have lean-to shelter in the far end of the barn, have some space out to the side, then have this run of fence which will get them out to the pasture in about a year--right now it's corn stubble. This is the area I planned for my half blind airhead mare... before: After: That door swings so easy and the latch is perfect... I've never had great gates... right now half of my stall doors are tied with leadropes (stalls are open on the other end) and the other 2 doors I can't even open cause they have to be lifted. So I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this wall and door. Here's the finished area for my old mares:
WOW! you have done so much so fast! It seems very well thought out and it's looking very nice! congrats again on your new homestead!
Did they drive those wooden stake/posts with a typical t-post hand driver or push them in with the backhoe bucket? I like the looks of those and I might have to steal that idea.
Joie's idea... I remember a LONG time ago she talked about them. I checked in with her more than once about making sure to do it right, because several guys were skeptical about these posts. Joie and her husband had a homemade driver and put some in this past summer, in the drought! By hand! They are just a bit too wide for the standard grey t-post driver. But my friend with that yellow loader dealie pushed them in anywhere from 18" to 2 feet. It went a lot better after he scooped up some gravel to put more weight in the bucket. We'd also had a pretty wet day the day before, and a few times this past week. It picked up the front end of the loader a couple of times but as the post slid in the front of the tractor came out. He said he wished his tractor was bigger. It really could not have gone any faster! He mentioned that he'd drove non-sharpened posts into the ground and he was able to lift those out himself, but he couldn't lift out these posts. $3.79 for 7' posts. Equal to or less than t-posts! Plus if you get T-posts, the additional cost of a safety cap. These look fancier and are safer right off the bat. I am SUPER pleased about those posts.
I love the drive stakes. They are cheap, pretty durable (only had to replace a couple in the last 4 years), and they look really nice. And yes, BY HAND, over 60 of them, this July. It SUCKED!! Next summer I hope to do the rest of the farm...hopefully I can find a friend with a tractor to help!
I had no idea they made these! I seriously want these to finish my pasture fence this spring. Do they make a hand held post pounder for these? I do not have a back hoe, but I think I could find someone who could help if needed. I would not need that many done so pounding them by hand would be do-able. I think there is a Farm and Fleet in Decatur that would not be terribly far to go.
I know... show me a pic, or is it just like a T-post with a bigger cylinder? I am already thinking about how to fence in what won't be edible til 2014 and today the ground is SOFT.
I will be doing some more fencing this spring and repairs as well...and painting it all. I'm a lone wolf with my little training outfit so Ive been putting up 4x4X8s and 2x6 inch treated boards all done up with stainless steel screws or 3 coated deck screws. Learned that square drive ones are better than phillips and don't strip as bad (I do pre drill). Its so much easier for me to maintain by myself. I will be doing some perimeter fencing in the back of my property and thinking of 4x4 posts with one 2x6 for top rail and then 3 lines of electric woven tape prob the 2 inch width. But I hear that the tape doesn't hold up well in the wind...but that will not be an issue for me. If anyone else has as other problems with the wide electric tape fencing, let me know.
I had some of the wide electric tape for fencing and I just hated the constant need to tighten it. Maybe I did something wrong when installing it, I don't know, but I had to go out and tighten it all after any wind came through. I think I tightened it every couple weeks, year round. If I could do it all over again with a similar product, I would use the electrobraid type fencing.
I used the white tape 2" fence for years and really liked it...not as much as the wooden one I have now > but that wasn't the question ;D I started out with the cheap tape, not so good, to flimsy. Then I went with the Ramm on metal T posts capped...perfect. I did put on about 3 of the tape clips on the ends and set the poles 8' apart...and the only time I ever had to tighten was after an ice storm and maybe one other time a year, didn't take long. If I couldn't have the wooden fence, this would defiantly still be my second choice.
In another thread, Susie BK talked about what they used for electric tape. It was from a company in northern Illinois, different material than what you get at the farm stores. I almost did that instead.
The fencing & posts look good! I have seen those posts at F & F before and wondered how people drive them into the ground. I pictured myself trying to swing a sledgehammer over my head, and that seemed kind of scary ;D. :th_fish: I have used the 2" tape for years, and only tighten it about 1x a year. I have both Horseguard brand and the F & F brand. The Horseguard is much heavier weight, harder to work with, but holds up longer. We are in a area with some trees though so we don't get the high winds of some areas.
Yeah I hear that the wind is a big factor in the success of tape fencing. The back of my property is pretty well shielded from the wind from 3 directions so I should be good to go. I was wanting to save money with this last fence project. So instead of doing all 2x boards I can do my top board and the rest in tape so I can have the esthetics, visible barrier and last but not least the effect of electricity.
