Wooden Fence Posts

[LastSTRAW]

You can save yourself a lot of time and grief by doing your fencing in the right conditions. I find the spring is best but after a few rains in the late fall is also good. In the spring there is less grass or weeds to worry about and on cool days the flies aren't a problem. The soft ground makes it so much easier to put the posts in. I just use a six foot pry bar to make the holes in soft ground. I pound mine in by hand with a 22lb maul and it is a lot of work but so is backfilling all the holes you would dig. I have a PHD and have never used it. I am still tempted to use it for corner posts but would not waste my time for line posts that I can place quickly in the spring.

 

[r porter]

if you want to get the job done and go on about your business buy a post driver and install the posts in a week then sell the driver.

i have installed 50 posts in the morning and strung the wire in the afternoon for paddocks. done it twice.

do 5 acres in a weekend. the secret is to wait till spring and have your posts laid out where you are going to install them. i personally use a hydraulic driver but the driver mentioned in post number 23 will work also.

dont underestimate summers hard ground. swamp or not.

 

[Beaverplt]

Call your local Home Depot. Ask if they have a Toro Dingo with the auger attachment. The only issue you might have is the smallest auger on it is 8" You didn't say what size posts you were putting in. If they're under 2 1/2" a gas powered post driver works well. Our local HD has both.

 

[Mart5130]

I’m planning on buying a PTO auger anyway, but it seems like a bit of overkill to auger 200 holes. I look all around me and see posts on the marshes that have been there for a hundred years, and know that they were pounded in by hand and a heavy fencing maul. So now trying to put a 2022 spin on the chore.

Get the auger. You won’t regret it

 

[Mart5130]

You guys that use augers, do you concrete them in or tamp them?

my vote is to hire a local fencer to pound them in.

Tamp them in

 

[cadale]

I have been lurking and learning for several years, and finally may have some usefull advice. A couple years ago I discovered a very easy way to install wood posts. I pound it in an inch or so,enough to stabilize it, then use the front loader bottom to push it down. Or someone could hold the post in place while you push down with the loader. We have clay soil, buit I did it with the ground wet, and the biggest diameter I pushed was about 3 to 4 inch diameter, and it was so smooth, so easy. I have a pounding pipe that slips over the end of a round post, but have not used it since. The tractor is about 4000 pounds, so conceivably I could put over a ton of weight on the post.

 

[Yander]

Why you don't just try what you are thinking. If you are sharpening the end of the post and you have a heavy enough tractor it may work. It will take all of 5 minutes to find out. If your ground is dry and it doesn't work with dry ground, take a hose out there and wet if for an hour to see if it would work in wet conditions.

Every year when I put snow fence up I use the loader to drive the steel posts in. Not the same as wood but the same concept.

 

[Robert walker]

New member, & First Post. I’ve searched the forums, but it seems like I’ll need some time looking around before I know where to look. I’m looking to put in a couple hundred wooden fence posts, and am not interested in pounding them in by hand (I know, I’m lazy) , and feel that an auger is probably more then I need. What about a bale spear or a hollow piece of well casing pipe fastened to the FEL , would the down pressure of the loader (maybe some ballast weight in the bucket) be enough to push the spike or casing into the ground so I could then push a sharpened wooden post in?

Thanks in advance, and don’t worry about hurting my feelings…. I’m a total newbie to farming

I agree with post below about what type of ground you have. I live in East Texas and we have about 12-15” of sand and clay below that. I have a 2-cycle one man digger. I can dig a 6” diameter hole 3 to 3 1/2’ deep in about 30 seconds with. I’ve had it a while but it cost under $200. I think now they are about $250, last I saw. I think up north they are used for ice fishing also. I can get you the brand if you want,mits in the barn. 20 years old and still runs great. I also have an digger for my tractor. What I ran into with my tractor is my 6” auger for it has what I call a screw tip. Goes great through the sand but hits the clay and goes in so fast that it binds up and tractor will die. My 12” auger is very non-aggressive to the point that it will go through the sand and then spins on the clay. For larger holes I use the one man digger and drill a pilot hole, then go back and dig out with tractor.

 

[tractortrash]

We have several miles of horse fence built on Missouri clay and limestone. I’d borrow or rent a skid loader with an auger that’s just big enough for your posts. The 3-point hitch augers don’t have enough down force to work in out soil and they’re hard to line up by yourself. With our soil timing is everything. Our clay is like rock if it hasn’t rained in a week or two.

 

[Luke McGluke]

We put in 300 6" x 8' posts with a Countyline auger from TSC. Great unit for a 38-hp compact tractor. However, we broke dozens of shear pins and still destroyed 3 augers in the process. The neighbor tried driving them in with a mechanical post driver and every other one literally shattered. Morel of the story, Know your ground before deciding what method to use. Marshland & wood posts do not mix. I guess that's why they call this country the Rocky Mountains here in NW Montana.