Fixing Fence - Creosote Posts or T Posts

[NECowboy]

Hi all. Have some questions about fixing fence on the property we just bought. In fixing fence I've been removing old worn out wood posts and simple pounding in T posts and attaching the barbed wire to the T post with wire clips. This is much easier, quicker, and cheaper than using post hole digger, digging new hole, putting in new creosote post, attaching wire thereto with staples. We can get some heavy snows and drifts here but nothing like in the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes Region, or the New England States. We are generally semi-arid country. Will the T posts bend and require fixing a lot sooner than the creosote posts? Is the creosote post better than "taking the easy way out" with the steel posts? Also what do people think about buying/using wire clips vs. fashioning your own out of 12 1/2 gauge wire?

 

[dun]

I prefer T-posts. We get a bunch of clips, usually more than required when we buy T-posts so I use those.

 

[M.Magis]

I concrete in wood for corners braces, T posts for everything else. I have a ton of wire around the farm, so I've made my share of clips to replace lost ones. I'd rather just buy them. But like Dun said, they usually come free when you buy the posts. Probably just local, but our TSC had had a bin of clips on sale for a while, $1 each for a bag of 25 clips. I've been buying used posts from a friend, so I grab 10 bags each time I'm in there. I'm not spending my time cutting and bending wire to save a buck any more.

 

[NECowboy]

I concrete in wood for corners braces, T posts for everything else. I have a ton of wire around the farm, so I've made my share of clips to replace lost ones. I'd rather just buy them. But like Dun said, they usually come free when you buy the posts. Probably just local, but our TSC had had a bin of clips on sale for a while, $1 each for a bag of 25 clips. I've been buying used posts from a friend, so I grab 10 bags each time I'm in there. I'm not spending my time cutting and bending wire to save a buck any more.

Magis - you live in Ohio, do you have issues with snow drifting and bending the T posts? Yeah corner braces you'd definitely want real solid. Have Tractor Supply and Orscheln's both here and they send sale flyers periodically so yeah just need to check that out. That sounds about as cheap as the wire I've been cutting and bending. Or cheaper if I ask for the freebies next time I buy posts! A lot of people in my area of Nebraska put up creosote posts in building a new fence and maybe it has to do with our drifts (not a ton of snow here - I guess max of 15-20 inch snowstorms - but the wind can make drifts that are way higher - and there is A LOT of wind out here!)

 

[M.Magis]

Magis - you live in Ohio, do you have issues with snow drifting and bending the T posts? Yeah corner braces you'd definitely want real solid. Have Tractor Supply and Orscheln's both here and they send sale flyers periodically so yeah just need to check that out. That sounds about as cheap as the wire I've been cutting and bending. Or cheaper if I ask for the freebies next time I buy posts! A lot of people in my area of Nebraska put up creosote posts in building a new fence and maybe it has to do with our drifts (not a ton of snow here - I guess max of 15-20 inch snowstorms - but the wind can make drifts that are way higher - and there is A LOT of wind out here!)

We get the occasional snow storm, and some decent drifts. But I can't say I've ever had one bend from it. I suppose the only issue is that our soil is saturated in the spring, and posts driven in lower areas can occasionally pull up a bit. But it's rare, and I just need to hit them a few times with a sledge hammer once it dries a bit.

 

[cowboy43]

Never had snow to bend any down here.

 

[RiverHills]

I myself wouldn't be worried about snow drifts as much as cows reaching through and leaning the fence. If there is a crop field or good grass on the other side the fence they will lean it. What we do is put in 3 or 4 maybe 5 T post then put a creosote in. This helps the T post without putting in all wood. We buy the 3in sharpened creosote post and push them in with the loader tractor. When the ground is soft it's fast and easy.

Also I would buy clips!!! time is worth to much to me and u should get plenty of clips with most T post you buy anyways.

 

[M.Magis]

I think you normally get 5 clips per post. If you do more than 5 strands, clips are $2/25. It's just not worth the time to make them IMO.

 

[Philip-TX]

T-post are fine but put in a good deep line post (pipe or wood) about every 4th post to help keep the fence from leaning.

 

[John SD]

T-posts are fine for fence in good going on the level. IMO, in steep draws or other areas where the terrain puts a lot of strain on the fence to lean or push posts down with snow, wood is better. I don't think there is such a thing as a creosote post nowdays, that is the problem :roll:

 

[backhoeboogie]

Metal posts don't burn. T posts and Metal pipe for me. I use the clips. Use a tiny nut drive to apply them to the post. Use the shank of the nut driver in the bend. Use the end of the nut driver on the short spike. Wrap them good on the wire.

 

[NECowboy]

Maybe it was $8 corn and having a tax write-off for the cattle part of the operation (a lot of people here raise both corn and cattle), but there are a lot of 4-5 inch creosote treated wood posts, 5 wire fence around here, the kind a fencing guy installs and not a farmer/rancher personally. We have a lot of rolling hills and rough ground with snow in the winter.

I guess rather than looks does the wood post have a function than T posts of being sturdier, not coming up out of the ground, etc? I would say that all T posts around here would be the odd man out or even alternating and there's got to be some reason other than social conformity and showing off.

 

[NECowboy]

T-posts are fine for fence in good going on the level. IMO, in steep draws or other areas where the terrain puts a lot of strain on the fence to lean or push posts down with snow, wood is better. I don't think there is such a thing as a creosote post nowdays, that is the problem :roll:

Yeah maybe it has to do with strain on the fence.