Thread: paddock fencing repairs

Just a quick safety type message here.

Driving Star Picket posts in can be rather dangerous believe it or not,, as can a lot of farming jobs. Hence as far as "industry" goes, it's considered to be one of the most dangerous jobs going, re - safety. I've planted more of these pickets than I can count over many years of living and working on farms.
There are a few types of drivers you can buy or perhaps borrow from a neighbor even. I have a long one, (gates open) its the one dad bought probably 40 odd years ago when we moved back to a farm. Its red, has a long handle on each side. They're pretty self explanatory to use, easy peasy.
However, ours broke, as it's not really a heavy duty job like some you can get/make,, and I think it may have been run over in the long grass once or twice too, which probably lead to its demise. In cometh a borrowed unit (next doors,, job has to be finished that day). Somewhat shorter than ours, and thus, when you lift it to do a throw stroke, you can't lift as high to get that "power ram" stroke you'll need around the Border area ,, grounds hard here.
So, I lift,, just slightly higher than I should, and in sliding it back down, the units cleared the top of the post, moved sideways ever so slightly, and the post ends up between the main tube and the handle. My pinkies are in this zone,, The doctor was asked to remove said finger totally, but He said naa, we can rebuild it. ******,, should have listened to me,,, as should I have when I was given this "short stroke unit" to work with,, I should have said no. I knew the danger, but as always,, time frames and "she'll be right mate",,,

My advice,, get one thats around a meter long at least. The one I used to get to the hospital was only about 600mm long.

End of story,,

Nothing worse than farm story's were all a bit "she'll be right" and that's when we all get hurt it can be doing anything.
I never liked the rammers I've bought I made my own one much longer & much safer it's a heavy SOB but I know I won't slip off or the top won't break off!!

Hiya

Originally Posted by Chops

Just a quick safety type message here.
Driving Star Picket posts in can be rather dangerous believe it or not,, as can a lot of farming jobs.
......
Its red, has a long handle on each side. They're pretty self explanatory to use, easy peasy.

Thanks for that advice. Hadn't thought of that sort of accident. Good to know that risk exists and how it can occur. I use a red one with two handles, manual one, as described. I have always placed it over the picket first and I make sure I don't lift to high, so it does not come off as it's heavy. For the Galstar Maxi posts, as they are higher, I have to get a box to stand on so I'm high enough.

Just knowing how an accident can occur can prevent one having one. Thanks.

Mike

I have a long, very heavy one (a lot of hard ground round here!)

A few other suggestions.

If the fence crosses a significant dip in the ground, the steel post nearest the bottom probably needs to have a half post driven in at 45 degrees, along the fenceline with the top 10cm above the geound, and wiring securely to the bottom hole in the post. This will stop the strain in the fence from lifting the post over time.

When building the fence, the side of the post with two edges has more grip on the ground than the other side, that has the holes in it. This side should be towards the side of the fence that has least pressure - the side with less animals or downhill.

I have had a number of Gripples fail under load, so when using them, I always take a coupe of turns of the tail round the wire, so you are not relying entirely on the ratchet wheel inside.

When joining a wire to a strainer post, take two turns of wire round the post. A stick with marks on it for the positions of the holes in steel posts above the ground is useful for positioning the ties onto the strainer. I use a fibreglass electric fence post.

If you or your neighbors have horses avoid ringlock/hingejoint as it's really easy for a spooked horse to get a limb tangled in a fencing 'square' and can create quite horrific injury's, similarly with barbed wire and star pickets, they're not horse friendly though you can get plastic caps for star pickets to make them less dangerous. As others have said avoid ringlock as it's basically crap when compared to other fencing. Get yourself a chain (Donald) type wire strainer and not the 'creep along the wire ' type as they're pretty useless in comparison. Don't put the bottom wire too close to the ground leave a minimum of at least 150mm to allow grass etc to be easily cleared and to minimise rusting of the bottom strand. Use barbed staples on treated pine posts.

Gripples are the greatest (fencing) invention since sliced bread They might add to the fencing cost but you'll save heaps of time fencing when you use them. There's the common in line joiners as well as the lesser known strainer post 90 degree gripple which are particularly useful at a 'congested' corner post where many wires are terminated. Get yourself the proper gripple strainer as they're light, effective and very simple to use, much quicker than using a wire strainer

A technique I copied from a fencing contractor for putting up a hinge joint type fence was to roll out the wire along the fence run and tie off both ends with the wire loose (after running top and bottom plain wires). Clip or tie the top strand of the mesh to the top plain wire at a couple of points to roughly hold it up. Then go to the centre or other convenient point along the fence and strain your wires cutting out a section of fence as you strain it up. Using gripples allows easy 'tweaking' of the wires to get a good even finish This method takes less than half the time of the 'old way' of straining individual wires at a fence post and is a lot easier.

Deano

I have always used a figure 8 join because i simply don't trust the gripples to hold when doing a strain, After some practice a figure 8 is faster that using gripples anyway and it NEVER gives way or fails

Originally Posted by trout1105

I have always used a figure 8 join because i simply don't trust the gripples to hold when doing a strain, After some practice a figure 8 is faster that using gripples anyway and it NEVER gives way or fails

Agree with this I don't use gripples, but this is from a pdf I have that says old skool crimps are better but I still have full faith in the good old figure 8!

HeHe.
That doesn't mention the corrosion caused by the gripples as they grip on the wire and cut through the galvanising, I have seen a lot snapped wires on older fences where the gripple was used.
Each to their own.