Line Post Options
Your choices for line posts for electric fencing should be a major consideration for you. Line posts costs are a big part of your cost per foot of fence. They also represent a high percentage of the maintenance that may be required for the life of the system as well. Sometimes the aesthetics or the appearance of the fence is a priority, in which case you may be willing to pay more for a line post that performs well, but also is pleasing to the eye.
As we drive around different parts of the country, it is apparent that geographic locatiion dictates, in part, what kind of line post you may be inclined to use. Recently driving through Texas, I noticed a lot of cedar picket line posts, spaced close together. That, I was told by local fencing folks, was because cedar posts were cheap in that part of the country. In the pine forest of the Southeast USA they also use a lot of wood line posts, in part because of an abundance of forests and sawmills in the area. The use of wood line posts is a great option if you have local resourses and your soil types allow for augering or driving. Additionally, your equipment on hand may have a bearing on your choice of line posts as well.
When using wood posts just remember to use good quality insulators and weigh out the longevity of the different types of species. Black Locust is a good good post wood in the east, and Osage Orange (also called Hedge) in the midwest. Hedge posts also tend to be very crooked as well. We are currently doing some of our own testing on the Osage Orange. Its my understanding that its wood density and consistency is simular to the Insultimbers that are not available any longer - so I hear. Anyway, we have some fences with conductor wires loosely stapled on Osage Orange. We are monitoring them in different condidtions to see how much leakage we are getting, and so far it appears good in favor of them.
Its probably apparent to you that we are not if favor of steel posts in your fence system. We do feel strongly that steel in your enemy with electric fencing. I will concede though that if you have a driver, then driving a steel post of your corners is a nice option. If using steel at corners I do not recommend the wrap-around end insulators. I feel that there is a compromise involving premature cracking of this insulator on steel. These insulators seem to last much longer on wood corners.
INSULATED LINE POSTS in our minds are your best choice for line posts for electric fencing. Our PowerFlex Posts are non- conductive as are fiberglass composites and the fiberglass sucker rods. Some fiberglass is treated to reduce the amount of slivers involved with them, some are not. Thus, handling is an issue regarding these choices. Fiberglass is slicker and hard to drill in the field, so you need to purchase pre-drilled posts or drill them yourself in the shop. Powerflex Post hold the ground better with less lift out problems and are easy to handle. With these options, the fence wire is generally attached to the post with a simple cotter pin since you have no need of an insulator.
PowerFlex Posts as well as fiberglass both have some flexibility and they do allow your hi-tensile fence wire to be springy and bouncy as it is intended to be. This flexibility allows for a lot of forgiveness regarding wildlife damage and tree limb problems. Maybe "thing about flexiblity rather than fortress" with your fencing scheme. Remember that with electric fencing - the electric shock is that the animal receives is a physiological barrier rather than a physical one.
In summary: by using a non conductive line post - you will be assuring yourself of much less maintenance down the road. Looking for broken or cracked insulators is a very time consuming job.
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