removing t posts

EasyDay · #41 04/17/08, 08:34 AM

I just want to say that anyone using a tractor and chain to pull ANYTHING... please be careful. Some of the most horrific farm accidents happen with chains on tractors combined with a lot of pull-power!

*Thanks for attending the daily safety brief... now on with the show!*

Farmerwilly2 · #42 04/17/08, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrounger

Dunno. I've got dozens that have been in the ground since the 60's that the PAINT is still good on. It would be a HUGE waste to just send them to China when they have lots of life left in them.
At over $3.20 a post, I can't afford to buy new, especially when the used ones work just the same. The man who bought the farm next door decided to tear out fences this winter to enlarge the field. He gave me over 150 steel posts and another 150 Hedge (and other) wood posts. Some of the posts (both wood and steel), my Dad helped put in, in the 60's. I an VERY glad to get them! I even have some used barb wire that has been hanging for 30 years - still has the galvanized paint on it. It will last another 30. ALL of the woven wire I have has been used before. Even some of the T post CLIPS are used. I figure that if it isn't rusted to the point of brittle, then it still has life left. I was lucky on these posts, though. He and his boys pulled them all and piled them for me. Normally, I only find them at 10-12 at a time. I DO need to get a puller though, it makes pulling them WAY easier. I have used my Tractor Jack (Handyman) for stubborn ones. I do know that there is a HUGE difference in pulling them in April, as apposed to pulling them in July....

Does it ever rain where you live?

Farmerwilly2 · #43 04/17/08, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by indypartridge

Well, a puller costs a lot less than a tractor! If I had a tractor and just a few posts to pull, I'd use the tractor. Before I got a puller, I pried them out with a do-it-yourself fulcrum as some posts have described. For moving or rebuilding an entire fence line, I'd take a puller over a tractor.

A tractor I've got. Chain I got.

Farmerwilly2 · #44 04/17/08, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fantasymaker

LOL because there is no RIGHT place!
Life changes.Plans change . Even the earth changes so fences need moved.
One of the beauties of the steel post is that it is so easy to move.
I know a sheep herder who pastures sheep on different fields,he has fence moving down to a art. He has a rig on his truck that will either suck up a T post or put it down and rolls up or unrolls woven wire at the same time.
Now if it wold only take care of the fence fastenings!

For justs few posts in soft ground the wiggle and pull method is fine ,if they need a bit more persuasion than you can muster drive the front edge of a shovel into the post about 6 inches below ground level and lever it up eventually either it will pull up or you will dig it out!

I guess that's what I'm not understanding. Fences folks build around here stay where they're built. At least till they've rusted and rotted to the point they ain't worth patching anymore, then they clear them off (bulldozer works the best to clear the fence line) set new fence and wire. Only land I know of moving would be landslides on the steep river bluffs. Pastures are planned out, fenced, ponds dug, sheds raised and animals grazed. Only thing I know of getting rotated are tires, crops, and step in posts to allow some creep grazing. It'd frustrate the spirit out of me if I had to keep moving fences or buildings for that matter.