# wood posts or T-posts



## vegaburm (Jul 27, 2011)

I'm thinking about fencing in a section of brushy land to stick some of my kids in during the day. I am trying to wean them and need them away from their mama. I also am considering keeping a wether or two for brush clearing in a movable fence situation and this would be a good starter area for them. Since right now I only have one fenced goat run, I can see a lot of helpful things in having a separate area. So, my question is.....can I use T-posts in some of the middle areas? My current fance had all wooden posts, 2 ft in the ground and they have withstood the rubbing goats well. I'm sure it would be easier and faster to use some t-posts though, and much easier to move later if we needed to. So, how do they hold up to rubbing? I don't want to install electric right now, though I am really considering electronet for my moveable fencing. Looks like an easy to use product. But right now I have 200 ft of goat fence just sitting in the backyard and I'd like to put it to good use!


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## aggieterpkatie (Jul 27, 2011)

I love t-posts.  They are very sturdy once in the ground.


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## elevan (Jul 27, 2011)

T-posts are fine...it's what I use and I don't have any problems with them.  I do have to put some "extras" in certain sections that get a lot of "rub time" though


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## vegaburm (Jul 27, 2011)

I think all my fence gets a lot of rub time. Lol. It clearly bows out at the bottom. I have Nigi's so it is only on the bottom. Someday I will probably run a line of electric at rubbing height. but, I'm glad to hear that T's hold up to it! So, if I do wood at the corners and endings and t-posts on the straight, do you think that is good? How far apart would you put them?


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## elevan (Jul 27, 2011)

vegaburm said:
			
		

> I think all my fence gets a lot of rub time. Lol. It clearly bows out at the bottom. I have Nigi's so it is only on the bottom. Someday I will probably run a line of electric at rubbing height. but, I'm glad to hear that T's hold up to it! So, if I do wood at the corners and endings and t-posts on the straight, do you think that is good? How far apart would you put them?


Sounds like a great plan.

I have my T's at 4 foot apart on the buck's pen and the rub zones and can get away with 6-8 feet on other areas (generally 6 ft).


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## carolinagirl (Jul 27, 2011)

you can go 10' between them if you are going to use a hot wire to protect the fence from the goats.  I love tee-posts.  They are SO easy to install!


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## aggieterpkatie (Jul 27, 2011)

Yep, a hot wire will go a LONG way in protecting your fence!  I hate how they rub and stand on the fence without one.


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## greymane (Jul 27, 2011)

Our goats (so far) have not been pushing the fence much at all except the area where they can see the house, and that section (about 50 feet) is panel fence, so there is no way they are bowing that.


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## maggies.family (Jul 27, 2011)

We also have T-posts.  No issues with our girls (Alpine/Nubian) rubbing.  It has been holding up very nicely!


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## vegaburm (Jul 28, 2011)

OK, so I think I'm going to try them at 6-8 feet apart. Another question. How to you support your corners so they don't get pulled in? On our current fence the corners have a horizontal post between them and the next to give extra support. can't do that if I have T's. Do you put a diagonal post down to hold it? Also, does the fence go on the inside of the T-post? Seems that would make the most sense to me if it was to withstand the rubbing. Thanks for al your help guys, I don't know what I would do without BYH's!


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## Goatherd (Jul 28, 2011)

This might help you...

http://electric-horse-fence.com/electric_fence_posts/steel_tposts_2.htm


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## vegaburm (Jul 28, 2011)

Yes, that is helpful, but I was thinking to use wood posts on corners....but maybe I could use T's if I can find these corner thingies. I wonder if Tractor Supply sells them...


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## crazyland (Jul 28, 2011)

We use both. Wooden for the property line and then t-posts to divide the pasture. I like the look of wood better.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jul 28, 2011)

We used both.  We concreted in the corners and attached another wood post at a diagonal for added strength.  On runs, we alternated T-post and wood.  However, we went 10 feet apart and now adding extra posts along the pasture because even our little pygmy and Nigerians are pushing along it and bowing it out.  If I didn't have young kids running around, I 'd do a hotwire and will in a few years.  Kinda wish I would have made the posts closer together or used all wood so I could just screw a few 2x4s across the bottom section where they rub.


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## 20kidsonhill (Jul 28, 2011)

Melissa: We have hot wire on our fence lines and the young kids figure it out just fine to leave it alone. I personally wouldn't be worried about using it. The new pulsating types are so much safer than the older style electric fences. And you can get different strengths of fencer, just put one up that isn't too overly strong. 

I would go with wood posts on the corners, myself.  But my husband was in tractor supply the other day and was amazed at all the  newer fencing equipement that is available. So perhaps there is a good sturdy way to use t-posts on corners. The one place on our property that has a t-post on a corner looks horrible(and it is braced). My vote is for wooden corners and t-posts on the rest, with one or two electric strand on all sides that goats can rub against.  I personally don't think you can affort to raise goats with out protecting your fences with a little electric.  

We have friends that just built new fencing this year and the wife was refussing to put in electric, she said it scared her. Well only took around 3 months and they now have electric on the insides of all their fencing.


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## Pearce Pastures (Jul 29, 2011)

I may have to check that out.  I'm sure you are correct about their improvement-when I was a kid, I helped a disabled couple with their cattle farm and got badly nailed by their fence, but that was a long time ago and their fencing was also old so who knows.  I also think, if I was looking at it correctly, that you can install it so it actually sticks out a little from the regular fence.  What I mean is I was checking out someones fence and noticed they had these brackets that held a wire so that it wasn't flush with the fence itself.  If that is possible, the chances of my kids getting a little zap would be less.  Could you recommend a strength?  We only keep minis right now.


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## kstaven (Jul 29, 2011)

The new fencers pulse unlike the old fencers. Yes, you can get insulators that hold the wire about 4 inches out from the post.


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## aggieterpkatie (Jul 30, 2011)

Melissa said:
			
		

> I may have to check that out.  I'm sure you are correct about their improvement-when I was a kid, I helped a disabled couple with their cattle farm and got badly nailed by their fence, but that was a long time ago and their fencing was also old so who knows.  I also think, if I was looking at it correctly, that you can install it so it actually sticks out a little from the regular fence.  What I mean is I was checking out someones fence and noticed they had these brackets that held a wire so that it wasn't flush with the fence itself.  If that is possible, the chances of my kids getting a little zap would be less.  Could you recommend a strength?  We only keep minis right now.


There are 6" insulators to keep the hot wire away from the fence.  


And I think you're talking about human children getting shocked and I think 20kids was talking about goat kids.      How young are your children?  My stepkids have never shocked themselves.  I just tell them DON'T touch the fence unless I tell them it's ok, and so far so good.  They're 6 and 8 now, but they were 4 and 6 when we first built the fence.  Or, you can always turn off the fence when you know the kids will be in the pasture.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Jul 30, 2011)

If the hot wire is on the inside of your fence and I assume your children aren't in the goat pasture by themselves you should be fine.  We have electric on the inside of chain link and it keeps the goats from pushing it out and standing on the fence.   So far nobody has been zapped except for me


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## 20kidsonhill (Jul 30, 2011)

I was talking about children.


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## Pearce Pastures (Aug 1, 2011)

My kids are 2, 4, and 9.  The oldest is in the pasture all the time with them but I wouldn't be too worried about him anyway.  The younger ones...well the 4 year old is stubborn and might touch it just because I said not to and the youngest, my daughter, seems a little accident prone   Recently, she has taken to licking things, a trick I believe she picked up from the dog; grandma, a tree, the water pump, the hose, the car door, have all been sampled this week but the worst by far was the pet rat who promptly bit her little tongue likely thinking it was a treat.  If we got the electric wire, she is definitely not allowed in the pasture until this gross trick has passed.


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## 20kidsonhill (Aug 1, 2011)

Melissa said:
			
		

> My kids are 2, 4, and 9.  The oldest is in the pasture all the time with them but I wouldn't be too worried about him anyway.  The younger ones...well the 4 year old is stubborn and might touch it just because I said not to and the youngest, my daughter, seems a little accident prone   Recently, she has taken to licking things, a trick I believe she picked up from the dog; grandma, a tree, the water pump, the hose, the car door, have all been sampled this week but the worst by far was the pet rat who promptly bit her little tongue likely thinking it was a treat.  If we got the electric wire, she is definitely not allowed in the pasture until this gross trick has passed.


Your 4 year old will learn quickly that you were serious, the fence will hurt a little, but they aren't as strong as they used to be. I just had a child show me his burned hand, He had a couple c-shaped light pink burns on the palm of his hand, he was helping his parents in the kitchen, and he decided to check the burner to see if it was "really" hot. He said it just like this, "mom said it was hot, but I wanted to check it for myself, so I put my hand on it, and it was hot."   He now has a new found respect for his mother's advice. I could tell he was a little embarrassed about his foulish choice. 

my husband's older brother told him when he was round 4 and the brother was around 8, "I bet you can't pee on that small fence wire over there and actually hit it from here." It didn't take my husband long to realize that he had been tricked.

I have lots of children around electric fence and they all have been fine. A couple over the years have decided to try and test it, doubting that I knew what I was talking about.    Even some of the 3 year olds have learned to ask, can I touch that fence is it electric? and we would discuss how the elecric fence works and why some of the fences(woven wire or cattle fencing) is not hot like the electric wire fence. We discussed metal and its conductivity and a good way to test the fence to see if it is on or electric, by taking a long blade of grass and setting the end of it on the wire and seeing if you can feel a gentle pulse through the grass, if you couldn't you would shorten the distance your hand was from the fence and check again. The kids always thought this was very interesting, then we would discuss lightening and why you shouldn't touch metal compared to rubber, ect..... 

Sorry to carry on, I work with a lot of children. Your children will be just fine and it will be a great learning experience for them at all their ages.


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## aggieterpkatie (Aug 2, 2011)

Yeah, if he is one of those kids who doesn't believe what you tell him he'll get shocked but it won't cause physical damage, it'll just scare him.  

My 8 yr old stepson has started ignoring me when I tell him things are hot.  I'll set down his plate and say, "It's hot, blow on it for a minute" and then I'll see him immediately take a bite and burn his tongue.    He has done this so many times I just tell him it's hot and ignore him after that, because I know he won't believe me and would rather get burned than listen to any of my advice.


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## Terry (Aug 2, 2011)

We have t-posts all over here. Having a horse, I do have saftey caps on all the tops, and hot wire as well. It's well worth the price, to go buy the big ole banger to put the tposts in the ground. We tried a sledge hammer at first. After about 3, you go buy the right tool. Lol.. Rural King or TSC has them. Or any place that has tposts and fencing.

I have some new field fencing we need to put up. We'll be using some wooden posts for the corners {to hold it tight} and the same t posts we are using now. They last forever!

Terry


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