Thoughts on using PT for fence posts (NG dairy goats)?

[Ridgetop]

I don't mind doing work, but I really really REALLY hate doing the same thing twice.

Well, I don't do "cute" in any sense of the word so I can't address that. There are some very nice (ornate/ornamental) steel fencing products that would do the trick but may be cost prohibitive.

Certainly not as good as the old creosote stuff DH and I used to paint our post ends with almost 50 year ago, however you can't get any of the good stuff any more.

As to "cute" fencing, the goats won't care. I would rather have a fence they can't get out of and that I don't have to replace every year. Keep "cute" for the front gate and porch and do sturdy and permanent for everywhere else. Livestock is much more destructive than their sweet appearance leads you to believe.

Like Greybeard and Baymule said: I hate doing the job over again.

 

[greybeard]

The old school poles were treated with creosote and PCB's which caused the egg shells of bald eagles to be thin and when the mother eagle sat on her eggs, they would break.

The poles were not treated with PCBs. The contamination came from the now banned transformers that had PCBs inside and it leaked from the transformers onto the poles.

It is illegal (federal and in all 50 states) for any utility company to transfer in any way, utility poles that have PCB contamination.

Still plenty of CCA utility poles around tho, but all the new ones use non-arsenic treatment.

 

[Hipshot]

Read the tag on most pressure treated products . Most say end use above ground . If they had used yellow warp there wouldn't be as much barn as there still is . Native oaks can't be beat for hardness, once cured bugs hate it . No matter what type post you use ,paint the part going below ground with plain old foundation and roof coating. Black mammie some call it . It will make a post last years longer. Also if using tin on slats paint the slats with it . Tin rust from below from condensation before you every see rust on top. Some hard woods have natural acids in them that will leach out.

 

[greybeard]

Lots of those pictures (should've used...) around. They never bother mentioning that many of those barns are 100+ years old......and that the real reason they collapsed was due to catastrophic wind damage and the poor thing was never repaired and was just left open to rain and rot.

 

[Ridgetop]

My aunt's old barn (over 100 year) is still standing in western Washington, although it needs some repair. The timbers are old 12"x12" in the ground. Lots of rain up there and acid soil. I would repair and reroof it but the city encompassed the property and her lovely 4 acres of year round pasture is only approved for 3 chickens since it is now in city limits. 2 barns, great well, root cellar building, and 2 room bunk house all wasted in the city. Every time I think of it I want to cry.

 

[goatboy1973]

The poles were not treated with PCBs. The contamination came from the now banned transformers that had PCBs inside and it leaked from the transformers onto the poles.

It is illegal (federal and in all 50 states) for any utility company to transfer in any way, utility poles that have PCB contamination.

Still plenty of CCA utility poles around tho, but all the new ones use non-arsenic treatment.

Well, purposely or indirectly, those old poles are/ were contaminated and we have several still in use...at the time no one knew about the PCB contamination and its effects on the environment, they just made excellent corner posts. I'm sure the phone company at the time didn't know any better. Anyway, that was decades ago past any statute of limitations.