As we Enter Mud Season (Spring)

I hate staying home when I could be out building fence, but I hate getting stuck even more, it ruins the day, a long walk and more equipment is always needed. There is something else I hate more than that, and that is leaving a mess behind that will be noticed, if only by me, for years. Now I wont lie and say I have never been stuck but like to avoid it. I will admit that I had one project that felt the like the Corb Lund song “Truck got Stuck” where in the matter of half a mile of fence everything I had on that job was stuck at one time or another, it was a slow week productivity wise. It was a very swampy river bottom field, and the mud has never dried up, so it was unavoidable. That being said with our climate it is pretty easy to just wait a day or two to keep from damaging the roads and fence lines. I really like a fence to look like it just grew out of the newly mowed patch in the ground, we strive for a clean fence line with minimal disturbance. the downside of this is it a three-day rain can have ripple effects in the schedule for weeks to come. So, rest assured we have not forgotten your fence, you are on the Schedule, and we will get to you. it just might be delayed a bit because we treat your ground like our own, we take pride in all we do and we take pride in not leaving you a mess that needs cleaned up.

Our specialized equipment allows is to not have to turn a machine at every post to drive them tearing up the sod, rather we can drive the edge of the fence one time and put all the post in. the wire we put up with the Atv to keep soil damage low.

You love your land and want it to look the best. so do we. Consider us for your New Fence.

The Fence Post

The fence post is nothing to write about, right? Wrong! There are so many different types of posts we can’t possibly cover them all, but i am going to try!

T-Post:

Lets start with our most commom post the T-post the most Common post is a 5.5 1.33 post but what does that mean? that means that the post is 5.5 feet long and 1.33 pounds per foot. this is your run of the mill post. but when used on a 4-foot-tall fence they are only in the ground about 14 to 16 inches or burred to the top of the spade. this works unless the ground is soft, or the fence is more than 4 feet. Unless the ground is super hard and stable this is not enough post in the ground and the post will lean as soon as the fence gets rubbed on. a low-price fence contractor will use the shortest and lightest post that he can find to save a few cents per post and will use 1.25 light duty posts, this poses a problem as the post are very easily bent or broken therefore no longer safely containing livestock. Our standard post is a 6 plus foot 1.33 post meaning we have more post deeper in the ground so that your fence will not lean. in addition to longer t-post, we also add a pipe or wood line post every 6th post to add that extra strength to your new fence. we have all seen a fence that is full of weeds that is leaning to the east because the wind pushed it over. in our experience the extra post length and pipe posts go a long way to keep your fence standing up.

Pipe Post:

have really become common in the last decade as nearly permanent solution for fence braces. in our dry climate used drill pipe makes an excellent long-lasting choice. the price is comparable to wood posts and will last a very long time traditionally sold in 31-foot lengths it can be hard or dangerous to haul Stillwater Fencing has made significant investment to be able to haul long pipe safely. One reason I invested in a long 37-foot trailer is when hauling pipe on a short trailer I was in constant fear of being rear ended and having a pipe go through a windshield and hurting or worse the occupant of the vehicle. a long trailer prevents this and the pipe does not stick off the back at all. After the pipe is purchased and to the yard it is unloaded and processed into the various size posts that i need, mostly 8- and 10-foot pipes. this is a heavy and time-consuming process that we go thru to get you the best fence. I typically use 2 7/8 pipe and 4 inch pipe with a .20 and .45 inch wall thickness respectively. Pipe has the advantage of compact yet strong fence material, you can haul a mile wire of pipe line post on a heavy-duty pickup with room for wire and T-post. the same number of wood post would require a trailer. in wetter climates such as the Midwest and east coast where oil-field pipe is not available we recommend a galvanized pipe post very similar to a chain-link post. The galvanized post, more expensive as it is, is also a great option if you want a fence that your grandkids will not need to replace.

wood posts:

wood posts are the best-looking post at the trade of longevity and strength. the options in wood post are railroad ties, Rot resistant wood post such and cedar or hedge, or treated posts. at Stillwater Fencing we believe that Railroad ties were pulled from service for a reason, they were starting to lose strength and no longer fit for they intended purpose, also known as they are starting to rot, hanging a fence off a post that is starting to rot in my mind is not a good use of funds so we do not install them. The logistics of getting a load of hedge post brought in is a deal breaker as they are very heavy and awkward to haul meaning a project would take multiple semi loads of hedge post, or one pickup load of steel. Cedar is available locally but the cost of harvesting them and posting them in the ground makes a commercial post seem cheaper. We have used several types of treated post in the past and have settled on using a true CCA treated post, preferably southern yellow pine. these posts are packed in easy-to-handle Skids and bundles so they store excellent and haul good. we bring our post in from Texas if the project allows giving us the Best post available. We do not use Farm Store post and they are mass produced as cheaply as possible. if i put my post next to the farm store post you can see the difference. we choose the cca treat post as we strive for the best and cca treat is the best.

We always recommend post for the longest service life and for us on our climate this means steel, one advantage that steel has that we have not mentioned is steel in naturally fire resistant and if the fence in not in a huge fuel area such as timber or cedar bushes a metal fence will continue to protect your livestock after a fire burns thru, obviously no fence can handle a hot forest fire put a prairie fire on the plains of the grass has been grazed off as it should be keeping your cows contained will be the least of your worries when recovering from a fire. we hope you never experience a fire but if you do we hope all your fence lines are clear of big fuels and your posts are metal.

The T Post Clip

This is one area where nothing has changed practically forever right? Wrong! I have never been fond of the t post clip one good impact, and it is gone out in the grass never to be seen again. well, that is true for the free clips that come in a metal mind puzzle bag with every T post known to man. I found some clips that I liked better years ago they were much stronger but hard to install. well, I went back to standard clips fast forward to 2022 I saw something called the eztwist drill clip. It is not a new concept it was designed for chain link in prisons and other high security areas. however, it was round for pipe so, it worked great for pipe post. some one shaped them for t post and it was off the races for me this simple change allows me to clip faster with less fatigue and a stronger more consistent fence. the only downside is the cannot be removed to re-stretch old fence. My counter to that is go read the post on high tensile wire not needing re-stretched.

sorry for the short blog post but hey its a long paragraph about the humble t post clip.

Barbed Wire

This may seem like a very boring subject after all wire is wire right? Wrong there are three common barb wire types. Commercial, low carbon 12.5 gauge, and high Tensile 14 gauge.

Commercial spec is what you see on top of chain link on the barb arms it is never very tight and rarely sees anything push on it. it is a commercial spec galvanization that is very thin: and a very low strength wire, as such it has no place in the farm fence world this wire is cheap for a reason and will require constant tensioning. the barbs are short and dull.

Low carbon wire is the wire that we have all used since the inception of wire fence 100 years ago or more. it is a continuous wound 2 12.5 gauge wires that have the barbs wrapped around one of them. (some even have bright painted red barbs and as much as i love red paint i hate that stuff the most) it has slightly thicker galvanization than the commercial wire. this wire typical has a tensile strength of around 36,000 psi and that works out to a breaking strength of around 1100 pounds. it also has about 15% elongation so a 100 foot stretch will have about 15 feet of stretch before it snaps. Many contractors to get this stretch out “kill the wire” or pull it until the weakest spot snaps splice it then put it up. The problem with this method is you are now dealing with wire that has been pulled to the weakest links breaking point. But What is the nest weakest spots breaking point? in my opinion this wire has been compromised. further this wire has no ability to absorb a impact or cold temperature and must be re-stretched after a significant impact or cold spell that has stretched the wire adding to the spring chores that need done.

The final type of wire We will mention is high tensile Class 3 Galvanized wire this wire will last the longest without rust because the coating is the thickest. This wire is in the neighborhood of 170,000 psi even a smaller diameter it is stronger. High tensile wire, this wire has 3% elongation rate and is wound in a reverse twist method this means that every few inches the wind switches directions this twist is the magical element that sets this wire apart from every other wire. when impacted this wire acts like a spring and the twists temporarily untwist and the wire is able to stretch. the magic happens when the stress is removed and the wire springs back to the original length and tension. now there are downsides to this wire that have cause some to dislike this wire, if you “kill it” you have ruined the wire and it will completely untwist and not absorb stretch then break, the other is there is a learning curve to tying this wire as regular twisting and loop or western union splices do not hold tension. it must be spliced with the proper high tensile knots. with this wire a double wrap on the braces does nothing but waste wire as the knot will hold all the tension without it. paired with our dry climate, good metal bracing, modern EZ twist post ties the better strength and coating this fence will last much longer with less maintenance. giving you the landowner a fence with a lower cost per year than any other wire. while also freeing your time for other projects or some family time.

in Summary when it comes to barb wire like everything, you get what you pay for if you want to keep your upfront cost as low as possible, but don’t want to factor in longevity and Maintenace cost and peace of mind then chose low carbon wire. if you are okay with a fence that cost a few percent more upfront but will last longer with less maintenance cost per year, resulting in a significantly cheaper fence when broken down in cost per year. high tensile wire is for you. We here at Stillwater fencing use exclusively high tensile wire, as we want to build you a fence that will save you time and money even if it cost more the first year.