"Winter Fence Posts" Require No Digging

"Winter Fence Posts" Require No Digging FENCING Fence Systems 22-3-6 When cows destroyed a fence in the dead of winter, Stan and Francis Harder of St. Brides, Alberta, had to fix it right away to keep their bulls and heifers from mixing. They couldn't put in new posts because the ground was frozen. They solved the problem by designing "winter fence posts" that sit on top of the ground and require no digging. The Harders used three 5 1/2-ft. long 2 by 4's. Two of them fasten together in a 90 degree angle. The third is nailed at a 45 degree angle to the other two and extends 2 in. beyond the crossbar at the bottom to dig into the ground. The fence wire is then stapled to the upright post. "It's as solid as any post you can put in. As long as there's a bit of snow or rough ground for the angled brace board to catch on, these winter posts will work," says Stan. "You can use a whole series of these posts as long as you have a solid anchor at both ends of the fence and use a turnbuckle on each wire to keep the fence tight. One limitation is that these posts can't be used to go around a corner. They can only be used to make a straight line fence. "As long as cattle are kept only on one side of the fence they can't push the posts over. If you want to keep cattle on both sides, you can drive a length of rebar over the crossbar so that the post can't be tipped up. "It might pay to build the posts before an emergency occurs so that you're ready if you ever need to make a quick repair." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stan and Francis Harder, St. Brides, Alberta, Canada T0A 2Y0 (ph 403 645-1881).

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