Pounding posts question.

[freewheat]

Well the deep ripping thread got me wondering about subsoil etc. after my post pushing episode. I have been pushing posts in with the loader the last few days, and I am wondering why on earth they push in the grain field so easily, then I come to never before farmed, undisturbed soil, and they go in about a foot, and then they do not push in.

I thought it would be the opposite. Very wet here.

What is with the virgin soil being impossible? Is this normal? Theory would have it that farmed soil would have issues, and undisturbed would be mellow and soft. Not so. I am now using steel t posts for the rest, my post pounder guy has been slow and I can't wait no more.

Just wondering???

[WiltonRanch]

That's the way it is here. Grass really sucks a lot of moisture out of the ground. Creates a real hard layer under the root mass. Alfalfa roots to China and pulls up everything. Farmed ground especially zero till allows more water infiltration because of no sod layer to inhibit

[agchat]

WiltonRanch is right. Seems like if you can get thru that root mass, then sometimes they push in alot easier again. Have you got some weight in your bucket freewheat? I will fill it about half full of gravel. If i have no gravel then i just scope near a bucket full of just topsoil. Makes a huge difference getting some weight in that bucket.

[blackpowder]

Rent a Heavy hitter made by wheatheart. Youll never use anything else again.
Oh, sorry, it's called a post pounder.

[WiltonRanch]

Rent a Heavy hitter made by wheatheart. Youll never use anything else again.
Oh, sorry, it's called a post pounder.

I second that. A wore out heavy hitter is twice the pounder anything else would ever hope to be. We push in lots too but for building a good span a pounder slaps them in straight and as fast as you can go. I've pounded ties into dry clay with nothing more than a rough pointing with the axe.

[grassfarmer]

Conflicting viewpoints on this one. Easiest guess is its simply a moisture issue. Always easy to pound in wet spots, not in dry. Grain guys are always complaining their land is too wet (easy pounding) i'm the other way.
A tough layer under the roots of grass plants indicates hard pan - typical problem with the majority of pastures that are permanently over-grazed. Over-grazing pasture is just as destructive as cultivation. I see lots of pasture where there is almost no infiltration of water between the hardpan underneath and no litter on the surface. No wonder the production is almost non-existant and pounding post is difficult.

If Lewis and Clarke had been pulling a post pounder I bet they'd have had no trouble sinking them in the tall grass prairie.

Wheatheart heavy hitter is the way to go - Flaman Rental weekend rate is an awesome deal, you can pound a lot of posts if you're set up in advance.

[Klause]

In natural aspen land that has never been touched... at 3 feet you hit hard pan right where aspen roots stop. In no till posts go in super easy... try setting posts in an alfalfa field can over drive them easily!


We're making fence while it's showering also for our horses... using an excavator to set posts works 10x as fast as a post Pinder and way more precise with tight posts

[blackpowder]

Nobody mentioned the safety factor.

[freewheat]

Well, I got my steel t posts in the ground today. I have used a wheatheart before and liked it: The one I was going to rent is a heavy hitter. I just can't wait for him to check it over when he can...

The land I was talking about, was never grazed, never farmed, tall lush grass, where there is never traffic in the bin yard. For the gate and corner posts, I used a crow bar and buckets of water, and was eventually able to push in my fatso posts.

Out in the field, the posts pushed in in about 3 seconds. It is debatable that a pounder could have done better than that, with less manouverability. I will certainly use the loader again, maybe with a few rocks in it, and the t posts sure went in nice in the tougher ground.

Thanks for the ideas and pointers and thoughts. I just need to hang the wire, but the coop ordered the wrong stuff, so I need to exchange on Monday if it rains tomorrow.

[farmaholic]

No offense but I hope to never see another fence on this farm except for the tiny 25-30 acre pasture of native grass and bush that is already fenced. The rest was all removed about two decades ago...all was fenced grainland with wire as old as the farm. Rolled up the wire, pulled the posts, salvaged the good ones and then picked rocks off the fencelines for the next ten years that my grandpa, uncles, father and even me threw on them(of course we mostly used rock piles but you know how it is, well maybe some of you don't!) Clean now...lucky kid (successor)!

[kato]

...

Around here what stops a post from going in is generally a rock. And another rock. And another rock. lol

[freewheat]

Around here what stops a post from going in is generally a rock. And another rock. And another rock. lol

Ha, hit couple of them in the creekbed today.

[freewheat]

No offense but I hope to never see another fence on this farm except for the tiny 25-30 acre pasture of native grass and bush that is already fenced.

No offense taken. I look forward to lots of fences, the more the better on my farm. Weaning myself off the parasites and the futile looking future of commodity farming under water, is downright exciting to me.

I can't build them fast enough, or get enough animals fast enough to satisfy me though! lol

[grassfarmer]

Yeah, same with us Freewheat - put up 14 miles last year. One of the few inputs that brings a great and immediate return. Once you have the watering and fence infrastructure set up to control the animals the sky is the limit in how fast you can build topsoil, organic matter and production using the free inputs of solar and water. Its a different kind of agriculture but its exciting and dynamic as you say, not the depressingly worrysome and high risk type folk talk about here on a daily basis.

[farmaholic]

.....but I'm lazy!