Drill stem post's

[AC Diesel]

Has anybody on here used drill stem for corral post?
I want to add onto my corrals using drill stem for post and top rail with continuous fence.
I'm not sure whether I should cement them in or direct bury the post. There have been a couple of new feedlots built around here and they direct buried the drill stem post. I'm not sure how long either will last, my soil around my corrals is pretty dry and sandy.

I'm a young man and I don't like to do things twice.

I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks AC

 

[xhangn7]

I start with a 10' post and pound them in with a pounder. They seem to hold pretty well I have built pens and feed bunks this way.

 

[Shortgrass]

I start with a 10' post and pound them in with a pounder. They seem to hold pretty well I have built pens and feed bunks this way.

I'll bet that works. Be sure its where you want it though!

 

[jigs]

I have always concreted them in, then pour concrete inside the post to keep water from rotting it inside out

 

[RSL]

Here's what we use...
These clamps are built by a neighbour at Edgerton.

We get them in the 2 7/8 pipe and 7/8 sucker rod size.
We push 10' pipe into the ground 4' with the loader and then add sucker rod. No welding, continuous fence. I have a generator and a chop saw.

The clamps work with a 9/16" wrench. If you want a feeder fence you take some rods off, if you need a goat fence you add rods, if you have a cow get hung up you undo the clamps (no cutting torch needed). They are strong and cheap. A 6 rail, 6' high with 10' spacing on the posts runs about $6 per foot.
I also have a local fellow build me posts which are an inverted T. He welds 2 7/8 pipe in a T that is 6' high and 6' wide. I can then clamp the sucker rod on and have a semi permanent, but still portable fence without digging any post holes which is great if you are in a location where you don't have access to machinery.
Because the fence is continuous it is REALLY strong. If you spray WD40 into the rod joints while you are tightening the clamps on the first rail you can hook up even old sucker rod with 2 1" wrenches. We hang the top rod first and then loop a tarp strap over the rail and use the hooks to hold the next rail down while we clamp it.
We are lucky to have a good local supply of pipe.

 

[Silver]

Drill stem is great, and RSL has a great plan with the clamps. Drill stem is generally very magnetized and so can be very difficult to weld to.
In these parts we push pipe into the our gumbo with a front end loader and never have problems. If they are not cemented they can also be removed and re-used should you decide your design isn't working as intended :wink:
Gate posts would be nice to either install deeper or cement though.

 

[4Diamond]

We have used drill stem and like it. With sucker rod it has to have give in it. We always sleeve the ends so it can give and retract.

 

[bllcattle]

All of our corrals and feedlots are made out of used oilwell pipe and rod. Some is nearly 50 years old, all welded, as there was'nt such a thing as clamps. Have used a lot of 5" caseing as posts,awhole lot of 2&7/8s tubeing and really like 2&3/8s but harder to get here. Never have used any drill stem as it is so damn thick and hevey. Really prefer 7/8s rod and have used some guardrail,but lately ,here, it has got quite expensive. One other thing that is quite goodis the old used landing mats that was used during and after WW2, especially alley's and chutes. We also have used a lot of cement and should have capped all the posts. A lot of work but once its done its permanent.

 

[3 M L & C]

My dad is in the process of doing the same thing as you are thinking. Contiuous fence with the top rail. He concreted them in. He took some plastic pipe maybe 12 inch around and about a foot tall and put around the post down at the ground so you have concrete up off the dirt a ways so you don't have manure sitting on the base of the post all the time.

 

[Farmerkuk]

 

[S.S.A.P.]

We've got sucker rod and drill stem. From a different perspective I prefer the sucker rod - it has enough give that I can squirt through even with my winter carhatt pockets full of stuff. We wish pipe would have been the 'in thing' when we did our slab fences! The railroad ties, one can't get them in the ground far enough and still have adequate above ground ... in our windy country :x

Nice fence Farmerkuk and RSL !

 

[AC Diesel]

Thanks for the input guys. I wasn't sure whether or not to cement them in, if one way would make them last longer or not.

 

[Denny]

never used the stuff but why cement them if they are deep. Knowone cements steel T-Posts and they last a very long time.

 

[3 M L & C]

You want to do what last the longest cement them in. Every feedlot I have ever hauled corn to cements in every post on the entire place. A t post gererally isn't in a corral with manure around the bottom of it all year either.

 

[porkchop]

3M I wonder if it has to do with soil type. I had a guy call me that had put in some pipe and continous fence for a lot. It did not look like it saw too much use and was about 10 years old. Every pipe rusted at the cement line. This man was not a happy camper. We were able to fix it by finding some new pipe that just fit inside the old pipe and driveing it down. We added a couple feet to each one for good measure. To cap the pipe we stuffed paper two to three inches down the new pipe and filled with quick crete. That has been 10 years ago and I still see him once in a while and he has never said it fell down again.

 

[3 M L & C]

3M I wonder if it has to do with soil type. I had a guy call me that had put in some pipe and continous fence for a lot. It did not look like it saw too much use and was about 10 years old. Every pipe rusted at the cement line. This man was not a happy camper. We were able to fix it by finding some new pipe that just fit inside the old pipe and driveing it down. We added a couple feet to each one for good measure. To cap the pipe we stuffed paper two to three inches down the new pipe and filled with quick crete. That has been 10 years ago and I still see him once in a while and he has never said it fell down again.

Maybe so on the soil. Were these post not capped to begin with? I would say that was the majority of the problem. All I know is here when you put a piece of metal in the ground it starts to rust no matter how thick it is even with a shower of 10 hundredths. Put concrete around the metal that stops it. They put bolts and rebar in concrete and sticking out of it for buildings bridges and big signs. So the concrete isn't why this guys post rusted. To each his own I guess. These feedlots out here are twice as old as me at least I was born in 1980. I don't think they would be doing it the way they do if it wasn't the best way here.

 

[3 M L & C]

Also was the concrete even with the ground. If so then the concrete was a waste. You have to get the concrete above ground level to be any good.

 

[Silver]

In this part of the world steel piling are driven into the ground for foundations of all kinds. Never heard of putting cement around them in order to make them last longer. I like the idea of cementing the post a gate hangs on, only to ensure it stays plumb and true with a heavy gate hanging off it.

 

[Angus 62]

I think some types of soil are much more corrosive than others. It may also make a difference when the ground is frozen 10 months out of a year.

 

[4Diamond]

In my part of the world if you put a wood post in concrete almost 100% of the time it will rot off right there at the cement line.