|
|
Post by John SD on Oct 4, 2011 23:17:09 GMT -5
I have some new fence to put in for an EQIP project. Fencing out a dam and several row windbreak of trees. I'm wondering what is the fair and going rate to pay if I hire some guys to help me get the job done? Pay by the hour, or by the foot?
Possibly might have one of them bring their JD 2840 with PHD and 148 loader to push in the steel posts. Pay per tach hour on the tractor for the loader and PHD? I'm thinking 3 of us could set a lot of steel posts in a short time.
TIA for replies.
|
|
|
|
Post by tbeck on Nov 2, 2011 9:52:57 GMT -5
Generally, figure that the cost share is 1/2 of the total cost of a fencing project for 3-4 barbed wire.
|
|
|
|
Post by John SD on Nov 2, 2011 14:09:45 GMT -5
I ended up hiring a fence crew (man, wife, daughter, and 2 sons) Wasn't cheap but they did good work and really had a get'er done way about it when they were here. I would recommend this family crew to anyone.
Fencing cost 67 cents per foot + $45 for braces and $10 each for a deadman. Paid them $35/day mileage which was not bad for coming 100 miles from town with a CC diesel pickup. They dug holes for the braces with a Bobcat phd. Pounded both the steel and wood line posts in with a Wheatheart pounder. I had some blunt wood posts but they tried them out and made some matchsticks. So I bought pointed CCA 4"x7' posts for this project.
|
|
|
|
Post by feelnrite on Nov 2, 2011 20:15:05 GMT -5
So the .67 per foot is labor right? Did you buy materials? There is a crew here that charges 2.35 a foot, 60.00 for braces, all wood posts and they are all the same size so big ones for the line posts. The 2.35 is labor and materials too and this is a 5 strand high tensile barb. They drive them also. I just put up a 5 strand high tensile with two hot and metal posts with cross ties for braces, metal posts 20 feet apart and my cost was .48 pet foot not including any labor.
|
|
|
|
Post by John SD on Nov 2, 2011 21:03:41 GMT -5
Yes, I purchased all the materials. Thought I had enough steel and wood line posts. Got to looking at the specs and I needed 6' steel posts instead of 5 1/2 footers. The blunt wood posts I already had did not drive well in the hard dry ground, so had to buy the new pointed posts. The normal post spacing was one wood/two steel. Labor on 4756' of new 4 wire fence came to $4131.38
|
|
|
|
Post by ses on Nov 3, 2011 9:28:02 GMT -5
I think in ten years you will be sorry you drove those wood posts in the ground. It takes a while but the posts will eventually mushroom on the top. The last fence we done we drilled a pilot hole with a 5 inch auger using a Bobcat then just shoved the posts in the ground with a big loader tractor.
|
|
Jefe™©
Hired Hand
Peanut Gallery Liason
Posts: 125
|
Post by Jefe™© on Nov 3, 2011 10:29:59 GMT -5
John, how do you get away with using that short of posts in SD? I would assume they aren't going in the ground very far. Could you have used a chain saw to sharpen the posts you already had instead of buying pre-sharpened ones or were they a different type of post?
SES, I'm not sure about your theory. I'm still waiting on posts we put in close to 30 years ago with a driver to make me sorry about doing it that way.
|
|
|
|
Post by ses on Nov 3, 2011 11:15:37 GMT -5
Probably depends on the soil and how wet it is but out here I can show you plenty of posts that are mushroomed and splitting. Some guy refuse to have their posts hammered in and that includes me.
|
|
Jefe™©
Hired Hand
Peanut Gallery Liason
Posts: 125
|
Post by Jefe™© on Nov 3, 2011 11:49:17 GMT -5
Probably depends on the soil and how wet it is but out here I can show you plenty of posts that are mushroomed and splitting. Some guy refuse to have their posts hammered in and that includes me. 10-4 ses, I think there is a thousand and one ways to build a fence.  |
|
|
|
Post by John SD on Nov 3, 2011 19:12:30 GMT -5
John, how do you get away with using that short of posts in SD? I would assume they aren't going in the ground very far. Could you have used a chain saw to sharpen the posts you already had instead of buying pre-sharpened ones or were they a different type of post? SES, I'm not sure about your theory. I'm still waiting on posts we put in close to 30 years ago with a driver to make me sorry about doing it that way. It would have been a hell of a job to sharpen all those posts with a chain saw. Not cheaper but easier to just go ahead and buy more posts. Eventually they will get used up. ;D Here I thought a 7' line post was extra tall.  Most of my life I've used 8' corner posts and 6'6" line posts and 1.33lb 5 1/2' T's. This is my first purchase ever of 6' T posts. ($4.90 each) IIRC, the EQIP specs require the top wire at 42" and 3 more wires evenly spaced. As far as the top of the the posts being beaten to mush by the post pounder, I didn't notice any that were. This is also my first experience with a pounder. They sure put in a lot of posts in a short time. Gal on crutches drove the pickup and went right along down the line with it while her dad ran the pounder. I wasn't around all the time but to my knowledge they never ruined a pointed post. According to the ad these are CCA treated Black Hills Ponderosa Pine or Montana Lodgepole Pine. ($6.40 each) |
|
|
|
Post by wctyilfarmer on Nov 3, 2011 19:32:18 GMT -5
here in so il we just toe nail the posts on the hills.
|
|
Jefe™©
Hired Hand
Peanut Gallery Liason
Posts: 125
|
Post by Jefe™© on Nov 3, 2011 22:14:09 GMT -5
I don't know John, maybe it's a deal where our grass is actually greener on the other side of the fence and not just more of the same.  It might be that we have smaller pasture around here and the cows put more pressure on the fences. They can be trained to do that you know. ;D Around here it's 6'6" steel post, 8' creosote lines, and 8'8"-9' corner posts depending on who was running the chain saw cutting the hedge tree. Does the frost going in the ground "X" amount of feet not heave the posts out of the ground at your place? |
|
|
|
Post by John SD on Nov 4, 2011 1:52:27 GMT -5
I kinda wish there was hedge around here at times. That would solve the crap shoot of getting posts with lousy treatment that won't rot off in 10 years.
Pretty much all "store bought" posts here are pine and unlike hedge they are easy to drive a staple into. I had never seen staples like I used on this project. They had barbs that stick out to the sides to anchor the staple and prevent the post from spitting the staple back out. It's my first experience with this type of staple so I'll see how it works.
Red cedar would be to us what hedge is to you. There are a few cedar posts from homestead days still solid in the ground and doing their job. The more red "meat" in the post and less white the better the post. They are tough to drive a staple in, though not as bad as hedge. Some I've pulled out have been reset upside down in another location.
In this country, antelope are harder on a fence than cattle are. Corners can heave in gumbo which most of my ground is. Lighter soils not so much and I have some of that too. Probably our lower stocking rate does not put as much pressure on fences here where it takes 25-30 acres to run a cow for a year. Except for small holding pastures or lots most of my pastures vary in size from about a quarter to a section.
Taller posts would be nice in draws where the snow lays and breaks down the fence. Snow pushes both wood and steel posts further in the ground and of course breaks the wires. Then I either have to pull the posts back out or fill in beside them with new ones. I have a small dirt scraper and have been known to do some landscaping to raise a fence up to where it won't snow under or at least not as bad.
|
|
joel
4-H er
Posts: 30
|
Post by joel on Nov 4, 2011 6:59:41 GMT -5
Too bad you need the posts driven now. Worth it to have someone come along & put some water there to soften the ground some?
|
|
