People don’t like change.
Countless scholarly articles have been written which discuss our resistance to change as a phenomenon. We feel comfortable when we stick with what we know. We like things that we are familiar with.
Whether it’s food, a mobile phone, or a fence post, using products that we know and understand is comforting and considerably less stressful than trying something new.
So, making the change from fencing with steel star pickets or wooden posts, to concrete posts is for some farmers, a very hard decision to make.
When it comes to concrete fence posts, the two key reasons to make the change are irrefutable. Price, and durability.
Star pickets are cheaper than concrete posts but have a much shorter lifespan, around 20% of that of concrete. The price of a concrete post is around the same as a new timber post.
So why the hesitation?
Will they do the job?
Concrete pre-stressed posts are built using bridge building technology.
Until the end of the 18th century, bridges were made out of timber, stone and masonry.
Old, mature, hardwood trees were sought for bridge work. Old-growth wood grows slowly over hundreds of years, competing for nutrients and light in a natural forest. This means that the tree is denser, the wood stronger, more resistant to rot and less likely to split or splinter.
This same old-growth wood was chosen by farmers for fence posts, for its durability.
As old-growth forests were depleted and demand for wood increased, lumber farms began to grow trees quickly. But these rapidly grown trees lack the strength and density of an old tree and the wood is susceptible to rot and decay.
Today, mature, old-growth hard wood is simply not available for bridges and fence posts.
Modern bridges are built with pre-stressed concrete, steel and fibre reinforced polymers, and so are concrete fence posts.
Concrete is more durable than wood, it is stronger, and it stands the test of time.
Throughout Victoria and Southern NSW, the use of concrete posts for fencing is well established.
As the ability to source good, mature trees for fencing disappears, a shift in thinking is needed. When one considers that the life span of a concrete post is three or four times what can be expected from a modern wooden post, then we are on the way to making the change to the way we think about modern fencing.
Concrete posts will do the job, and last for generations to come.
It’s time to make the change.
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