By Doug Leadbeatter
I can remember when steel star pickets first came to the Australian marketplace.
I can also remember the farmer reaction.
“These bloody things might be alright as a temporary fence, just until you get around to building the real fence."
They were considered to be temporary, not to be used as a real fence.
Video: Doug Leadbeatter talks about star pickets.
It is now well known in the Australian farming community, both coastal and inland, that star pickets rust off. Soils with high content of alumina, salt, acid sulphides and other mineral-acid combinations, eat steel pickets off just under or at ground level.
To add to this, the newer breed of steel star pickets will almost certainly rot off quicker than the old original steel posts did.
Today, I’d guess there have been millions of steel star pickets sold in Australia and they continue to be sold in droves. While farmers buy these posts that rot off, the trend will continue on…Build then replace, build then replace, build then replace.
So, why do farmers keep using steel star pickets?
Star pickets are cheaper to buy initially, but one can expect 5-6 times more life out of a concrete post.
Or, perhaps farmers don’t know of a better alternative.
Concrete posts from Concrete Posts and Pickets solve the ‘build then replace’ problem.
In the southern states of Australia and more recently in the top of NSW and throughout QLD, there has been huge numbers of concrete posts put in the ground.
There’s a trend in concrete post usage that is creeping all over Australia. If you start to take notice you will see that concrete post fences that are springing up everywhere.
Years ago, there were more suppliers of concrete posts in Victoria and posts were being made hand over fist. Today there are less manufacturers in Victoria.
The need for more posts has diminished because fences just aren’t falling down like they used to in the wooden or wooden and star picket combo days.
In the future, concrete post manufacturers will run out of opportunity for continued growth. Because concrete posts last so long, the cycle of build and then replace will be eventually broken and like in Victoria, concrete post manufacturers will close.
This is a good for the farmer, and so it should be.
Once you decide to invest in your current and future farm fencing requirements, you’ll be surprised how many of your neighbours will follow your example. God only knows how much replacing fences cost our already struggling farmers.
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