[QUOTE=MeghanDACVA;5413650]
Locust lasts FOREVER.[/QUOTE]
Is there any issue with it being cut and used green?
Cedar is supposed to last forever, too… but apparently not if you pick it up from the mill and set the posts immediately. We lost a whole line of fence after ~2 years because the cedar posts rotted. Maybe it was the wrong kind of cedar or something, but that was unpleasant!
I have a front paddock with 8 ft black locust posts and pressure treated rails. The posts have been in the ground for 24 yrs and show no signs of rot. If you install the fence correctly; i.e. put in a post and then rails and then the next post, you snug the rails in nice and tight and the horses can’t move them. Only problem is that the rails rot and the posts don’t so you have to loosen a post in order to replace the rail.
Couldn’t afford the locust for the big pasture so used Pressure treated slipboard posts and oak boards. At least 2/3 of the posts have rotten out and been replaced in the past 10 yrs but the oak is still good.
If you can afford it, go with locust posts but you don’t need 4 rails, 3 will do just fine. I’d suggest the 8 ft posts if you can get them. We have lots of frost here and my 8 ft locust posts haven’t heaved but the 7 ft pt ones have.
Thanks for the link to the locust place in Buffalo…they weren’t around when I needed them:cry:
Mary in Western NY
http://www.bpequine.com
Black Locust posts will last several generations. I have friends who have fence posts and fencing put up by their great-grandfather. They run cattle and the family has had to repair and re-string barbed wire, but the posts are still there.
It does get harder to drive in the staples the older the posts are, though. Also, in order to get maximum age and use, the locust trees are supposed to be cut and stacked when the moon is on the wane, not when it is waxing. It’s one of those old farmers’ beliefs like when to plow or plant by the moon.
It is also said that calves and colts bleed less when castrated or gelded when the moon is on the wane.
So I just found out that Springfield Fence no longer carries locust. Their provider passed away, may be the same sawmill in NY that someone else mentioned.
We are in New Hampshire so we may have to go on a Road Trip - we need to buy fence this fall. Does anyone have suppliers in MA, NY, PA, etc?
I swear I’m going to plant a locust grove in our swampy area … so I’ll have unlimited fence posts in ten years 
It should be fine. The main thing I don’t like about that company, is that they don’t have corner posts.
We have split rail from these folks: http://www.wvsr.com/
We have treated pine posts with treated Poplar rails. It’s over 20 years old and looks fine still. Not one of the Poplar rails has sagged a bit, and they are still hard as a rock.
The one kind I would stay away from is any kind with pine rails, like that sold at Home Depot.
I don’t really like the rails that are just 4x4’s with pointed ends, but rather true split rails that are a little beefier.
Resurrecting this thread to see what people think of their split rail fence after another five years!
We just had someone out to quote 1000’ of split rail along our road frontage.
I have wanted four-rail split rail since we moved in here and have had the locust fence place bookmarked forever… but they don’t even have an address published on their website. Do we know anyone who has actually bought from them, is this a reputable company?
The fence guy said that with the available treatment products now, posts just don’t last as long. So even with the “lifetime guarantee” on the pressure treated pine posts, especially the ones that are in a wet area, just plan on replacing them.
He usually works with West Virginia Split Rail (so I’m happy to see that Tom King likes their products, at least as of 25 years ago,) and I’ve asked him to check into black locust posts as well before we make a decision.
-Wendy
Timely thread… I’m going to have to fence in about 5 acres soon. Also interested in sourcing. There is a local place that rents skidsteers with the auger so will be installing myself.
I boarded at a barn that had locust posts. Those suckers were HARD. They were wire on with top board on square posts. You had better be drilling pilot holes for those nails or you weren’t getting them in. The lasted a LONG time. Regretfully the place is now a development so they all got bulldozed. The place was actually not to far from gumtree if I am not mistaken.
This is my first time posting but figured since I found the company through this forum I should share my experience!
I tagged locustfence.com when we first bought our property in 2012 based on this thread and just purchased a truckload from them this past spring. Overall I am happy with the customer service and the product. I dealt with a man named John and he was super responsive and helped me customize our order. We liked the look of the 3 rail but it was not tall enough for my horse who jumped the fence that one time ;).
They customized the posts and we were able to get 8 foot posts with the 3 rail configuration rather than the 4 rail. This allowed us to build a slightly taller fence which so far has held all 4 of our horses in.
The lead time is about 3-4 weeks after ordering and they were shipped to us on a flat bed. Fortunately, we happened to have an excavator handy as the flatbed had our delivery on top of another order so it was slightly too tall for our tractor and forks. You can unload them by hand but the driver was not too keen on waiting so make sure you have a crew or a random mini ex 
My only complaint about the product is that the corner posts tend to be a little squirrelly which is really just the nature of locust but we will see how they hold up. They are straight but not necessarily square if that makes sense.
The posts themselves seemed to be fresher wood which was good for one section where we needed to attach wire. We have some older locust posts on the property and they are impossible to nail or screw into. I believe that as it ages it gets harder.
Installation went pretty smoothly, the directions didn’t really work for us as they recommend setting the posts 10’4" apart and when we tried that we couldn’t get the posts to set straight due to the rails not interlocking properly, so we ended up setting them at 10’6" and sometimes 10’7".
To whomever plans on renting a skid steer, that was also our plan but we had a bunch of issues with the rental company so we ended up buying a woods 3pt post hole auger for our tractor. I was so mad at the rental company and super annoyed that I had to shell out an extra $1200 but I can not tell you how happy I am that we did! The locust fence took much longer for us to install than I expected and it was really nice to be able to work at our leisure without the pressure of returning the skid steer.
I could probably write a novel about our fencing adventures but will limit this post to the fact that overall I would be happy to recommend locustfence.com and will probably order from them again when we fence in the lower part of the property.
All in all, locust posts are the ones to get. I am NOT a fan of post and rail, because the ends of the rails do rot, and as pointed out here, when you fit it properly, a section at a time, it is a bear to have to reset a post just to replace rails.
Unlike Tom King- I HATE corner posts. I would much prefer the less attractive use of two posts at a corner, or best of all, make an arc, without a corner- safest by far. If a horse hits a corner post- presto- SIX or EIGHT rails on the ground.
Reigate this is awesome info.
Would you mind sharing g the approximate cost of a truckload and how many feet that enclosed?
Happy to share as I had never installed fencing before this year and learned all I know from google and forums like this!
I believe that you have to order a minimum of 1000’ and we ended up with 1150 feet for a total of ~$6700. The price goes up or down depending on how many corner and end posts you order. That included the shipping but unfortunately not the installation. We used the split rail around my soon to be ring which is also a sacrifice paddock and along the fronts of all the pastures near the barns. The back sides of the pastures are a mix of electric and locust posts and cedar and no climb which is obviously much cheaper.
Happy to share as I had never installed fencing before this year and learned all I know from google and forums like this!
I believe that you have to order a minimum of 1000’ and we ended up with 1150 feet for a total of ~$6700. The price goes up or down depending on how many corner and end posts you order. That included the shipping but unfortunately not the installation. We used the split rail around my soon to be ring which is also a sacrifice paddock and along the fronts of all the pastures near the barns. The back sides of the pastures are a mix of electric and locust posts and cedar and no climb which is obviously much cheaper.
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