The importance of a long service life in fencing posts

Irish sawmills produce 169,000m3 of fencing material annually. Although two-thirds of this is exported to the UK, the Irish market for timber posts is increasing, especially among farmers.

As well as routine farm fencing, farmer participants in State-aided programmes such as TAMS II and afforestation schemes are major purchasers of round fencing posts and strainers. For example, an average afforestation programme of 6,400ha requires close to 650km of fencing, while thousands of round posts and strainers are required for forest maintenance and upgrading fences in reforestation sites.

In addition, both round and sawn post and rail fencing material are needed for motorway fencing, stud farms, housing developments and other projects throughout Ireland.

Standards

Most fencing posts are now produced from homegrown timber and have a satisfactory service life provided they are treated properly at least to IS435 (roadside post and rail), IS436 (round posts) and IS437 (stud fencing) standards.

A criticism of fencing stakes, by farmers in particular, has been the disappointing service life achieved. The production of fencing posts to the required standard allays some of the fears of farmers who carry out large-scale fencing. However, it is ironic that to qualify for payment under TAMS II, stakes and strainers have to conform with the standard IS436, but the afforestation scheme allows both IS436 and inferior non-IS436 posts.

“The Department encourages the use of the IS436 standard,” according to the Department’s Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme guidelines.

“However it has decided to continue to provide grant aid for new fences which do not meet this standard but at a lower rate and allowance per hectare and at the same rates paid in 2014,” it states.

The differential between IS436 and non-IS436 ranges from €50 to €150/ha. This is regarded as too small by some forestry companies and contractors and as a result they opt for cheaper non- IS436 fencing posts.

However, the Forest Service regards the grant of €500/ha as sufficient for IS436 treated stakes. Farmers who use non-IS436 posts should realise that the service life may be as low as four years for non-IS436 posts.

It may be an opportune time for the Forest Service to review its approach to grant aiding non-IS436 fencing posts. Farmers who are establishing plantations should insist on IS436 posts and strainers.

The argument that there are insufficient quantities of IS436 fencing posts available in the market has not been tested and it is likely that at least four sawmills in Ireland and other treatment plants are well capable of producing the desired material if required.

Incised posts

A number of sawmills, led by Balcas, are exploring ways of further extending the service life of fencing posts by incising the posts to allow better penetration of preservatives. While incised posts are more expensive, they provide a more cost effective option in the long-term, as they carry a 15-year warranty.

Balcas produces a wide range of products including sawn timber for construction and pallet markets, fencing material and brites wood pellets for the renewable energy market. During a recent tour of the Enniskillen plant, Andrew Kidney, Balcas director, provided an overview of the mill’s performance which is impressive. It processes 500,000m3 of logs, has a turnover of £100m (€115m) and is a major employer in the area, providing 224 direct jobs and a further 300 in harvesting, haulage and services.

While Andrew Kidney emphasises innovation when discussing the Balcas product range, he stresses service life, traceability and quality, especially when referring to the company’s fencing products. Although Balcas fencing posts conform to both Irish (IS436) and UK (BS8417 Class 4) standards, the company’s round and squared Permapost products provide a service life and accompanying warranty that are far more ambitious than the Irish and UK standards.

The fencing post production line begins like most sawmills to include debarking, profiling, pointing and kiln drying. Likewise, the final treatment stage will be familiar to most visitors to sawmills. But in between, there is a fundamental difference in approach in producing round and sawn Permapost products.

These posts are incised in the section of the post from tip to above ground level, where decay normally begins. Incising is a mechanical process whereby customised blades make tiny slits into round or squared timber fencing posts, explains Andrew Kidney.

“This allows consistently deep penetration of preservatives into the heartwood which otherwise resists chemicals,” he says.

“The next stage is kiln drying and we have found that ideal moisture content is 35% to allow maximum cell saturation. The posts are then pressure treated with a choice of either Tanalith green or brown preservatives incorporating Baramine technologies.”

Baramine, a blend of several components, provides a number of benefits, including:

Another departure from the norm is the Balcas approach to traceability. Like other producers of IS436, Balcas posts are identified by bale, but Permaposts are individually branded with a customised nail which indicates the source and year.

While this is time-consuming, it is a clear statement from Balcas that the company is prepared to provide a 15-year warranty against decay and insect attack.

At the time of writing, this service life is unmatched for homegrown fencing posts although at least one other sawmill is investing in incising technology. We will report on further developments in fencing product development by Irish sawmills as it increases confidence in homegrown timber as well as adding value to species such as Sitka spruce.

The performance of the forestry programme last year was mixed compared with past results. Afforestation was marginally up (6,500ha) last year compared with 2015 (6,293ha), but fell short of the modest 7,020ha proposed in the Forestry Programme 2014-2020. However, last year’s performance was the best since 2012.

There are signs that significant timber mobilisation is beginning as approvals were granted for 16,549ha of thinning, which is the highest recorded to date. Clearfell approvals fell to 1,384ha last year, which is down on 2015 (2,012ha) and well down on 2014 (3,447ha). However, the windblow after Storm Darwin in February 2014 artificially inflated clearfell volumes and on a positive note, clearfell licence approvals are well up compared to pre-Storm Darwin years.

Forest road construction at 61.9km has fallen for the fifth consecutive year. It is difficult to assess roading performance as Forest Service inspectors are reducing the metre-to-hectare ratio approval rate to gain harvesting access to more forests. Gone are the days of 20m to 1ha.

While dramatically reduced roading leads to longer haulage distances within the forest for harvesting forwarders, if greater access is gained to forests even with reduced roading, then at least the forest can be thinned. A more accurate way of measuring roading performance might be to provide data for area accessed as well as road length constructed.

Regardless of methodology in compiling data, foresters and forestry companies again maintain that timber mobility is being hampered due to lack of sufficient roading.

ECC Timber has appointed Charlie McCreevy to its board of directors as a non-executive director. The appointment of the former finance minister and EU commissioner marks the Corr na Móna company’s 25th year in business.

“It is the first major appointment since the company became 100% owned by the Fahy family last year with the purchase of Aurivo’s shareholding in the business,” said ECC founder PJ Fahy.

“We are extremely proud and privileged to have Mr McCreevy on board as his vast knowledge and experience from the world of politics, business and finance will be very beneficial as we continue to grow the company.”

Commenting on his appointment, McCreevy said: “I am pleased to be appointed to the board of ECC Timber, a family run company which has turned the challenges of the past number of years into a success story.

“I look forward to working with the company’s board to help drive further growth and development”.

The company is currently in the second year of a five-year capital investment programme “to further strengthen its service to the recovering Irish market and consolidate sales in the UK,” said ECC managing director, Daryl Fahy.

When Taoiseach Enda Kenny recently told members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party that he had unfinished business before stepping down, he may have had the opening of Balla Town Park in mind as well as his visit to the White House.

He recently opened this NeighbourWood community woodland along with Minister of State Andrew Doyle. He congratulated the Balla community and Western Forestry Co-op, who began restoring the 35-acre woodland two years ago when the project was accepted for funding under the Forest Service NeighbourWood scheme. The restoration included removal of invasive laurel and planting native species as well as a conservation programme to protect the existing ancient oak trees.

As a result, the project reconnects with the primeval oak woodland that once existed around Balla, which explains its original name, Ros Dairbhreach – the height of the oak wood.

Although the forecast is for mixed weather conditions over the coming weeks, parts of the country will experience prolonged dry weather that can create the optimum conditions for forest fires.

It is essential that forest owners update their fire plans.

Forest owners, farmers, rural dwellers and other countryside users are asked to be vigilant, to report any suspicious activity to An Garda Síochána, and to report any uncontrolled or unattended fires immediately to the fire and emergency services – call 112 or 999.

The performance of the forestry programme last year was mixed compared with past results. Afforestation was marginally up (6,500ha) last year compared with 2015 (6,293ha), but fell short of the modest 7,020ha proposed in the Forestry Programme 2014-2020. However, last year’s performance was the best since 2012.

There are signs that significant timber mobilisation is beginning as approvals were granted for 16,549ha of thinning, which is the highest recorded to date. Clearfell approvals fell to 1,384ha last year, which is down on 2015 (2,012ha) and well down on 2014 (3,447ha). However, the windblow after Storm Darwin in February 2014 artificially inflated clearfell volumes and on a positive note, clearfell licence approvals are well up compared to pre-Storm Darwin years.

Forest road construction at 61.9km has fallen for the fifth consecutive year. It is difficult to assess roading performance as Forest Service inspectors are reducing the metre-to-hectare ratio approval rate to gain harvesting access to more forests. Gone are the days of 20m to 1ha.

While dramatically reduced roading leads to longer haulage distances within the forest for harvesting forwarders, if greater access is gained to forests even with reduced roading, then at least the forest can be thinned. A more accurate way of measuring roading performance might be to provide data for area accessed as well as road length constructed.

Regardless of methodology in compiling data, foresters and forestry companies again maintain that timber mobility is being hampered due to lack of sufficient roading.