Tracked post knocker a real step forward in function and performance
It does a familiar and commonplace job in a way that outperforms any which have come before, and this week, I want to introduce you to one that will strike a chord with anyone involved in fencing.
Fencing is, almost by definition, a job which fills in the time when season and weather prevent the farmer getting on with the critical tasks of sowing, harvesting and tending to animals.
Contractors get involved in fencing because it is a job they can get on with when their main work is interrupted or is in a slack period.
The Orkney Isles may be some distance from Co Cork, but their farming conditions are not so different.
Peaty soils, high rainfall, and land which is often wet, are also found in parts of Co Cork, requiring methods and machines that can cope — and this combination of a Yanmar C30 dumper and a simple post driver is designed for these conditions.
Fitted with a simple off-set post knocker — made by Wilson in Aberdeen — the Yanmar drives parallel to the fence line and knocks the posts in as it passes.
With minimal manoeuvring for each stake, the contractor who built it, David Sinclair, can get as many as 100 stakes driven in the hour. His business is mainly forage harvesting and arable work, but fencing is a job which allows him to keep his two employees on for the full year.
The main reason for making the machine was to reduce rutting in the field.
Heavy-wheeled tractors with mounted post drivers will quickly make a mess of wet ground, and then get bogged down themselves.
The Yanmar has a ground pressure that’s less than an ATV, and the ability to pull itself out of some sticky situations as well.
David built the machine by removing the tipping skip from the C30 (the smaller C10 would be suitable) and bolting a front linkage kit on the frame of the dumper.
He uses a hydraulic top link to tilt forward and back and so level the post knocker, and the Wilson has a ram which tilts it sideways, and folds it diagonally for transport. The front linkage lifts the knocker just the same as the back of a tractor. Oil flow is increased by fitting a larger hydraulic pump, because the pump used for tipping the dump body lifted the post driver’s weight too slowly.
On the back of the machine he’s made a platform for laying out as many as five strands of barbed at a time.
The machine also carries posts, both on the deck behind the knocker, and more on a frame which folds down in front.
Stapling the wires is done from the seat of his ATV, using an air-powered staple gun, driven by a small compressor carried on the front carrier.
A device that saves the bashed finger and gets them in fast, and at the correct pressure — snug against the wire so it doesn’t move (and have the galvanising worn off as the wire rattles against the staple) but not so hard as to break the layer of zinc.
Get this wrong and wire life is considerably reduced.
David’s machine is a real step forward in terms of function and performance, and is something which other farmers and contractors could adopt for themselves.
*If you know of an interesting farming innovation which we can pass on to readers, please get in touch through the editor (021-4802365 or farm.ed@examiner.ie).
