Super Post

Equestrian Fencing Trials

The stringent BPR risk assessment for animal health concludes that the risk to livestock from contact with Tanasote® treated wood is acceptable. For animal health, the BPR risk assessment was based on livestock exposure and considers residues that animals can
take up by chewing, rubbing against, or licking the treated timber. The animal risk assessment also considers inhalation of volatile substances, such as through horse cribbing, although this is not relevant to Tanasote® since the active substances have been shown to be non-volatile.

The stringent BPR risk assessment for animal health concludes that the risk to livestock from contact with Tanasote® treated wood is acceptable. This leaves the question of will horses’ crib on timber treated with this copper oil wood preservative?

Between 2019 and 2021, Tanasote® treated posts and rails were installed in five UK locations, as fencing for equestrian use, to determine whether horses would crib on the treated timber. In one instance, hay bales were hung on the posts to encourage the horses to approach.

To date there is no observable evidence of cribbing on any of the Tanasote® treated fence rails, and none of the site owners reported seeing their horses cribbing on the treated timber.

Agricultural Fencing Trial

Tim Bennett Farm Fencing contractors have over 35 years’ experience of using creosote and traditional preservative treated fencing timbers. As a forward-thinking company they wanted trial Tanasote® treated timber fencing to test that it was a suitable alternative to creosoted posts.

As part of the trial, 150 metres of Tanasote® treated fence posts were installed in 2018 to complete a project at Priors Byne Farm in Partridge Green, West Sussex. In 2022 Tim Bennett, Managing Director, attended the Association of Fencing Industries Timber Conference and spoke about Tanasote® to attendees: “In my experience 4 years is enough time to detect a failing post. I can see no sign of failure on any Tanasote post I have installed. There is no sign of plant and vegetation ‘burn’ around the base of the posts. Tanasote has a distinctive smell but it is not as invasive as creosote. It is not a smell you take home with you at the end of a working day, or one you revisit each time you open your toolbox. Out in the field you would not notice a smell.”