Temporary Fence Posts: Step-In vs Pigtail vs Tredaline (Which Post for Which Job on a Working Rotational Grazing Operation)

The temporary fence post category looks like a commodity — they all hold a wire off the ground, they all push into the soil, they all cost a few dollars each. They are not commodities. The difference between a cheap plastic step-in post and an O'Briens Tredaline is the difference between fences you re-string every season and fences that hold for a decade of daily moves.

For most rotational grazing operations the post is the second-biggest budget line after the wire — 500-1,000 posts on a working ranch isn't unusual — and the wrong choice compounds: posts that bend in heavy soil, foot pedals that snap under boot pressure, plastic that UV-degrades to brittle in 3 years, clips that don't hold polybraid when cattle pressure-test the fence.

This guide covers the three real categories of temporary fence post used on US working ranches: plastic step-in, pigtail steel, and the O'Briens Tredaline. What each is built for, where each fails, and the matched applications for each on a real rotational grazing operation.

What "temporary" actually requires from a fence post

A temporary post has to do five things:

1. Push into the soil with foot pressure. No power tools, no augers. If you have to dig a hole, the post isn't temporary.
2. Hold the wire at the right height. Multiple positions for multi-strand setups.
3. Stand back up after a cow leans on it. Not rigid — flexible enough to absorb impact, stiff enough to spring back.
4. Insulate the wire from the post (or be made of insulating material) so the fence doesn't short to ground through the post.
5. Survive UV, freeze cycles, and being driven over by a tractor for at least the season — preferably 5+ years.

The cheap step-in posts at farm-store checkout meet #1 and #2 reliably; they fail at #3, #4, and #5 within 2-3 seasons of real use. Pigtail and Tredaline posts meet all five and last 10+ years.

The three categories that matter

1. Plastic step-in posts (the budget tier)

Single-piece molded polymer with a built-in foot pedal and clips along the shaft for multiple wire heights. Lightweight, cheap (often under $2-3 per post in bulk), fast to deploy.

Where they work: short-cycle temporary paddocks that you'll re-build every few weeks. Training paddocks for young animals learning fence. Garden plots and backyard applications.

Where they fail:

• UV degradation. Cheap plastic cracks after 2-3 years of sun. The clips break off first; the shaft snaps next.
• Foot pedal stress. The foot pedal is the weakest point. A boot heel on the wrong angle cracks it, and a cracked pedal means the post no longer drives straight.
• Cold-weather brittleness. Plastic that worked fine in July shatters in January when you try to pull the post out of frozen ground.

The honest take: plastic step-ins are the right answer for one-season or short-term applications. For anything you want to redeploy for 5+ years, the small premium for pigtail or Tredaline pays back in lower replacement cost.

2. Pigtail steel posts (the middle tier)

A 7mm or 9mm galvanized steel shaft with a pre-formed "pigtail" loop at the top for the wire and a welded foot pedal near the base. Stronger than plastic step-ins, takes more boot pressure to drive into the soil, but holds up to years of use.

Powerflex options:

• Gallagher Pig Tail Post, Orange — high-visibility orange, 50 per box. Standard pigtail design with welded foot pedal.
• Strainrite Goldfoot 7mm Pigtail — 10-pack, 7mm galvanized spring steel shaft with the Goldfoot pressed steel foot pedal (proven superior to standard welded pedals for soil-engagement in rocky/hard conditions).
• Gallagher HD White Ring Top Post — 50-pack, heavier-duty than standard pigtail, with ring-top design for easier wire threading and removal.
• Gallagher Multi Wire Ring Top Post — 7mm steel, 34" height, multi-strand capable. Used for sheep/goat applications where you want 3-4 strands on a single post.

Where they work: the everyday portable fence post for cattle on rotational grazing systems. Stand up to daily moves for 5-10+ years. Hold polybraid, polywire, or polytape equally well in the pigtail loop.

Where they fail:

• Rocky soil. The 7mm shaft can bend trying to drive through caliche or rocky ground. A Goldfoot or HD ring-top post handles this better than standard pigtail.
• High-pressure cattle. A determined bull leaning into a pigtail post will eventually bend it. Not ideal for bull paddocks (use Tredaline instead).
• Insulator issue. The wire sits in direct contact with the steel pigtail, which CAN short to ground in heavy rain if the soil at the base of the post is conducive. The wire-on-steel contact also chafes the polybraid over thousands of wind-cycle hours.

For most cattle operations, pigtail is the workhorse middle-tier post. Browse the full portable fence posts collection for current options.

3. O'Briens Tredaline (the premium tier)

The O'Briens Tredaline is the professional-grade temporary fence post used by most large-scale graziers and rotational grazing co-ops. H-profile design rather than round shaft, with 8 positions for polybraid and 4 positions for 1.5" polytape, a galvanized steel stake embedded above the foot peg for stability, and premium UV-stabilized polymers that hold up for years of outdoor use.

Powerflex stocks all three colors:

• O'Briens Tredaline Post — Yellow — high-visibility yellow. The volume color in most regions.
• O'Briens Tredaline Post — White — used for horse applications where visibility against vegetation is the priority.
• O'Briens Tredaline Post — Blue — high-contrast blue for some grazing operations.

Sold in boxes of 50. See the O'Briens Top Sellers collection for the full assortment.

Where they work: any operation where the fence will be redeployed for 5+ years. Multi-strand setups (the H-profile holds 8 wires reliably). Heavy-livestock applications where post integrity matters. Operations where fence-moving has to be fast and the wire has to go in the right slot the first time.

Where they fail:

• Cost. ~$3-5 per post vs $1-2 for cheap step-ins. The math pays back over the lifespan, but the up-front cost is higher.
• Rocky soil installation. The galvanized stake above the foot peg helps significantly, but extremely rocky ground still requires either an alternative post or pre-driving a starter hole.

For serious rotational graziers running daily or near-daily moves, Tredaline is the right answer. The cost per post is recovered in the first season of avoided replacements.

The decision matrix

How many posts do you need?

The standard rule for rotational grazing systems is one post every 12-15 feet for flat terrain and good wire tension. On rolling terrain, more posts (8-10 ft spacing) keep the wire from sagging into the ground at low points.

For a typical paddock fence of 1,320 feet (one roll of polybraid), that's 88-110 posts per fence run. A working operation running 4-6 paddocks at any time on a 1-mile rotation needs 350-660 posts total — which is why buying in 50-packs is the standard purchase mode.

Always buy 10-15% more than your calculated count. Foot pedals crack, posts get run over by tractors, and spare posts in the truck save trips to the shed when a fence build runs short.

What pairs with the post

Posts don't work in isolation. The full portable-fence kit includes:

• The conductor — Super 9 Mixed Metal Polybraid is the standard pairing for cattle/grazing applications. See our polybraid buyer's guide for the full wire comparison.
• The reel — a Taragate 3:1 Geared Reel or Strainrite 3:1 Geared Reel makes the daily fence move fast enough to actually happen.
• The energizer — sized to fence length and livestock type. See our solar energizer buyer's guide for the solar options or the full energizers collection for AC and DC.
• Gate handles — non-conductive gate handles for daily operation, conductive handles where the gate strand needs to stay hot.
• Grounding — galvanized ground rods and bronze clamps, sized to energizer output.

For the complete portable system view, see our portable electric fence buyer's guide.

Two mistakes that ruin temporary fence post performance

1. Mixing post types within a single fence run. A pigtail post next to a Tredaline next to a plastic step-in produces uneven wire tension — the rigid posts hold the wire taut while the flexible ones let it sag, which strains the rigid posts and breaks the flexible ones. Pick a post style and stick with it for the whole run. Mix types only between distinct paddock systems, not within them.

2. Buying the cheapest option for the most expensive part of the system. A $1.50 plastic step-in post failing on a $400 energizer + $300 worth of polybraid + $200 reel system is bad economics. Match the post quality to the system quality. Cheap posts on premium systems is the most common false economy in portable fence-building.

Bottom line

Three post tiers, three matched use cases. Plastic step-in for short-term and budget applications. Pigtail steel (preferably Goldfoot or Gallagher HD ring-top) for everyday cattle rotational grazing. O'Briens Tredaline for serious rotational grazing operations where the fence will be redeployed for years and post integrity is non-negotiable.

Powerflex's portable fence posts collection covers all three tiers. The O'Briens Top Sellers collection is the premium tier specifically. Free shipping on orders over $150. We've been outfitting rotational graziers since 1994 — call 888-251-3934 if you want a parts list put together for your specific paddock layout and livestock type.