• Barbed wire fencing provides security for your property.barbed wire image by lukasz gonerski from Fotolia.com
  
  Barbed wire fencing provides a formidable barrier beneficial for a number of reasons. You can keep people off of your property or ensure that prisoners or livestock remain in their compounds. Whatever motivates the installation of a barbed wire fence, posts for these will generally come from one of two materials---wood or steel. When choosing steel fence posts, find out which type works best for your purpose.
  
  

T-Posts

• The United States fencing market prefers T-posts. These environmentally-friendly steel posts come built with studs rather than holes, though this type of post still receives use for setting-up wire mesh. T-posts find their way to beach, fish and salt farming establishments to keep intruders out. This type of steel post can be recovered after years of use.
  
  

Waratah

• Australian and New Zealand fence installers tend to use the waratah post. This lightweight option is also known as a star picket or y-post, among other names. A cross-section reveals a three pointed star of roughly 10 cm in diameter. One pointed end helps laborers drive the post into the ground. The other, flat end, makes hammering easy. Pre-drilled holes allow for evenly spaced wire mesh.
  
  

U-Shaped

• Other options include the U-shaped post. One benefit of this style is that two posts can be bolted together for an extra level of support. You will find this durable option coated in epoxy resin and painted green. Like the other steel posts, these possess several advantages over wooden posts. They are lightweight, fire resistant and easy to drive into the ground. They also resist damage from animals and birds. Choose this option for a permanent barbed-wire fence.