Fencing materials that live up to their claims

The Problem

Paul Baikie from Farmer Joe’s fencing is familiar with the hassle of poor-quality fencing materials making their way into NZ and has had firsthand experience of how costly it can be when the products are simply not made for NZ conditions.

With fencing materials being sold under no quality standards or guarantee on how long they will last, Paul mentions, “Suppliers would say their posts (that are imported from China) were better than “Waratah’s” and I would reject them and send them back.”

But he’s not alone, “When you start talking to the other contractors, they were all having the same problem,” states Paul. Suppliers would make claims that their products could not support. Having had to re-visit many jobs due to poor quality products not holding up in the conditions, Paul went looking for a reliable fencing brand that could supply materials that would last.

The Solution

Due to the hard, rocky country in New Zealand, Contractors require quality materials that will work. “It’s not the kind of place where you can drive a post straight into the ground and you can move right onto the next one. It goes through rocks and kicks out of place, so it requires good ductility and flexibility in the post for you to be able to bend them and get the fence straight” When Paul discovered Waratah he quickly realised what he was missing out on, stating, “The Waratahs work well because you are able to bend and shake them, allowing you to get the nose straight and stand them back up for the wires.” Having the ductility in the posts is crucial and you can notice a big difference after using imported posts from China. Paul says, “Posts coming from China are impossible to bend, it would break your back trying and bend them around. It got to the point where I started refusing to use them.”

Paul’s decision to fence with Waratah has given him confidence in his work, stating that, “switching to Waratah was the best thing we have ever done.” Waratah are the only Australian fencing manufacturer that control every step in the manufacturing process and comply to relevant consistency & quality standards, guaranteeing products are made for Australian conditions. Because of the Waratah guarantee Paul is confident in using the products saying, “With Waratah we know what we are getting, the product will be better. With imported products from China we know no quality standards and have no guarantee on how long the products will last (anything the Chinese make doesn’t last – it’s guaranteed not to last) whereas we know with the Australian waratah product it’s built to last. For years it has proven it can last in outback Australia I know it will last here.”

Advice for farmers, from farmers

“Now that I have used Waratah, I wouldn’t use anything else. If I get clients that are saying they’re going to supply the materials I will say well if you’re not using Waratah I’m not coming. It’s as simple as that. There’s no use going back once you’ve hit gold.”