The problem with concrete around the pole in clay is the freeze heave and dry cycles. In the winter, freezing and thawing action causes heave and expansion that wants to move it around which is why you get the post below the freeze level. During the summer, unless you are in the rain belt, the clay dries up and pulls away (retracts) from the post and concrete around it. That is when cracks in ground appear and some get so wide you can stick your hand in it. Then the wind loading action against the barn makes the posts move ever so slightly enough to begin wallowing out the post hole and you lose the support. Packing the hole with sand or small limestone allows the fines to move with the clay as it expands and retracts. Not allowing the ground to dry out helps in that regard and probably some parts of the country doesn't see what dry clay does just like some parts of the country doesn't deal with the freeze level.
You will also notice that clay in the early spring after it has gone through the freeze cycle is much softer and less compacted due to the process which makes it easier to dig and auger. The summer drying process just compacts the clay to make it very difficult to dig and auger.
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Today's Featured Article - Grain Threshing in the Early 40's - by Jerry D. Coleman. How many of you can sit there and say that you have plowed with a mule? Well I would say not many, but maybe a few. This story is about the day my Grandfather Brown (true name) decided along with my parents to purchase a new Ford tractor. It wasn't really new except to us. The year was about 1967 and my father found a good used Ford 601 tractor to use on the farm instead of "Bob", our old mule. Now my grandfather had had this mule since the mid 40's and he was getting some age on him. S
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