(This is the same type rod used for home electrical grounds. Electric fences operate best with 3 of these rods in the ground installed 10 feet apart.)
Removal was surprisingly hard! First I used a narrow spade to remove the grass turf around the rod. The top of the ground rod was about 2 inches under the grass surface. Then I used a post hole digger and dug about 4 feet down alongside the rod. (I have rather easy digging soil with lots of sand.) Then I used a 4” x 4”x 10’ piece of lumber to pry with and attached a rope around the rod and around the lumber to pry the rod up. No success at the beginning. I then used a 12 ton bottle jack to raise the rod. Well things went sideways at first and the bottle jack ended upside down 4 foot down in the hole. That was well below arms length. My post hole digger was not wide enough to clamp onto the bottom of the jack so that failed. I tried a big magnet on a rope but the jack was wedged in the hole too tightly. I then enlarged the hole with mostly the post hole digger and using a triangle shaped hoe was able to get the jack to pivot horizontally and then I caught the jack handle with the hoe and removed the jack from the hole.
I made the jack more secure and tied a rope to the handle in case it fell in the hole again. Fortunately this time the jack was able to apply enough force to remove the rod which eventually became easier to pull out of the ground. Whew.
