Tough Times Reveal Value of Exclusion Fencing

Exclusion fencing historically had the main purpose of keeping wild dogs, foxes and other pest animals out of an area; but the drought has changed all of that and there is a new emphasis on excluding kangaroos and other native animals to save what precious pasture or crops are able to be grown.

The best known exclusion fence in Australia is the Dingo Fence, which traverses Queensland, NSW and South Australia over a distance of 5,614km.

But there are many more on a smaller scale that are called cluster exclusion fences, generally erected by a small number of farms (as few as two neighbours) or as a cooperative enterprise between local or regional groups comprising a larger number of farms, all with common pest, native animal or productivity problems.

While the Dingo Fence construction and general maintenance was generously funded by Federal and State Governments, cluster fence funding is mostly (but not always) a partnership between the beneficiaries and government agencies.

Just a couple of months ago, with kangaroo numbers "out of control" in many parts of NSW including the southern Riverina, NSW Farmers called on the State Government to fund kangaroo exclusion fencing “to preserve every blade of grass and cropping country where possible.”

Amanda Barlow from the NSW Farmers' Deniliquin branch, who has spent around $35,000 on exclusion fencing, said it had been a proven way of excluding kangaroos from productive farmland, but it was expensive costing between $4000 and $7000 a kilometre.

Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said the NSW Government offered farmers two loan schemes to assist with purchasing materials and constructing exclusion fencing. These include the Farm Innovation Fund, which provides up to $1M interest free loan and the Drought Assistance Fund that provides a $50,000 interest free loan.

Back in 2015, The Land reported that western NSW merino graziers Frank and Rochelle McKillop, invested heavily in an exclusion fence in an effort to exclude kangaroos, and were in the process of fencing their land on The Marra, west of the Macquarie Marshes.

The McKillop’s planned to protect 2,830ha of their 12,000ha property with a 1.7m high, 14 line, tight exclusion fence. Mr McKillop said the fence cost approximately $5500/km for materials and $5000/km for labour and clearing.

"Nothing can go underneath it, and nothing can go over it. We just can't control (kangaroos) any other way. We are running as many kangaroos as we are sheep (and) we want a total barrier. At least 40km will need to be fenced; we haven't worked it out yet – it’s a frightening figure cost- wise, but it needs to be done.”

To assist the property's recovery the McKillops had also begun a ponding program to encourage the re-establishment of Mitchell grass and salt bush in the exclusion fenced areas.

Costs are only one side of the investment coin. The benefits, of course, will depend on the extent of the problem and the value of the activity or enterprise being protected and ring fenced.

According to a 2016 Kondinin Group research report on exclusion fencing, the fences are so effective in preventing wild dog attacks that some graziers have seen their lambing percentages go from 10% to as high as 95%. They have also reduced grazing pressure by managing kangaroo numbers.

To quantify the damage, the Kondinin Group report says one kangaroo has a dry sheep equivalent of 0.625, so 1,000 roos will eat the same amount of feed as 625 sheep.

“This is where restrictive fencing has enabled landholders to hold onto the last bit of pick they have to feed their livestock, especially in times of extreme drought,” Phillip says. “The greatest advantage with exclusion fences is when it rains – that’s when you get your biggest bang for your buck.”

In June last year, NSW Farmers published an article describing the investment in cluster fencing by Phillip and Diana Ridge spanning 100,000 hectares between Bourke and Enngonia in Western NSW.

“We were already going to build a fence and it was only 30-40% more to build an exclusion hinge joint fence [compared to a standard goat-proof fence]. This will eliminate kangaroos and dogs, so we expect to see the benefits in the short term.

“The glory of it all is you’ll be able to control the grazing pressure,” Phillip says. “In 10 to 15 years’ time, putting up an exclusion fence will be the norm, not the exception, in the Western division.”

Waratah’s NSW rural sales manager Daniel Crisp is already seeing this trend, with farmers in places like Walgett, Bourke and Mungindi building exclusion fences. He says: “Farmers can see the benefits, through increased productivity, so they are self-funding their own fences. A lot of farmers wish they’d put it up 10 years ago.”

Daniel adds that farmers are building fences for total grazing management and biosecurity, not just to exclude pests. He says exclusion fences stop diseases being carried to livestock by feral animals, they keep out wild dogs, prevent feral pests like pigs damaging crops and pasture, and prevent weeds being spread by animals crossing boundaries.

At Rural Property NSW, we are finding more and more properties with exclusion fencing and farmers are convinced that the fencing is helping their bottom line. This leads us to conclude that if you have any spare dosh in your Farm Management Deposit account, exclusion fencing might be worth consideration, especially if you can share the cost with a neighbour, group of neighbours, and/or the Federal and State governments.

Photo Credit: Waratah Fencing

Postscript:

Some years ago (2004) a catalogue of exclusion fencing designs identified either from the reviewed literature or discussions with current managers of exclusion fences in Australia and New Zealand was published.  Click here to view the designs.

The catalogue detailed the estimated costs at that time of a series of designs for exclusion fences for numerous different fences, but no doubt further practical designs have been developed since then by various reputable local and regional fencing contractors or fencing material suppliers.