With a mere 40% lambing success, Robert Scott needed a fencing solution that would stop his property being used as a “honey pot” by wild dogs.
“When we first started running sheep, everyone said we were mad … and a few times I thought we were.”
Without an effective solution to manage native and invasive species,
many of Rob’s neighbours simply went out of sheep and into cattle 20 to
30 years ago.
Unlike the Weston family … who began developing the Westonfence™ for better land and animal control when faced with a similar situation.
Rob also fought back. Instead of admitting defeat … Rob began using the Westonfence™ system. A fencing system he’d seen used previously with great success.
Rob redesigned his entire farm; putting in a central lane-way … with all internal fencing Westonfence™.
“I’m very much a fan of cell grazing: you need country locked up to take advantage of that rain when it does come.”
“On the boundary there’s some older prefab netting where I’m having to put offsets … like tripwires … on those fences because wombats dig under it. This lets other animals through and then the sheep start going out.”
This is the beauty of the Westonfence™ system. The versatility means it can be implemented for exclusion, subdivision or retrofitted to an existing fence.
It also makes it easy to “hotwire” an existing perimeter fence where diggers and burrowers are present.
“There’s an eastern boundary where it’s almost like a national park, and we’ve got wild dogs coming out of that side, so I’m thinking of putting an exclusion Westonfence™ there, just for that reason.”
Rob has set up cameras to help pinpoint where the wild dogs are coming in.
“Because neighbours mostly run cattle, they haven’t worried about the dogs too much. This has meant they’re coming into our property from everywhere.”
Except in the areas where Rob has fully fenced the perimeter with Westonfence™. This area shows no sign of wild dogs.
“I’ve got dogs on camera right next to paddocks where there’s lambs and they haven’t touched them.”
This lambing season Rob is hoping for a success rate of 100% or above … a rate necessary for the protection of his livelihood.
In the areas where we’ve fully done the perimeter with Westonfence, there’s no sign of wild dogs. It’s definitely working. I’ve got dogs on camera right next to paddocks where there’s lambs and they haven’t touched them. This lambing, we’re hoping for a minimum of 100% ... Rob Scott
Sheep Fence, Cattle Fence, Boundary Fence, Exclusion Fence, Wild Dog Exclusion, Native & Invasive Species
