A crowd of close to 100 people made the long trek out to Gilgunnia to see at first hand the huge cluster exclusion fence built by 16 farmers.
The open day at Glenn Turner’s “Penshurst” gave farmers a first-hand look at the potential of exclusion fences to stop feral pests and help improve crop returns and protect pastures.
Already herds of 500 or so pigs have been found clustered up against the fence unable to get through.
Sheep producer Will Roberts, who was one of the farmers who built the huge Morven fence in southern Queensland, was one of the guest speakers. He told the crowd that his lambing rates were now 100 per cent on his property “Victoria Downs”, after previously being about 15 per cent before the fence due to wild dog attacks.
Western Local Land Services helped organise the open day which included Gilgunnia Cluster Fence group members, landholders, stakeholders, invited guests including Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton and landholder Will Roberts.
Guest speakers included Gilgunnia Cluster Fence organiser, Dean Hague, Mr Coulton, Mr Roberts and Western Local Land Services General Manager, Erlina Compton.
After a barbecue, the guests toured the cluster fence on Penshurst.
Mr Hague was pleased with the turn out.
“There has been a lot of time, work and effort go into this project by a lot of people so to see it be such a success is very rewarding,” Mr Hague said.
“Hopefully the landholders that visited got an idea of what is involved in the project, what the benefits are and why it is such a good investment for landholders.
“It was also great some of the invited guests such as Mark Coulton could attend and see first-hand that the funding the Gilgunnia group received from the Federal Government has been put to good use.”
The Gilgunnia Cluster Fence project involved 16 landholders and 22 properties saw 210 kilometres of fencing erected that enclosed 177,000 hectares, became a reality following a successful application for funding through the Australian Government’s 2016 Pest and Weed Drought Funding program.
Work commenced on the project in November 2016 and was only recently completed.
If landholders want more information on cluster fencing, they are encouraged to contact their nearest Western Local Land Services office.