Cooma woolgrower Jim Cassilles spared no expense in getting a good sleep at night - a $16,000 perimeter fence to keep rogue town dogs from attacking his sheep.
Living on the edge of town and being a top fine woolgrower has its issues. Mr Cassilles not only battles the dog invasions, he battles kangaroos and the spread of lovegrass from neighbouring properties.
After losing 40 sheep in dog attacks, and having no luck urging owners to contain their canines, Mr Cassilles decided to build his own ‘great wall of Cooma’.
It not only stops the dogs, but also, with the fencing slanted high and upwards, kangaroos from jumping into his property from surrounding wooded hills. It’s given him some peace of mind and allowed more pasture growth – essential for the fine wool he produces at “Matong”, just on Cooma’s southern outskirts.
Jim thought being close to the main busy Snowy Mountains Highway might be the trouble area, but it wasn’t. It was the small rural blocks, several of which have failed to contain dogs and also the lovegrass he has assiduously eliminated on “Matong”.
One small holding that houses a ski hire shop is covered in lovegrass, while a grazing property doesn’t have the lovegrass back the required 50 metres from Mr Cassilles’ boundary, Mr Cassilles said. Despite concerns that weed control under new biosecurity laws might see neighbours pressured to control the invasive weed in non-endemic areas, Mr Cassilles says no enforcement orders have happened so far. The statewide noxious weeds list was removed and replaced by local land services weed lists specific to regional areas.
Snowy-Monaro Council said it had not heard from Mr Cassilles, but said Mr Cassilles appeared to be on the dividing line in the Monaro between where lovegrass was endemic and where it should be controlled.
The high fence has two hot wires and and several rows of barbed wire. Mr Cassilles reckons he’ll be able to get a return on his big investment in a few years by preventing the dog attacks. He approached a dog owner about what he suspected was the problem dog and was told they would get rid of the dog. Council told Mr Cassilles would have to detect the dog while attacking his sheep for a prosecution to occur. The sheep were attacked on their faces and badly mauled. Local Land Services said because it appeared not to be a wild dog, it was a council matter.
Farmers with properties close to towns often face similar problems to Mr Cassilles, especially in nearby Canberra, where kangaroos invade pasture land from reserves on a regular basis.
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
