The Riverina Anglican College in Wagga has recently installed an exclusion fence to keep the livestock on its ad plot safe from domestic dog attack.
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The school runs its College Park Poll Dorset Stud at the school and the students get a hands-on experience with animal husbandry practices, said TRAC agriculture teacher Trevor Dawson
Unfortunately, the school has experienced two domestic dog attacks in the past 18 months, which resulted in the death of around 20 head, mainly stud ewes and some younger ram lambs.
This loss has set the breeding and showing program at College Park Stud back at the school.
The school also shows Angus and Limousin/Red Angus steers that they take to the show circuit in the region.
The most recent attack happened in October 2018 and, after hearing of the loss, Waratah Fencing Products and Landmark Wagga teamed up to design the fence and help supply the fencing material.
This 900-metre fence uses quality Australian Waratah product and protects the boundary of the 5.5-hectare plot.
The fence consists of 15/150/15 Waratah Stocksafe prefabricated wire with apron and uses 225cm JIO steel posts with three-metre galvanised strainer and stay assemblies.
To finish off, the fence runs an electric hotwire on top.
The fence was constructed by Dowling Rural Contracting.
As Mr Dawson explained the fence now gives him peace of mind when driving into the AG Plot at the school knowing the school's livestock are safe and sound and the sight of dead or mauled sheep should now be a distant memory.
A fence demonstration day was held on site at The Riverina Anglican College on Wednesday, March 13, providing the chance for livestock producers and students to get a close-up look at the completed exclusion fence and learn some of the "tips and tricks" of this fencing method.
"Considering that all grazing properties are running into issues with kangaroos, wild dogs, wombats and other feral pests, which are all competing for valuable feed, exclusion fences keep the livestock in and the pest animals out," Waratah Fencing Jackson Blake said.
"In these tough seasonal conditions, it is essential that we keep your livestock safe, but secondly protect those valuable pastures from those undesirable animals."
