{"id":9519,"date":"2025-08-04T01:43:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T01:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/?p=9519"},"modified":"2025-09-09T05:21:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:21:35","slug":"wildlife-friendly-fencing-on-grazing-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/wildlife-friendly-fencing-on-grazing-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife-friendly fencing on grazing land"},"content":{"rendered":"[mk_page_section bg_image=”https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/wildlife-friendly-fencing.jpg” bg_position=”center center” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” bg_stretch=”true” enable_3d=”true” min_height=”500″ js_vertical_centered=”true” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” section_id=”donate” el_class=”donate-1″ sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”70px”][mk_fancy_title font_family=”none” align=”center”]WILDLIFE-FRIENDLY FENCING ON GRAZING LAND[\/mk_fancy_title][mk_padding_divider size=”67″][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][mk_page_section section_id=”great-1″ sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1563789112768{padding-right: 36px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}” el_class=”great_header_left”][mk_padding_divider size=”100″ visibility=”hidden-nb”][mk_padding_divider size=”15″ visibility=”visible-sm”][mk_padding_divider visibility=”visible-tl”][mk_fancy_title size=”28″ letter_spacing=”4″ margin_bottom=”0″ font_family=”none” el_class=”terrain-title-2″]WETHERBY STATION CHANGES FENCING[\/mk_fancy_title][mk_padding_divider size=”60″ visibility=”hidden-nb”][mk_padding_divider size=”20″ visibility=”visible-nb”][vc_column_text el_class=”sub-head” css=”.vc_custom_1754352936448{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]AUGUST 2025[\/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”5″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1754458375478{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Mt Molloy grazier John Colless has switched to wildlife-friendly fencing and he rates it – both for his cattle and the native species living on Wetherby Station.<\/p>\n

John is one of a growing number of landholders using plain wire as the top strand on barbed wire fences. He made the switch two years ago at his Brangus Stud.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a fence is tightly strained up, cattle tend to respect it. The top wire is really more about visibility \u2013 to give a fence height. We\u2019ve had no problems with the cattle where we\u2019ve put in wildlife-friendly fencing and we haven\u2019t had any wildlife caught up in these fences.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past, he says a barn owl, ibis and flying foxes had been caught in fences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tend to hit the top wire. I\u2019ve seen a barn owl tangled up after doing a 360-degree flip. I unwound him and took him to a vet who sutured the wing. I brought him back here and now we\u2019ll sometimes see him sitting on the strainer post of an evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wildlife-friendly fencing wire<\/strong><\/p>\n

He says speaking with Jenny Mclean from the Tolga Bat Hospital led him down the path of wildlife-friendly fencing wire.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe gave me a roll of two-strand twisted plain wire to try out. You get a bit more reflection with the kink in the two-strand twisted wire so it\u2019s more visible than a single plain top wire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done some fencing around the cooler (where cattle are settled down before going into the yards), and in a timber paddock and we\u2019ve just cut a paddock in half with new fencing. We\u2019ve also run a fence along our boundary with Rifle Creek and added wetland fencing to improve native habitat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a 50-50 Landcare grant for the creek fencing. I wanted to keep the cattle out of there for ease of mustering and to let the rainforest regenerate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wildlife-friendly twisted wire is compatible with traditional fencing equipment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1563789122720{padding-right: 0px !important;padding-left: 34px !important;}” el_class=”great_header_right”][mk_padding_divider size=”206″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_padding_divider size=”50″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_padding_divider size=”50″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_padding_divider size=”5″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1754458475524{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"\"\u201cThe spool that it comes on is identical to the barbed wire spool so there is no extra work, and it can go on a four wire or three wire spinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout five per cent of our fences now have the wildlife-friendly wire as a top wire. When we need to do new fencing, because of things like flood damage, we\u2019ll add more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a better way of doing something we\u2019ll try it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terrain NRM\u2019s Tony O\u2019Malley says the top wire of fences cause 86 per cent of wildlife entrapments. The species most at risk in Far North Queensland include masked owls, spectacled flying foxes, mahogany gliders, yellow-bellied gliders and greater gliders. All of these are endangered species.<\/p>\n

Terrain NRM has a new factsheet with a range of options for making new or existing fences more wildlife-friendly.<\/p>\n

\u201cTop strand options include barbless double-strand twisted wire (barbed wire without barbs) or plain wire.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, read this factsheet: www.terrain.org.au\/wildlife-friendly-fencing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The wetland fencing on Wetherby Station is part of a project with Gulf Savannah NRM, which is funded by the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment, Science and Innovation through the Community Sustainability Action Grants Program.<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][mk_page_section el_class=”grean-btn-sec” sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][mk_padding_divider size=”47″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_button dimension=”outline” url=”https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/?p=9519&preview=true” align=”right” el_class=”green-btn” outline_skin=”custom” outline_active_color=”#175137″ outline_active_text_color=”#ffffff” outline_hover_bg_color=”#175137″ outline_hover_color=”#ffffff”]Read More[\/mk_button][mk_padding_divider size=”100″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][mk_page_section section_id=”great-1-blog” sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][mk_padding_divider size=”105″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_fancy_title size=”28″ letter_spacing=”4″ margin_bottom=”0″ font_family=”none” align=”right” el_class=”terrain-title”]RELATED NEWS[\/mk_fancy_title][mk_padding_divider visibility=”hidden-sm”][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][vc_row fullwidth=”true” fullwidth_content=”false” id=”post_grid_filter_1″][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”grid_greate_3″ css=”.vc_custom_1743711316392{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\n

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