Back up service the key to choosing Gallagher gear
Lance Pope got more than he bargained for when he chose Gallagher products to fence his Brahman bull breeding operation at Glenborough in Queensland.
Saturday, 01 January, 2022
Lance Pope chose his electric fencing and weighing equipment based on the back-up service — having sold the solutions at work, he knew the back-up was excellent.
The second-generation farmer has run Glenborough Brahman Stud at Yabulu, north of Townsville, Queensland, with wife Karen since the late 1990s, operating a commercial setup before that.
The couple runs 400 head of Brahmans on 607 hectares (1,500 acres), with a breeding program aiming to produce sound, early maturing, beefy bulls. They also grow their own hay.
Lance says, “Our cattle are all stud quality now, but we have choices: if we want to make them commercial we’ve got A-grade and B-grade, so can sell the heifers off as good breeders, and any bulls we think are not good enough just go as commercial too.
“We lived off the farm for 20 years growing small crops, and then in the year 2000 I joined Elders. I’ve been at there for nearly 17 years or so now.”
Separating the bulls
Lance says having always used barb-wire, he and Karen looked at electric fencing to stop the bulls getting scratched when they went through fences.
“Once the bulls put their heads together, they just wipe fences out — a barb-wire fence doesn’t stop them. So you’ve got to keep them apart. Electric fencing does that.
“We also wanted something else around the boundaries to try and stop the dingos and other feral animals coming into the paddocks.
“I know Gallagher has always been a good brand. When I started selling electric fences at Elders, whenever we had a problem, Gallagher wouldn’t hesitate to go and fix it for us. It was really good back-up service, so that’s why I chose it for my own place — I knew from my shop experience I could rely on the back-up. I think when you buy something, back-up service is just as important as the product for customers.”
M10,000i means less maintenance
The Popes originally installed an MX7500 Energizer, recently upgrading to an M10,000i Energizer.
“We’re only running about 15 kilometres at the moment, but the reason I got the big Energizer is that in the wet season we get a lot of grass that grows up through the fences. We haven’t had a wet for a while, but when we do, you can’t always get out there to mow the grass and keep it perfectly clean. The big M10,000i Energizer has heaps of joules up its sleeve, so when the grass touches the wires the unit just outdoes it and keeps going. So even though we’re not going far, having a big Energizer is a lot less maintenance.”
The Popes are running all Gallagher equipment on the fence, including Steel Post Live Tip Lockset Offsets.
"Our boundary fences are barbed wire with the Live Tip Lockset Offsets, which keeps the pressure off the fence. So if the neighbours' bulls are fighting, it keeps them away from the fence; they don’t wreck it.”
“We went Gallagher everything. It’s very easy to maintain and very easy to put up.”