Shifting portable fences made easier with Smart Fence 2

Agriseeds forage trial plots usually require three to four portable fences being shifted every day - the job has been made considerably easier thanks to a recent investment in seven Gallagher Smart Fence 2 units. To keep forage trial plots accurate and as close to real world farming as possible Agriseeds have invested extensively in its 220ha Darfield site, with a broad selection of brassicas, pastures and forage crops being grazed and trialled.

The forage trial plots Agriseeds use at Darfield are 50m wide strip columns that require a reliable fence system that is easily erected, transported and stored. The trial plots usually require three to four fences being shifted every day, and the job has been made considerably easier thanks to a recent investment in seven Gallagher Smart Fence 2 units.

The portable four wire system replaces an earlier flexible mesh netting system Agriseeds used. That proved to be easily tangled, clumsy and slower to set up. It also occasionally resulted in very young lambs becoming entangled in the fence’s mesh netting. “We really wanted a system that we could set up quickly, as in some of the trials the sheep will only be on them for 48 hours before they have to be moved,” says Agriseeds agronomist Alan Harvey.

Alan says the Smart Fence 2 four wire system is “ten times” faster than the previous system that has also proven easy to store without the usual clutter of standards, wires and reels combining into an unholy mess and time consuming tangle. A patented self-tensioning system prevents tangles and “birds nesting” of wire in the reels, and Gallagher’s proven reel drive technology ensures winding is effortless and reliable. “The whole system combines the post, reels and wire in one package, and the four wire system is ideal for what we need to keep sheep mobs in their break,” he says.

The Smart Fence 2 design with its extra strong main post ensures tension remains constant across the break, and Alan reports no problems with lambs becoming caught in it, or stock managing to get through. “We keep a pretty close eye on the stock anyway, but the mobs they are in can be anywhere from 50 to 200 head, so they are reasonably sized.”

Coming with 100m of wire on the reels means the Smart Fence 2 easily copes with the 50m wide plots. Alan says Agriseeds intends to build its inventory of Smart Fence 2 units now they have proven to deliver what the company needs for good stock containment. “They suit our trialling system and hands down beats the old electric netting fences.”