With the arrival of the summer, new fence building courses are taking place. One of the Austrian Competence Centres in Carinthia already hosted a very successful training on May 18th.
The location
The fence building course took place at the Competence Centre in Hermagor, located in Carinthia close to the border with Italy, which is a farm specialised in raising Angus cattle. Many people, including several shepherds and farmers as well as members of the LIFEstockProtect partners Bio Austria and EWS, attended and actively contributed to the event with great enthusiasm and curiosity to learn more about fencing.
Because of the presence of the wolf in the area, the training specifically focused on building an enclosure on the surroundings of the farm to protect the livestock during the night by the large carnivore. The permanent fence was built using T-posts, which allows the farmers to remove the wires and bands in winter.
The development of the day
Experienced farmers guided the process and explained the techniques for placing the poles, especially the ones at the corners which need extra reinforcement because of the tension on them. Among many other things, participants were taught how to lay and tense the wires, as well as understand the right heights to place them. The presence of shepherds with extensive experience in fence building was crucial to show how to properly ground the line of the fence and how to ensure that vulnerable points as the gates were well built. Particularly eye-opening and valuable was when the experts guided the group along the completed fence to identify and solve critical points which represented a potential entrance for the wolf. The speakers showed how to learn to “read” the ground and the environment to then improve the fence accordingly.
The day was a great opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of fence building and to learn by doing. The gentle slope simplified the process, but the over 600 m length perimeter of the area required the whole day to complete the fence with all participants contributing to the building. Luckily the weather was sunny and the expected storm didn’t arrive.
More courses will follow in the upcoming months in all regions of LIFEstockProtect, you can find more information about them on the LSP training website soon!
