Keeping the animals in

Posted on: 2 September 2015

If you are concerned about wild animals and want to do whatever you can to preserve their natural habitat or way of life, you should think about them as you buy fences and gates for your ranch. You can fence in a large field or paddock on your ranch without hurting local wildlife in any way. First, however, you have to investigate these elements before putting up your fence and gates:

1. Migratory Passageways

Before you install your fence, talk with your the local game and fish managers about the wild animals that pass through your area, and find out if any endangered or threatened species migrate through your area. If so, you need to keep them in mind as you design your fence. Also, remember that the best approach varies wildly depending on which species migrates through your area. 

To preserve natural migratory passageways, you may want a custom made gate that can be opened during certain times of the year or even a gate that can be pushed open by wild life. Some ranchers prefer remote control gates that can be opened remotely when the livestock are gone but the wild animals need to pass. For example, if your fields are empty as your cattle have gone to slaughter but a group of animals need to migrate through the area, you can simply hit the remote controls and open the fence for a while.

In other cases, you may simply want to build a corridor through your pasture for migrating animals.

2. Natural Corridors

Even if animals don't naturally migrate through your land, you need to look at the position of your land in relation to nearby natural habitats. If your land sits between several natural areas, you need to create a corridor through your fields using fencing.

Wildlife corridors connect two or more natural areas so that animals can easily travel between these areas, and by allowing animals to travel between areas, you promote biodiversity, reduce inbreeding and provide hospitable areas to endangered species.

There are a range of ways to build a corridor. You can use fencing materials to create two pastures with an open path between them, or you can create three distinct areas all that are all fenced in but have openings between them. For example, you can install gates at either end of the migratory passage and gates in the areas connecting your large pastures and your migratory passageways. As needed (based on the seasons or migration times), you can open and close the gates to create one large contiguous pasture or two separate pastures with a corridor running between them. 

3. Safe Movement

In other cases, migrating animals or wildlife in general may be able to jump your fence, and as a result, you don't have to worry about opening parts of it or creating a natural corridor. However, you need to keep these creatures in mind as you design your fence and gates. Ideally, you need to ensure they can jump your fence easily and without injury.

For example, avoid decorative spikes as they can impale leaping creatures such as deer, and remember to investigate how high your local breeds of animals can jump -- even among the deer species, this figure can vary quite a lot. Similarly, avoid barbs in places where they could hurt animals, and use smooth wire instead.

By managing your land and your fencing in ways that benefit wildlife, you help keep fragile populations from going extinct, prevent unnecessary deaths of individual animals, and help to maintain the local habitat.

For more information, contact a company like Central Coast Fencing Industries Pty Ltd.