Greg Ferrier, Livestock Extension Officer
A stock containment area (SCA) provides many benefits to farm management, including during drought, seasonal extremes (dry and wet), after fire and for general farm management.
SCAs can help support a range of daily farming activities, including:
- stock feeding, watering and monitoring
- pasture management
- minimising erosion risks by avoiding over-grazing
- an area to manage potential weed introduction from introduced feeds.
When siting a SCA, landholders should consider the following:
- Adequate setbacks to minimise risk of run-off to waterways
- Location on moderately sloping, well drained, stable soil (e.g. clay or clay–loam), avoiding pen-to-pen drainage
- Shade and shelter for stock
- Distance to neighbours and local and state planning requirements.
When planning for and setting up a SCA, consider the following:
- Depending on liveweights, allow 5 to 10 square metres per sheep and 10 to 15 square metres per head of cattle.
- Avoid feeding directly from the ground.
- Use fencing suited to the type of animal to be managed.
- Locate feed points well away from water troughs to minimise contaminating the water source.
- Consider laneways and vehicle access.
Animal health and welfare should be a top consideration and priority when siting and creating SCAs:
- Animals in SCAs need to be supplied a suitable diet (energy, minerals and roughage) and water.
- Introduce the grain or concentrate rations gradually.
- Vaccinate (5 or 6 in 1) at entry.
- Ensure daily monitoring of animals, feed and water.
The Navigating Farm Developments (NFD) web-based platform can help work through considerations for appropriate siting of the development of SCAs.
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