Graziers spend millions of dollars constructing exclusion fences around their properties in western Queensland, but their efforts are being undone by piles of tumbleweeds rolling across the outback.
Key points:
- Roly-poly is a native bush that grows across Australia
- When the bush dies it gets blown into fencing by the wind
- Graziers spend about $10,000 per kilometre to build an exclusion fence
The exclusion fences are in place to keep predators out and have been credited for the best lambing rates in a decade.
The roly-poly native bush grows across Australia, but the dead tumbleweeds are wreaking havoc in parts of western Queensland.
They're a classic sight in the west and in windy conditions, get blown onto fence lines, building up over time.
The collective weight of a pile of roly-poly is heavy enough to push a 1.5-metre fence to the ground.
'It would nearly bend anything'
It costs graziers approximately $10,000 per kilometre to build exclusion fencing, so a 15-km stretch would cost them $150,000.
Sandy Williams had just finished building an exclusion fence on his property near Ilfracombe, but two days later, he was back out repairing the fence line after a pile of roly-poly pushed it over.
He considers himself lucky that he only lost 400 metres because he knows just how much damage can be done.
"If you get a full fence of roly-poly and get it wet and it gets a strong wind … it would nearly bend anything … the whole fence just lay over," Mr Williams said.
Mr Williams used machinery to pull the roly-poly from the fence, and while it was an easy fix, he said it was only a matter of time before it happened again.
"We're just coming out of a drought," he said.
"The normal procedure is that after a drought, you will get a lot of roly-poly.
"The day will come, when the conditions are right, we will lose it again, I'm sure."
Removal solution needed
For Scott Counsell, however, it has not been a quick fix.
Many sections of his fence line at Evoka Station have been pushed over by huge piles of roly-poly.
It had built up so much he was worried any attempt to remove the bushes would damage the fence further.
"You have to be careful you don't pick the fence up with the machinery," he said.
"But someone needs to come up with a good machine solution that will get it off our fences."
Rain, while a godsend in the drought, could make the problem worse.
"When it goes black and has been rained on, that's when it sort of locks itself in there, and that'll be the hardest to get rid of," Mr Counsell said.
Pest control issues
Exclusion fences are vital to keep pests and predators out of paddocks and to protect the feed on the ground.
"We can't afford to have it lay flat for an extended period of time," Mr Williams said.
"Because you've got [wild] dogs, stock, roos and all sorts of things crossing that fence.
"We don't want to break that barrier.
"Once they start, it's pretty hard to pull those sorts of things up."