The South Island turned on two spectacular days for the Best Practice Days held in late April, early May. Here’s what went down and why you should come to the next one!
Ikamatua (West Coast) 30 April 2024
Our Ikamatua Best Practice Day focused on the best practice techniques involved in rural fencing by installing sheep netting fencing around two boundaries of a section. Using Waratah Stockgrip® Longlife Blue 8/90/15 netting and PermaPine posts, commentator John Noakes, aka Noksee, talked through what demonstrator (and FCANZ Board Member) Nick Terry was doing – and why.
Nick demonstrated and talked about installing stays on corner strainers and using Jio Star posts (‘waratahs’) to tie down line posts, and there were some great discussions about the different ways of doing this.
Attendees took a break for a fantastic lunch thanks to the local Farmlands team and got to hear from FCANZ Partners Gallagher, Beattie Insulators, Waratah, Strainrite, Summit, RD Petroleum and Milwaukee about how their products are used for the best quality rural fencing.
After lunch the team moved on to the technical (but incredibly important) details of how to secure tension netting around a corner and how to tie off the netting at the end post. By the end of the afternoon, the road frontage and side boundary had a shiny new fence ready to keep in stock (or kids).
Thanks to Cameron Lawton for helping with the pre-event post-ramming and helping with the hard yakka on the day, and Ethan Kidd for giving us his paddock to work in.
Hawea Flats (Wanaka) 2 May 2024
It was a stunning but chilly start in Hawea Flats for our Best Practice Day, which focused on Lifestyle fencing. This event was a little different from many other Best Practice Days in that it looked at a number of different types of fence, many of which are often used in a lifestyle block situation. MC for the day, Nick Terry kept attendees across what work was being done and helped direct the many questions that came up.
There certainly was a lot of fencing being installed. Brendon from Waratah demonstrated how their Flex Rail Electric equine fencing is installed and how it works in conjunction with other, more traditional types of stock fencing. Rodney and the team from Pankhurst Sawmilling, with help from demonstrator Craig Sinclair, installed a beautiful entrance way using macrocarpa interlocking three-rail fencing, before a break for lunch.
Lunch was supplied by the team from PGG and it was fantastic timing, as the stock truck delivering lambs to the farm arrived and would have put a halt to any fencing work. Instead, they provided entertainment while everyone enjoyed their lunch.
Following the meal and show, the fencing continued. A short span of Waratah Stockgrip® Longlife Blue netting was installed, with Waratah Black Star posts as the intermediate posts. An angle stay was installed to support a corner post, which made for interesting times as Waratah rabbit netting was then attached to the Stockgrip® Longlife Blue fence.
Thanks to Andy Tindall for setting up the location and the hard work beforehand; Lucia for saving our bacon with coffee, and Bubs for jumping in wherever needed – including the back of the sheep truck!
Benefits of Best Practice Days
If you haven’t yet been to a Best Practice Day, we highly recommend you do. It’s a great opportunity to discuss different fencing techniques and try Partner products before committing to buy. It also gives you the chance to network with other fencing contractors and build some great connections.
One recent attendee, who has been fencing for more than 50 years, learnt a new way to strip stay wires from netting that will save him a lot of time. It just goes to show that you’re never too old to learn!
Article written by Jaime Bigwood
Published in WIRED issue 73/JUNE 2024 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ
