Encouraging farmers to turn off their electric fences on days forecast to present a catastrophic fire risk could become part of a proposed voluntary code of conduct.
At the Livestock SA southern region meeting in Keith last week, the idea was raised during discussions about January’s Sherwood blaze, which CFS investigators believe was ignited by an electric fence.
Livestock SA president Joe Keynes said the board would discuss putting together a code for electric fences ahead of the 2018-19 fire season.
“If it is potentially a problem for producers in the South East then it could be for the whole state,” he said.
“I know that some already turn them off on high fire risk days and then there are others like us that don’t but make sure the maintenance is kept up.”
Sherwood farmer Rodney Bartlett shared some of the lessons of the devastating fire, which burnt more 12,000 hectares and caused more than $10 million in estimated losses.
Mr Bartlett, who is part of the Sherwood Fire Recovery group, said it was clear everyone should have more than one bushfire plan, depending on whether it was a normal or catastrophic day.
“With a catastrophic day you need a stock plan, nothing else – because if you try and sit in your house you are going to kill yourself and a lot of people nearly did,” he said.
He encouraged livestock producers to review their insurance policies, with those who insured their livestock and fencing for a lump sum value “doing much better” than those who insured based on a per head basis or number of kilometres.
Many also did not realise they were responsible for the total cost of replacing fencing in areas neighbouring heritage land and were out of pocket. Mr Bartlett said the community had rallied around those affected, but many took a lot of convincing to accept help.
“People want to give it to you and they feel good about it – don’t think ‘I am a hero and can do it all’,” he said.
