Cattle Need Shade and Wildlife and Koalas Need Trees

CATTLE NEED SHADE AND WILDLIFE AND KOALAS NEED TREES

”Across most rural landscapes, paddock trees stand out as an iconic image, as well as providing shade and shelter for livestock and maintaining the productive capacity of the land.”*

Burribi Education and Administration Centre 23 Rifle Range Road EAST LISMORE NSW 2480 Ph: 02 6621 4664 Email: info@friendsofthekoala.org

Koala Rescue Hotline 6622 1233 – 24 hours www.friendsofthekoala.org

*Saving our Species newsletter issue 10 - Dec 2016

KOALA SCRATCH MARKS ON THE TRUNK OF AN ISOLATED, HIGH USAGE KOALA FOOD TREE GRAPHITI DESIGN STUDIO / LISMORE CITY PRINTERY

Mature trees scattered across a modified landscape are often remnants of a vast woodland ecosystem. They provide significant and potentially irreplaceable benefits.

Many land managers appreciate the role these trees play in improving the productive capacity of the land as well providing a suite of benefits to native wildlife eg hollows, safe refuge, food and nesting sites.

CATTLE NEED SHADE With rising temperatures stock owners need to be mindful of the effect of excessive temperatures.

Increased body temperature or heat stress will cause production losses in livestock & impact on their ability to maintain normal function. All grazing animals need access to shade.

Research has shown that paddock trees are disappearing in the landscape at 2.5% per annum. This means that they will disappear completely in 100 years unless we as landowners take steps to replace them.

KOALAS AND OTHER WILDLIFE NEED PADDOCK TREES

DESIGN Cattle country requires a greater outlay to protect trees from grazing stock. There are many options available for landowners wanting to reintroduce paddock trees on to their land. This may be as simple as fencing off the corners of paddocks, adding an electric fence to plant a line of trees adjacent to an existing fence or installing individual hardy guards across the landscape.

The ideal is permanent wildlife friendly fencing but the cost is prohibitive. Where cattle aren’t present but native browsers are, smaller corflute, mesh or chicken wire guards are an option.

as safe islands in an otherwise hostile environment.

Continuous vegetation corridors are the ideal, but in the absence of habitat connection paddock trees provide ‘steppingstones’. Creating connectivity by planting paddock trees is achievable. Establishing one or two koala food trees is better than having none. Retain dead trees for hollow dependent native fauna.

CATTLE ATTACKS ON KOALAS Koalas are being forced to cross large expanses of grazing land in many areas as paddock food trees die and are not replaced. Koalas must run the gauntlet between sparsely occurring eucalypt food trees. Cows often see koalas as a potential threat, the same threat posed by dogs.

Unlike urban areas injuries in agricultural landscapes are under reported, and trauma inflicted by cattle is rarely suspected by the finder. From 2010 to 2017, ten koalas were located with suspected injuries from cattle in Northern NSW. GUARD TYPE

MATERIALS

EFFECTIVENESS 1-10 (10 highest)

Permanent fenced corners

steel posts & wire

10/10

Permanent fence strips

barbed & plane wire approx. $17 m

9/10

Solar electric fence

energiser, multi wire treads, electric wire, steel posts x 2 approx $5 m

8/10

Ringlock, 3 trees

Stiffstay® feral mesh, 142cm H, 6 x steel posts @ 240cm

7/10

Recycled pallets, single tree

5 pallets, 6 steel posts

6/10

Ringlock, high, single tree

Ringlock pig wire, 4 x steel posts @ 180 cm steel posts

4/10