Author Topic: Badger friendly fencing... (Read 13034 times)

HesterF · « **on:** July 03, 2012, 12:30:45 am »

I'd asked this within a post on poultry which was probably not the best place to put it. Within one of our paddocks is an active badger sett (only one in residence at the moment we believe but our neighbours say it does vary). We would like to stock proof that paddock to be able to introduce sheep and geese into it. But how will the badger be able to get in and out? We know where his paths go so is there any sort of system that allows him through but not the geese or lambs? I'm assuming we can exclude the sheep on the basis of size i.e. make a small hole that he'll fit through and they won't?

Thanks,

Hester

Fleecewife · « **Reply #1 on:** July 03, 2012, 12:43:30 am »

He won't need to get out with all those tasty lambs and geese to eat

Sorry I should have written more - badgers will predate all poultry and new lambs, so putting livestock in the same paddock as a badger sett doesn't seem sensible. Is there any way you can fence it so the badger is kept away from the livestock? Badgers are extremely strong and can tear their way into a henhouse unless you have taken extreme measures to keep them out. They will dig their way under a fence too. You will need to find a way to live with your badgers without their destroying your livestock. I think there would be no point in fencing across their regular tracks because they will stick to them come what may, so will simply go through any blockage - or so I believe, but I have never had to share land with badgers, just had them as occasional visitors.

Sylvia · « **Reply #2 on:** July 03, 2012, 07:44:27 am »

They will tread down any fencing. A length of wide(fat badger sized) piping buried under the fence may work. At the risk of being mobbed by badger fans I'd say shoot the beggars. They are worse than foxes near livestock

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #3 on:** July 03, 2012, 08:02:25 am »

Agree with you Sylvia, dont understand why badger is given special status compared with eg the fox, neither are endangered and both are a threat to livestock (and the badger additionally via BTB, to humans and domestic pets).
But....should point out that it would be illegal under any circumstances to kill a badger as they have gold plated legal protection.
Of course some of them are run over, which is very unfortunate....:-)

kumquat · « **Reply #4 on:** July 03, 2012, 08:43:01 am »

We have a sett very nearby and they are regular visitors to two of our fields. I've built some timber "badger gates" (google it to get some designs) to protect the fence, they are essentially a heavy duty cat flap type design. they used them pretty much straight away and the fence is undamaged.
if you just fence across their run they will "create" their own way through it

can't comment on predation of lambs yet but one of the badger runs is parallel to the corner of the field were our chooks live and we haven't had any problems in 4 years, but it is very well fenced to keep foxes out.
Jon
Be interesting to see what the geese think of them

HesterF · « **Reply #5 on:** July 03, 2012, 10:39:30 am »

Thanks all. I'm a bit of a fan of badgers having been badger watching as a child and entranced by the cubs playing. So actually I'm excited to have one (or more) on our land. I do realise it's a risk having them around geese - we have to think about how to protect the eggs and goslings although I'd be a surprise if they were threat to an adult goose, Their normal fare is much smaller. That was partly why we were thinking of Alpacas although more as protection from foxes. We can make sure the lambing is elsewhere and the adult sheep will be big so I really don't think they're in danger from a badger unless they happen to attack the badger for some reason.

TB is more of a worry but I've read through the latest Defra advice and that seems to relate more to sheds/housing and reckons the risk in pastures is much lower.

I'll definitely Google badger gates - that was the only way I'd thought of doing it because I know they will go under/around/through if at all possible. And while we could make it very tough, I don't actually want to isolate the badger in that field because then he will be more of a threat to the livestock in there. I guess it's just finding exactly the right weight and size so that the geese will be too light to shift it and the sheep will be too big to fit through it.

Thanks,

Hester

Sylvia · « **Reply #6 on:** July 03, 2012, 01:41:39 pm »

Nail a sheet of tin to the bottom of your goose house, they'll rip through wood in no time.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #7 on:** July 03, 2012, 02:30:51 pm »

I applaud your wanting to be badger-friendly, and generally aiming to live in harmony with the wildlife around you

However, if you are keeping sheep and/or alpacas in the same field as a badger sett, and you are in an area where TB is endemic (which with a cider apple orchard I suspect you may be!) then please please if you sell any live ruminants, be very careful about where they are going.

This is the very reason we do not buy any ruminants from south of the TB Free / TB4 zone. Our TB4 status would be lost if any of us got a reactor, which would mean none of our stock could be sold as stores to our friends over the nearby Scottish border. It's a constant worry - but nothing like the worry a farmer in an endemic area has.

HesterF · « **Reply #8 on:** July 03, 2012, 06:19:38 pm »

Do you know where I can find out about the TB free zones?

Re. the geese, we did a bit of pond dipping today just to find out what remains in our puddle. And we've got newts which I think (TBC) are Great Crested. So I reckon the geese would gobble them up in no time - so if we have geese they're going to have to be elsewhere. I need to get in contact with Kent Wildlife to look for help on this, it's all getting a bit complex now in what we can and can't do. I guess sheep are still OK (although TB still a problem).

Thanks,

H

robert waddell · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2012, 06:34:40 pm »

are great crested newts not a protected species

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #10 on:** July 03, 2012, 07:02:28 pm »

Quote from: HesterF on July 03, 2012, 06:19:38 pm

Do you know where I can find out about the TB free zones?

Links to lists of parish testing intervals and maps of same here:
http://animalhealth.defra.gov.uk/managing-disease/notifiable-disease/bovine-tb/tb-testing-intervals.asp
The files have only recently been published for 2012. Frighteningly I see that Cumbria is no longer all pink (TB4.) Apparently our neighbours aren't all being as careful as ourselves

The whole of Scotland is TB Free (but still tests every 4 years), England and Wales parishes will be TB1 through TB4, where TB4 is testing every 4 years.

SteveHants · « **Reply #11 on:** July 04, 2012, 07:31:28 pm »

Just as an aside, I know that badgers move through one of my lambing fields (is 10 ac or so) and I lamb 50 sheep in there and I've never lost a live one. I did leave a dead one in the hedge to pick up later that day (was doing my rounds on foot) and I came back and al I found was the end of a leg......

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #12 on:** July 04, 2012, 08:00:20 pm »

Badgers strip the skin off the lambs, so it's easy to tell if they've been at a one - you get an inside-out skin and some skeleton, maybe part of a limb, left. You can't know if they killed it though - and even if they do, no doubt it'll be a weak, sickly one they kill. I don't think they'd take on a ewe, either, so a healthy lamb being protected by its mum is probably pretty safe.

clydesdaleclopper · « **Reply #13 on:** July 06, 2012, 09:44:28 pm »

We lost our geese to the badgers so I wouldn't put geese in the same field. If you have a hen house in the field you need to put heavy gauge weldmesh all around the wooden parts so that they can't just rip it apart.