What to consider for stock containment areas

A stock containment area (SCA) provides many benefits to farm management, including during drought, seasonal extremes (dry and wet), after fire, and for general farm management.
SCAs can help support a range of daily farming activities, including: stock feeding, watering and monitoring; pasture management; minimising erosion risks by avoiding over grazing; and, an area to manage potential weed introduction from introduced feeds.
When siting a SCA, landholders should consider the following:
- adequate setbacks to minimise risk of run-off to waterways
- location on moderately sloping, well drained, stable soil (eg clay or clay-loam), avoiding pen-to-pen drainage
- shade and shelter for stock
- distance to neighbours and local and state planning requirements.
When planning for and setting up a SCA, consider the following:
- depending on liveweights, allow 5-10 square metres per sheep and 10-15 square metres per head of cattle
- avoid feeding directly from the ground
- use fencing suited to the type of animal to be managed
- locate feed points well away from water troughs to minimise contaminating the water source
- consider laneways and vehicle access.
Animal health and welfare should be a top consideration and priority when siting and creating SCAs:
Animals in a SCA need to be supplied a suitable diet (energy, minerals and roughage) and water. Introduce the grain or concentrate rations gradually, vaccinate (5 or 6 in 1) at entry and ensure daily monitoring of animals, feed and water.
The Navigating Farm Developments (NFD) web-based platform can help work through considerations for appropriate siting of the development of SCAs.
More information on SCA's and feeding can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website.