Bruce Rock locals unite to help fire-affected farmers, boring 400 strainer post holes

A group of volunteers has taken some of the pressure off fire-affected farmers in the Bruce Rock shire, uniting to get done in three days what may have taken devastated farmers months.

Equipped with a JCB telehandler, shovels and their utes, they bored holes for more than 400 strainer posts along the boundaries of a handful of farms, ready for new new posts to be put in next week.

Local farmer Paul Thompson, who organised the initiative, said with seeding looming, it was one less thing those affected by the fire had to think about.

“I organised it just to take the pressure off these guys,” he said.

“We’re trying to get what we can in now, as once seeding comes fencing won’t be the priority.”

He said the enormity of the task ahead for some farmers severely affected by the blaze would be overwhelming, with those which had wooden strainer posts needing to replace an immense amount of fencing.

“If I was going to do strainers at my place, I might do 5-10 a year, but those guys are looking at 50-60,” Mr Thompson said.

“It would be quite unnerving to realise the enormity of the task, so I thought let’s get a team together, let’s get it done.”

From 7.30am on Friday to 2pm on Sunday, several volunteers — many of whom were local farmers — put in a morning or afternoon shift to get the job done, with the help of the farmer whose property they were working on.

“It was tough going, but you just do what you need to do,” Mr Thompson said.

It was a job that without their efforts, could have taken months, as farmers who have lost stock, sheds and machinery grapple with the enormity of the task ahead.

Mr Thompson said he and his wife Melanie — who has been cooking meals for the BlazeAid volunteers each day — were “lucky” that the fire had not impacted their property.

The pair have since spent the past four weeks helping those that were not so lucky.

The impacts of the Shackleton-Corrigin blaze, which razed more than 40,000ha and tragically killed more than 5000 sheep, are anticipated to stretch on for months.

Thousands of sheep — those which survived — are being agisted on properties outside of the fire zone, with the priority being replacing boundary fences so stock can return safely to farms.

“The fencing can’t go up without the strainers which is why we got in and got that done, so the fencing can go up to keep stock off the road and keep the community safe,” Mr Thompson said.

“Then it will be getting the internal paddocks set up for sheep when they come back.”

Working with the farmers whose properties were affected, Mr Thompson said it was also a good chance for them to catch up and check in with how everything was going.

“I think they got a lot out of it,” he said.

“It was enjoyable as well, as some times you don’t get to see them very that often, but we were at properties for at least two hours, up to six hours, so it was a good chance to just have a chat and catch up.”

The next step will be putting the strainer posts in, for which Mr Thompson has organised a cement truck to come in to lay the concrete, which each farmer will liaise with directly.

Once the strainer posts are in, the team from BlazeAid will be able to put the new fences up and farmers will be able to bring stock back onto their properties.

With paddocks reduced to sand, with topsoil being blown off in the wind, Mr Thompson said the next issue farmers faced was feed, with truckloads of hay dropped by Farmers Across Borders at the Ainsworth grain bin vital in those early days.

“The issue is not so much today, but in the coming weeks with what the sheep have got to come back to, there’s just not a blade of grass,” he said.

Mr Thompson said the support from within the shire and the wider WA community had been immense and they were grateful for everyone who had donated or volunteered in the recovery effort.