Oh Deer - Please help

[Pete C]

For my sins, I've ended up involved in a community project to create garden plots and a community orchard. We've got the local primary school involved, as well as a fair few of the local community (aside from those who'd rather complain about us growing things; odd when the developers are nicking any land they can get), and a few weeks ago we signed the lease! It's a private initiative run by volunteers, so funding is thus far what we can scrape together out of our own pockets.

The problem we currently face is a need for 350-400 metres of deer fencing. Unless we can get hold of this soonest, we'll miss 2012 as a growing season, which in turn will see people not sign up for plots, which means we'll not even meet the costs of the lease.

Sorry about asking, but with the problems we've had since the end of 2011 trying to make this happen, it's a right royal pain if we get scuppered because of the lack of a deer fence!

Moderator comment - any ideas where we can get fence panels from?

[veggiechicken]

Hi Pete, Sorry, can't help with the fencing but have you considered People Fund - People Fund
Anything is worth a try - Good luck!!

[boosmummy]

Sorry if I sound totally dumb right now but if people are signing up for plots should they not be Providing their own fencing etc... My plot in an open ish field but each individual plot holder has fenced their plot off, our allotment is down a track so there is no fencing but I have seen places around here that have wooden fencing or hedging around them. Like I said I might have got the wrong end of the stick or this might be an idea to plan for? Xx

[bearded bloke]

Have you tried any of the local fencing firms ? they may be able to supply materials in consideration of some visible advertising,particularly if you are near/on route to the showground

[BarleySugar]

When we started out we had £100 we had raised from taking stalls at local boot fairs and fetes. This enabled us to open a bank account, join NSALG (only 10 members because we hadn't got plots at that time) and pay for stationary. Other than donating plants, bric-a-brac or other useful stuff we already had, we didn't put in any money from our own pockets.

The only direct help we got from the borough council was with them leasing the land from the local landowner (we found the land and negotiated a VERY small annual rent, then gave it over for them to do the legal bit), and they measured out our plots for us. It took us about 5 years to find somewhere.

We applied to the Big Lottery fund to get rabbit fencing before the plots were marked out. We also got money to put in a car park, plant native hedging and buy fruit bushes for a community garden. There is a bit of work to the application, but worth it. They do ask for proof you have spent the money on what you applied for, and you cannot apply again until you have spent the first grant. We will be looking for funding to get our comunity area sorted next. I think it was through the Big Lottery that we were put in touch with a funding buddy who helped with the initial applications. They have quite high limits on the amount you can apply for, in the £1000s.

Other sources of money have been from the Mayor's Fund, and money allocated to local councillors. I'm sure we also got some money from a police fund, not quite sure how we went about it though, they paid for the lock and keys. These tended to be much smaller, in the region £200 - £300. Again applications were necesssary, explaining what we needed the money for. We also applied to the Parish council, and they paid for the water connection and planning permission for a shed on each plot and the car park. You are more likely to get money from councillors etc at the beginning of the financial year than the end though.



Bearing in mind we haven't been running for a year yet, we have achieved much more than we would ever hoped for at the beginning. Our allotment site is leased from the council and run by a volunteer allotment association. In addition from applying for grants, we have also run raffles, had a bbq and run more stalls since we started. We haven't raised huge sums, but it shows we (well a few of us) are willing to put in the effort, and I'm sure at least one of our applications did ask haw else we had raised money.
I hope this gives you some ideas of where you might be able to find funding to develop your site.

[taff]

what you can do also is think about deer proof planting, the kind of hedging they dont like.

[PAULW]

Quite a while ago I did a course on forestry, the tutor talked about deer fencing to protect young trees without going to the expence of putting in 8 foot wire fencing, it used something like the white electric fence that is used for horses without the electric, this is strung in lengths around the area and when put at the right height low enough to stop the deer going under it and high enough to stop them stepping over it, will see if I can find more info.

[PAULW]

Deer

Beautiful though they are it is hard to look favourably on a deer that has just finished eating your prized rose bush!

Deer are creatures of habit and are very shy and nervous so there are things that can be done in conjunction with electric fencing to make your chances of keeping them out of your garden more successful these include;

Deer will always approach from the same direction and the same path, if you place an obstacle in that path such as part of a bush they will start to become wary.

Baiting - they are particularly partial to peanut butter which can be smeared on the fence posts at regular intervals this way they are reminded that the fence is electric.

These things are best done at the same time as the fence is erected so that the overall impact makes the deer change their path and feeding location.



The 3D Fence

Deer can obviously jump very high so instead of building an 8’ fence the best way to stop them is by height and width. The 3D fence consists of a small nose height fence around the outer perimeter with one wire which should be baited regularly a taller fence should then be erected about one to one and a half metres inside this with at least three wires. The idea is that the deer will know that the fence is electric because they will have investigated the bait and will be reticent to try and jump it because of its width.

This by far the best kind of fence but here are some other things you could try:

[PAULW]

You might consider an electric wire(s). Some of
the vineyards around here use this approach; One
strand about 3 feet above ground level and one
strand about a foot above ground level. The high
one will get the deer and the low one will get
the ground hogs and racoons. Smear both strands
with peanut butter. The deer love peanut butter
and a lick or two and they won't be back.