A SOUTH West farm has been the target of a cruel attack, with a vandal – or vandals – destroying kilometres of fencing around the property in addition to water troughs and tanks.

Maneroo, which is located on the Princes Highway at Greenwald, is just shy of 1000ha and is home to around 800 head of cattle and 8000 head of sheep.

More than 11km of fencing was destroyed in the incident, while a number of troughs were drained, a water tank was destroyed and stock were left to wander around the property – and almost onto the highway – throughout the night.

Property owner Georgina Gubbins said she had been at Maneroo since 1994 and had never heard of any incident similar across the South West.

“The first sign something had gone wrong happened at around 2.30pm on Saturday,” she said.

“Ryan (Maneroo’s farm manager) saw the mailbox on the side of the road on his way into town.

“He thought it might’ve just been damage from the highway – we’ve had our bins taken before and similar small incidents – but he thought he better check the boundaries just in case.

“He first saw the boundary fence along East Greenwald Road had been cut and gave me a call, then throughout the afternoon he called me with more and more damage as I was driving over to see for myself.”

Ms Gubbins contacted police shortly after and met officers at the cattleyards on the property.

Upon arrival she noticed the first trough she came across was empty and had no water running into it.

“Five troughs later, they were all empty and the bungs were all missing,” she said.

“The bungs aren’t easy to remove – it would’ve taken a lot of effort – and they’re not easy to replace either.

“We’ve put old ones in, but they’re not a one size fits all thing, so we may have to replace all of the troughs.”

With kilometres of fencing destroyed, Ms Gubbins said you would think it had been done by someone driving through the property but without any foreign tyre marks spotted, it was possible someone could have done the damage on foot.

“All of our fencing throughout the property is electrified,” Ms Gubbins said.

“But due to the damage, there’s no power to the fencing that’s still intact.

“Stock are now disrespecting the boundaries because fences aren’t electrified, so that’s more damage we have to take care of.

“Fencing isn’t cheap or easy to replace and we can’t salvage really any of the fencing that was damaged – once it’s bent it snaps easily and it can’t be strained – it’s a huge job.”

Some stock has been moved to a lease block close to Hamilton, but it is not possible to relocate every animal.

“Not only is the damage costly and time-consuming, but it’s an animal welfare issue as well,” she said.

“The animals were without water for some time, without water cows can slip their calves.

“Calves and cows were also separated from each other and they’re too young to be weaned, so we had to get them back together quickly to ensure they weren’t further harmed.

“And if our cattle managed to make it onto the highway that could’ve been a bigger issue.

“A black cow at night on a dark road isn’t easily spotted, who knows what would’ve happened if they left the boundary.”

Without fencing, bulls were able to get into paddocks with cows, which could mean unwanted pregnancies for the property.

“We performance record our herd and know the genetic background of every animal,” Ms Gubbins said.

“Now we’ll have calves and we won’t know their background.

“It’s a huge blow to our breeding program.

“The ramifications of this will be felt for the next 12 months at least.

“I have a feeling we’ll be finding little things wrong around the property for a very long time to come.”

In another blow to the operation, sheep were due to be shorn this week, but without fencing on the property Ms Gubbins said it would not be possible.

“We’re supposed to start shearing this week but without fencing that’s nearly impossible,” she said.

“We’ve been working overtime to get the fences replaced so we can get the shearing contractors in on time.

“If we can’t get them in, we might miss out all together – shearers are hard to come by at the moment and so are fencing contractors.

“Luckily we have a fencing contractor available this week so we should get the ball rolling, but it’s not something we can fix overnight.”

Ms Gubbins said if the sheep were not shorn on time, it could lead to further issues down the line.

“Everything we do on farm happens at a certain time,” she said.

“It all fits within the breeding program.

“We shear now to fit our program but also for parasite management – everything has a flow on effect.”

The incident had not only left the property with the mammoth clean up task, but Ms Gubbins said it also left her farm manager rattled and made her feel like she had done something wrong to deserve the vandalism.

“Our farm manager and his family live on the property and they’re feeling vulnerable as well,” she said.

“He’s been with us for a number of years and is absolutely devasted by what has happened.

“We all feel completely violated and just don’t understand why someone would do something like this.

“You immediately start thinking you’ve annoyed or upset someone so severely for them to do this.

“We just cannot work out why we’ve been targeted.

“Thankfully the community has shown us so much support since it happened.

“They’ve assured us it’s nothing we’ve done wrong which has give us a little peace of mind knowing we have the community behind us but it still doesn’t give us any answer as to why it’s happened.”

Portland police Detective Sergeant Jason von Tunk said police were investigating the matter.

“Police were called to an address at Greenwald where a substantial amount of damage was made to a farming property,” he said.

“The damage is estimated to be in excess of $80,000 and the attack seems to be quite intentional and targeted.

“This is unlike anything we’ve seen before and there were no other reports of damage in the area.”

A white ute was reported in the area around the tine of the attack, but Sgt Von Tunk appealed to the public for any more information regarding the incident.

People with information about this or any police matters are asked to phone Portland police on 5522 1500; anonymous reports can also be made to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at crimestoppersvic.com.au/report-a-crime.