The Jurlique Farm at Biggs Flat in the Adelaide Hills is where the companies botanicals are grown and it’s also where new kangaroo exclusion fencing has been installed to humanely protect its crops from foraging roos in a safe and humane way.
Since 1985, Jurlique has built a global reputation as one of the best Australian, natural-based skin care brands, with its success due to its potent botanical ingredients, which are all grown on the Jurlique Farm.
However, in recent years, more and more of the company’s Jurlique Rose, has been lost to kangaroos, with farm manager, Cherie Hutchinson, saying the figure has been approaching 70%.
This is why Cherie and Jurlique’s plant specialist, Adam Hall, sought out Adelaide Hills Farm Services to discuss solutions for reducing the impact of the kangaroos in a way that was humane for the animals, and in harmony with the company’s uncompromising principles of farming using biodynamic and organic principles and practices.
The elegance and effectiveness of a kangaroo exclusion fence
With such an important array of factors, usage of standard, treated fence posts was ruled out, due to the risk of chemical contamination of the property. As you might recall, we have recently spoken about kangaroo exclusion fencing and other aspects of farm life on ABC Adelaide.
After discussions with the Jurlique team and our own research, we settled upon the WoodShield range of fence posts, because they are untreated, pine posts, wrapped in a dark, recycled plastic shell.
WoodShield gives us the best of both worlds; there are no nasties for an organic farm, and the posts sit pleasingly in among the trees and shadows around the property, almost becoming invisible.
Furthermore, we chose fencing wire through Warratah for this project, because of the 30cm “apron” that sits at the bottom of the fence, folding out onto the kangaroo side. This stops kangaroos from burrowing under the fence; which is the number one method roos try when attempting to get past a barrier. You’ll see it in the video, below.
As Cherie points out, also in the video, this is particularly important because it was the younger, smaller kangaroos that were easily getting past the old fencing and wreaking havoc in the Jurlique pastures.
Everything’s coming up roses
With the new fencing in place across a large portion of farm’s perimeter, the Jurlique team can resume with their usual methods of hand-harvesting petals regularly during the summer flowering season.
There are many people around the world who rely on Jurlique products as part of their skin-care, and with more of the company’s precious crops being protected, there is renewed confidence in being able to keep up with demand.
Take a look at Jurlique Farm in the video below, shot on site, featuring me (Belle Baker) from Adelaide Hills Farm Services chatting with Cherie Hutchinson from Jurlique. Oh, and Pods (Patrick O’Driscoll) also features, as do some furry onlookers who are now hopping around in their own native verges.