NEOBIOME

OT_213: MPI Stock Exclusion Costs Report (2016) — NZ per-metre fence $/m by type & topography

Properties5
typesource
source_typegrey_literature
authorThe AgriBusiness Group
year2016
topicsfood_systems_agriculture, nz_specific

8 min read

OT_213: MPI Stock Exclusion Costs Report (2016) — NZ per-metre fence $/m by type & topography

Source

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/16537 — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)

MPI Stock Exclusion Costs Report — NZ per-metre fence costs (AgriBusiness Group, 2016)

NI-load-bearing extract — the fencing leg of the pasture_grazing CapEx cell. Authoritative NZ total per-metre fence cost (labour + materials, 2015 NZD) by fence type and topography, from a national survey of 52 FCANZ fencing contractors + national merchant/LUFBM material pricing. Headline figures (Table 1, p.3): non-electric 8-wire sheep/cattle 13.02/m (flat avg) to 16.64/m (steep avg), max 24.88/m (steep); **electric 4-wire** 6.56–8.25/m avg; electric 2-wire cattle 4.67–5.94/m avg. Validates the engine's held stock-proof fence rate (33.35/m, WRA schedule via CR_044) as a defensible 2026 steep/contractor rate once inflated. ⚠ Table 1 is /m for a 1 km fence, NOT /ha — the per-ha allowance needs a paddock-density assumption (a modelling derivation, not in this source).

Summary

The Stock Exclusion Costs Report (MPI Technical Paper No. 2017/11, prepared by The AgriBusiness Group for the Ministry for Primary Industries, dated January 2016) costs the fencing and riparian planting needed to exclude stock from waterways across New Zealand, in support of a potential stock-exclusion policy alongside the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. The fencing research was conducted July–November 2015, so its figures are 2015 NZD. Fencing labour costs were gathered by telephone and email survey of 52 members of the NZ Fencing Association (FCANZ) from all regions, and material costs from national fencing merchants (Gold Pine, Great Southern, NZ Farm Source, PGG Wrightsons, Farmlands) plus the Lincoln University Financial Budget Manual (LUFBM). For Neobiome Intelligence the value is the report’s Table 1 — the maximum/average/minimum total per-metre fence cost (labour + materials) for five standardised fence types over flat, rolling and steep terrain — which is the authoritative NZ primary behind the model’s pasture_grazing fence-establishment cost. The report models hypothetical 1 km fences (9 angle assemblies + 1 gateway; posts at 4 m non-electric / 10 m electric; steep = terrain a post-driver cannot reach), so its output is a $/metre rate, not a per-hectare allowance. context: ni.

Key claims

- claim: "TABLE 1 — TOTAL PER-METRE FENCE COST (NZD, labour + materials), maximum / average / minimum, by fence type and topography (flat / rolling / steep). SHEEP/CATTLE Non-electric 8 wire: flat 16.36 / 13.02 / 9.90; rolling 17.88 / 13.66 / 10.38; steep 24.88 / 16.64 / 12.06. SHEEP/CATTLE Non-electric netting: flat 15.81 / 11.99 / 8.82; rolling 18.83 / 12.63 / 8.82; steep 26.81 / 16.01 / 10.32. DEER Non-electric netting boundary fence: flat 28.90 / 18.90 / 13.70; rolling 28.90 / 19.68 / 14.20; steep 32.55 / 22.71 / 15.70. SHEEP/CATTLE Electric 4 wire: flat 11.21 / 6.56 / 4.40; rolling 12.21 / 6.88 / 4.40; steep 13.21 / 8.25 / 4.90. CATTLE Electric 2 wire: flat 8.58 / 4.67 / 2.91; rolling 10.58 / 4.89 / 3.21; steep 11.58 / 5.94 / 3.66. These are TOTAL per-metre costs (labour plus materials) aggregated from the 15 NZ regions; 2015 survey data."
  source_location: "Table 1 (Executive Summary, p.3) — 'Maximum, average and minimum total per metre fence costs (NZD) for five different fence types over flat, rolling and steep topography'"
- claim: "FENCE SPECIFICATION + METHOD. 'All fence types modelled are hypothetical descriptions ... The fence lines are described as; 1 kilometre long, with 9 angle assemblies, and 1 gateway assembly (at one end of the fence).' 'Where possible, posts are spaced at 4 metres for non-electric and 10 metres for electric fences.' Steep country is 'defined (by the fencing contractors) as country that a fencing contractor could not get a post driver to'; rolling is '>7 degree slope to being too steep for a post driver (approximately 35 degrees)'. Estimates exclude rocky, swampy or heavy-clay conditions (which raise costs). Labour costs were 'collected through telephone and email surveys of 52 members of the New Zealand Fencing Association (FCANZ) from all regions'; material costs 'from fencing merchants nationally (Gold pine, Great Southern, NZ Farm Source, PGG Wrightsons and Farmlands) as well as the Lincoln University Financial Budget Manual (LUFBM)'."
  source_location: "§3.3 Fence description (p.6); §3.4 Fencing labour costs + §3.5 Fencing material costs (p.7)"
- claim: "REGIONAL + ISLAND VARIATION. 'Labour costs, from the survey, varied across fencing contractors of different regions and tended to be cheaper in the South Island compared with the North Island.' 'Wooden fencing material (Strainer posts, Stay posts, Posts and Battens) costs also differed between the two Islands with these materials cheaper in the North Island. All other fencing materials were the same price within companies across New Zealand and the only price differences were found between companies.' Steep topography is the most expensive because a post-driver cannot be used (hand-dug posts)."
  source_location: "Executive Summary (p.3); §3.3 (post-driver / steep cost rationale, p.6)"
- claim: "RIPARIAN PLANTING COST (context — adjacent waterway-buffer establishment cost, NOT the fence). 'The cost of riparian planting was calculated on a base rate of $5.50 per plant (plants, ground preparation and labour), using native flax and sedges, at 4,500 plants per ha, which was the most commonly adopted cost estimate and plant density in the survey. This equates to approximately $3.67 per linear metre of planting (plants are at 1.5 metre spacing).' ($5.50 x 4,500 = $24,750/ha for the planting itself — a riparian buffer figure, not general-purpose land prep.)"
  source_location: "Executive Summary (p.3); §3.2 Riparian planting description and costs (p.6)"

Neobiome Intelligence relevance

Resolves the fencing (per-metre) leg of the pasture_grazing CapEx cost cell (④f food/livestock module). The grazing-CapEx side had “only the fence rate sourced ($33.35/m, WRA schedule)” via the compiled-research page CR_044; this MPI-commissioned report is the authoritative government primary behind that rate.

What the raw supplies (verbatim, 2015 NZD):

  • Non-electric 8-wire stock-proof (sheep/cattle): 13.02/m flat avg → 16.64/m steep avg, max $24.88/m (steep). This is the closest match to a “stock-proof grazing fence”.
  • Electric 4-wire (sheep/cattle): 6.56–8.25/m avg. **Electric 2-wire (cattle):** 4.67–5.94/m avg. Materially cheaper — a self-sufficient community using electric internal subdivision fencing would carry a much lower fence CapEx than a stock-proof non-electric perimeter.

Modelling derivations (NOT in this source):

  • Inflation to 2026: inflating the 2015 stock-proof rates by ~30% gives ~17–32/m by 2026. On that basis the engine’s held **33.35/m** (from CR_044's WRA schedule) sits at/just above the top of the inflated range, so it is **defensible as a conservative 2026 steep/contractor stock-proof rate** — not overstated. The ~30% factor and the 33.35/m value are NOT from this MPI raw.
  • Per-hectare fencing allowance: Table 1 is /metre for a 1 km fence. Converting to /ha requires a paddock-density (perimeter m/ha) assumption; that conversion gives ~2,000–3,300/ha at 33.35/m (density-dependent). This is a downstream modelling derivation, not a sourced figure — do not treat ~$2,000–3,300/ha as coming from MPI.

Still open: stockyards CapEx, stock-purchase $/head, a firmer laying-hen (poultry_layers) budget, and the per-ha fencing derivation (needs the density assumption). The water-reticulation leg is resolved by the sibling B+LNZ/AgFirst reticulation source. See D02.

Research targets

The per-metre fencing rate now has an authoritative NZ primary (this source), upgrading the CR_044 secondary WRA schedule. The remaining grazing-CapEx legs stay open.

Documents to retrieve

  • None from this source.

Research gaps

  • Fencing leg resolved by this source. Remaining open legs: stockyards CapEx, stock-purchase /head, firmer `poultry_layers` budget, and the per-ha fencing derivation (paddock-density assumption applied to the /m rate). Water-reticulation leg → sibling B+LNZ/AgFirst reticulation source.

Provenance & verification

  • Source: authoritative government technical report — Ministry for Primary Industries, Stock Exclusion Costs Report, MPI Technical Paper No. 2017/11, prepared by The AgriBusiness Group, January 2016 (research July–Nov 2015), 33 pp. A first-party MPI-commissioned document, downloaded as the real PDF, NOT AI-prepared.
  • Read verbatim via pdftotext -layout. Every figure in key_claims is quoted directly from the report with an exact source_location (table/section + printed page). The headline figures (13.02/m flat avg, 16.64/m steep avg, max 24.88; electric 4-wire 6.56–8.25/m; electric 2-wire $4.67–5.94/m) were confirmed cell-by-cell against Table 1.
  • Verification status: data_quality: high — authoritative primary, figures verbatim-verified against the raw. sha256 45e8bc70… recorded in frontmatter.

Notes

  • 2015 NZD, published 2016, 2017 series number. The cover reads “MPI Technical Paper No: 2017/11” but the report is dated January 2016 and its data was collected July–November 2015. Treat the Table 1 rates as 2015-priced; the 2017/11 is the MPI publication-series catalogue number, not the pricing year.
  • /metre, not /hectare. The report costs a hypothetical 1 km fence. There is no per-hectare figure in the source; the ~$2,000–3,300/ha figure is a paddock-density-dependent derivation, not an MPI number.
  • Which row to use. For a community grazing block, the non-electric 8-wire sheep/cattle row is the stock-proof perimeter analogue; electric 4-wire / 2-wire are the internal-subdivision analogues (much cheaper). Topography matters: steep runs ~25–50% dearer than flat because a post-driver cannot be used.
  • Cross-check. These figures corroborate the WRA $33.35/m fence rate carried in CR_044 with a government primary.
  • Scope caveat. The report’s purpose is riparian/waterway stock exclusion, so its fence specifications are waterway-boundary fences; they are representative of general stock fencing but were priced in that context. Estimates exclude rocky/swampy/heavy-clay ground (which raise costs).

Connections

Links to

Sources (1): CR_044

EDT domains (1): D02: Smart Food Systems & Agriculture

Referenced by

EDT domains (1): D02: Smart Food Systems & Agriculture

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