ESPERANCE and Ravensthorpe producers believe they can now get on and start building the Esperance extension to the State Barrier Fence after Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud announced the Federal government would commit a further $1 million to the project.
While there is still at least another $1.5m needed to complete the fence, given it is a four-year project, farmers in the area believe they can start the process and pick up the rest of the funding in that time.
Esperance Biosecurity Association chairman Scott Pickering said the $1m from the Federal government should be enough to get the project going.
"We are just waiting for the Environment Minister Steve Dawson to OK it now," Mr Pickering said.
"One good thing is that Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan is behind the project and keen to get it started and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is going to look at the whole project in stages, so hopefully we can get going by mid-year."
Mr Pickering said while there was currently a $1.5m shortfall to completely finish the fence, the main thing was to get the extension started as soon as possible.
"Hopefully we will get about 90 per cent of it around as we have now enough funding to start," he said.
"There is increased dog activity at the moment because of the fires we have had to the north of us and it has been a long, dry period so they are pushing further down looking for food and water.
"We trapped another three to the east of Esperance last week.
"If we can get the fence built, it gives growers confidence to go back into sheep and that is a good thing for the State as well."
In making the announcement while visiting Ravensthorpe last week, Mr Littleproud said his electorate in western Queensland had been hit by drought and one of the things that has really helped communities was the building of dog fences.
"Let me tell you for those farmers that haven't been able to run stock at all due to wild dogs, the psychological benefits of a farmer being able to look back at the end of the day and see a couple of kilometres of fence completed has kept them going and been good for mental well-being," Mr Littleproud said.
"That is why we have already put around $7.5m into WA to deal with pests and weeds and particularly dogs and that is why today I am going to give you another $1m to get on with the job of finishing the fence.
"We are going to help the WA government, I gave $1.5m back in October and here is another $1m today.
"I am a big believer in dog fences, and it is not just about helping the local communities and local economies.
"We are seeing lambing percentages go from seven to 85 overnight and also seeing that improvement in our biodiversity and that is something that we should shout loudly and proudly to people in metropolitan Australia who don't quite understand what we do."
Ravensthorpe farmer Ricky Carpenter, who is chairman of the local grower group Ravensthorpe Agricultural Initiative Network, said it was pleasing to hear personally that the Federal government would be providing more funding to the extension.
"This is not only about protecting stock from dogs but also preventing emus coming into farming properties," Mr Carpenter said.
"We deal with a lot of them and they come in and take out a large portion of your crop, especially in those areas that back onto reserves so that extra funding is great and it is good that the Federal government is showing interest in us."
Southern Biosecurity Group executive officer Kylie Fletcher said Mr Littleproud's announcement was "fantastic".
"It means we are a lot closer to being able to start work out there on the ground and is going to make a big difference for this region," Ms Fletcher said.
"There is still a shortfall in funding there, but it goes a long way to commencing that 660 kilometres of fencing.
"The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has done a lot of work getting it to this point and we are still working through some approvals, but once that is done and final approval is given we just need the State Agriculture Minister to sign off on it.
"Landowners in this region are going to be very pleased to hear about this funding.
"Dogs are coming in closer all the time and there was recently two dogs trapped only 16km from Ravensthorpe town so it is feasible that they can start impacting on communities like Ravensthorpe."
