How to keep a fire break clear on a rural block
Keeping a fire break clear without losing every weekend to it
Nobody wakes up looking forward to clearing a fire break, because it is hot work, it is repetitive, and the grass has usually started coming back before you have even put the gear away. But it has to happen, and not just because somebody might come and look at it, because a break is the strip of bare ground standing between a grass fire and everything you own.
The trick is not working harder at it. It is doing a bit of it often enough that it never turns into a full day, and it is having gear that is actually sharp on the morning you go to use it.
Blunt gear is what turns this into a big job
A blunt slasher tears the grass off rather than cutting it, and torn grass comes back quicker and leaves more loose fuel lying on the ground than a clean cut does. It is the same story with a brushcutter running old line that snaps every thirty seconds, because you spend more of the morning rethreading the head than you do cutting.
So before the fire danger season comes round, go over the gear properly rather than finding out in the paddock. Pull the blade off and look at the edge. Check the plug. Put fresh line on the head instead of running out the half reel that has been sitting on the shelf, because line goes brittle as it dries out and it will let go the moment you lean on it.
Little and often beats one big battle
A quick pass every few weeks is a completely different job to knocking down metre high grass in the heat, and the mistake nearly everybody makes is leaving it until the grass has cured off and gone to seed, which is both the hardest time to cut it and the worst time to be out there with a machine throwing sparks.
The easiest way to make it stick is to hang it off a job you already do. Slash a section every time you go out to check the troughs, or do one run of the fence line whenever you are down that end anyway, and it never piles up into something you have to set a day aside for.
Grow something that does not need cutting
If you would rather not look at bare dirt, low growing native ground covers regrow slowly and do not build up the fuel load the way pasture grass does, so there is simply less to cut. Mulching along fence lines does the same job from the other direction by keeping the weeds down in the strip that is hardest to get a mower into.
Let the stock do some of it
Sheep and goats will knock the length out of a break for you if you move them through the high risk areas often enough. Watch them though, because goats in particular are not fussy, and they will happily take the bark off a young tree or have a go at a fence post while they are in there.
Read your own council notice, not somebody else's
Councils issue fire prevention notices and they do come and inspect, and what is required is not identical everywhere, so the width and the timing your neighbour works to might not be the ones that apply to your block. Ring your council or read the notice they send you. It takes five minutes and it is the only way to actually know. Do not take the requirement off a blog post, and that includes this one.
Shop related products
- Jak Max Blade and Bolt Set, Masport 21in cut. A sharp blade cuts, a blunt one tears, and new bolts come with it.
- Jak Max Pro-Round Trimmer Line, 2.65mm 75m donut. Heavy line for thick growth, and a donut lasts a lot longer than a clamshell.
- Archer Tap-N-Go Trimmer Head. Worth fitting if you are still stopping to rethread by hand.
- Supercraft Mill File, Round Edge 250mm. For putting an edge back on a blade between changes.
Did you know we also stock mattocks with a cutter end, stand up steel weeders, weed mat by the roll and Hills knapsack sprayers up to 12 litres in store. They are not all on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.
The rest of the gear is at outdoor power equipment, and if you are getting mulch or anything bulky, we deliver on set days, which is on our local delivery page.
More from the blog
- Essential tools every rural property needs for fire season
- Weed control on a rural block, what actually works
- How to cut mowing time on an acreage block
The line head is the thing I always forget about until I am standing in the middle of a paddock with a machine that will not cut, which is exactly why I keep a spare reel in the ute.
Cheers,
Candeece
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