FARMERS flung their hats to the ground in the classic Aussie challenge to a fight at the end of a 10-day blockade of a coal seam gas drilling site south of Brisbane.

The protest wound up yesterday as Chinese-owned mining company Arrow Energy pulled its rigs out of the Scenic Rim.

Arrow Energy said it had completed its coal seam gas explorations at Kerry, near Beaudesert, and the site had been closed down.

''The exploration drilling of the past few days will provide Arrow with further information about the area's geology, potential coal seams and groundwater,'' the company said in a statement.

Blockade organiser Heidi Ross said that, at the end of the protest, during which police made 15 arrests, there was an outpouring of emotion from local farmers.