‘Know what is on your farm’

Among thorny native matagouri plants on Kyeburn Station last week are (from left) Otago Catchment...
Among thorny native matagouri plants on Kyeburn Station last week are (from left) Otago Catchment Community co-ordinator Anna Robinson, station owner Hamish Mackenzie and ecologist David Norton. PHOTOS: SHAWN MCAVINUE
A native shrub with pale purple flowers being dominated by an introduced grass species in the Maniototo highlights a need to better manage biodiversity, a farmer says.

A series of talks at six places in Otago finished last week.

The theme was understanding biodiversity in a farm system.

About 30 people visited Kyeburn Station, east of Ranfurly, last week.

Owner Hamish Mackenzie took the crowd to a paddock on a dry sunny face to highlight some of the biodiversity on his farm.

"There’s some quite special stuff going on here," he said.

Nearly 20 years ago, a conservation covenant was placed on the land as part of a tenure review agreement with the Crown.

Under the agreement, Mr Mackenzie could no longer graze cattle on the land but he could continue to graze sheep and apply fertiliser.

Weed control was the responsibility of the Department of Conservation, he said.

In the paddock, he ran

ewes with twin lambs until tailing time. The lamb deaths were minimal.

"You could put 100 twins out here and you could tail 198 lambs," he said.

Native broom, Carmichaelia nana, grows in a paddock on Kyeburn Station.
Native broom, Carmichaelia nana, grows in a paddock on Kyeburn Station.
Native plants in the paddock included broom Carmichaelia nana.

Since cattle had been excluded, some of the native broom had disappeared because exotic grass species had dominated it.

"The real irony is it’s starting to disappear because we have put a covenant over it."

The native broom "loves disturbance" and grew in the hill country sheep yards on the farm.

Ecologist David Norton

said the reduction of the native broom highlighted the need to manage biodiversity. The biggest threats to those plants were competition.

Browntop grass was the biggest threat to the native broom species on Kyeburn Station, Dr Norton said.

"It can’t grow in dense vegetation, so calling this [paddock] significant and locking it up is not going to do an iota of good — it’s probably the worst thing possible for it."

Farmers needed to understand the biodiversity on their farms and the threats it faced.

The biodiversity needed to be monitored and a record kept to show trends to find the best way to manage livestock to better protect it.

"It’s about finding that balance and that’s where monitoring becomes really important."

He encouraged farmers to take photos of biodiversity on their properties from the same spot at the same time of year.

"If you know what is on your farm you are in a better position to have a discussion with regulators," he said.

The events were organised by The Otago Catchment Community, New Zealand Landcare Trust and Beef + Lamb New Zealand.

 

 

 

 

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