Lower Waiau Farmers Catchment Group
Farmers in the Lower Waiau area have started a new catchment group taking a positive and proactive approach to understanding local and relevant topics and issues, and working towards on-farm and tributary actions that make a difference.
Group coordinator
Ginny Kennedy
For more info, or to join the catchment group contact Ginny
021 914 765 or ginny@thrivingsouthland.co.nz
Date the Catchment Group started
Lower Waiau Catchment Group was formed in December 2020.
Mobile Cattle Shelter Development Project
This project aimed to develop and trial a prototype large mobile shelter during Winter 2022. The shelter was based on irrigator spans catering for winter crop grazing of 60 to 120 cows which improves feed efficiency, animal welfare and environmental outcomes. Sadly, the initial design didn’t withstand the rigors of the Waiau winds. However, the team involved are re-designing the structure and set to try again for winter 2023.
Through the summer and autumn of 2023, the team involved dismantled version 1 of this project and set about work on version 2, hoping to be able to reuse what they could from the first prototype.
Version 2 of the shelter was based around repurposing some barriers from a set up for feeding silage to deer. Learnings from the first prototype were that the structure needed to be lower so it wouldn’t catch the wind, and also smaller in size so it was more mobile in the paddock. This would however compromise the number of stock that would benefit from the shelter.
Sadly, the workload for this project meant that it was not fully completed in time for Winter 2023 and the decision was made to pull the pin on the project. The concept still has many merits, but the difficulties faced by the group show how hard innovation at a community level is to undertake.
Past Events
December 2020: The Catchment Group kicked off with a Rapid Habitat Assessment field day and BBQ. With the help of the Land Sustainability team from Environment Southland we looked at 3 different sections of the Merton Stream and scored them based on a set of criteria. It was a ripper of an afternoon which was finished off with a chat about the possibilities of a catchment group, a cold drink and a BBQ.
May 2021: In May the group took up the offer of some environmental-DNA tests. They took water samples from the Lilburn and Merton Streams. The process involved passing water through a filter that was attached to the end of syringe. The filter captured DNA that was in the water. We sent the filters to Wilderlab for analysis. We got some really awesome results and feedback from the lab - highlights were Kanakana (lamprey) and Gollum Galaxids among so many other interesting species.
July 2021: In early July the catchment group got together at the Town and Country club to hear from a member of the Dipton and Pourakino Catchment Groups to learn how they got started, what they have learnt and what they are up to. They also went over the fantastic eDNA results and started chatting about 'what next' for the group.
July 2021: At the end of the month the group came together for their first real Committee meeting. They had some great discussions about the direction of the group, how to increase engagement, why they wanted to be involved in a catchment group and what they could do first. The consensus was to hold an 'understanding our numbers' evening. A bit of social and a bit of information around what water quality results and numbers actually mean for the Lower Waiau area.
October 2021: Know Our Numbers was the theme of the October Catchment Group evening. We were very lucky to have water quality specialist Justin Kitto from DairyNZ present to us on the current conditions of freshwater in the Waiau catchment. He provided some great context and had some great handouts and pictures of what water quality means and what it looks like. We rounded out the evening with a delicious supper and social catch up.
November 2021: At a small committee meeting in November an exciting project idea was floated for a mobile wintering structure. The group discussed the concept at length and then voted to progress it further by working on a project proposal and applying for funding from Thriving Southland. They also made a plan for the next community event in February and set a date for the next committee meeting.
February 2022: The group started the year with a Community BBQ and swim at the Clifden Bridge. A slightly windy but warm Friday night was the perfect opportunity for a social catch up, a sausage and a handful of people enjoyed a less than tropical dip in the mighty Waiau river!
March 2022: With the dreaded Covid hanging around the committee meeting went online. A great zoom meeting saw the group finalise their plans for submitting the Mobile Wintering Structure Project funding application. Fingers crossed for the panel decision due end March!
January 2023: A fun family day out was held at the end of the summer holidays learning how to do a Stream Health assessment on two sights on the Lilburn stream, thanks to the ES Land Sustainability Team for guiding us through this. The highlight was finding lots of critters at the Kings property highlighting the great state of this part of the stream, followed by a great BBQ.
Thriving Southland is a community-led group with a vision to create a prosperous Southland, healthy people, healthy environment from the mountains to the sea.
CONTACT US
25 Don Street,
Invercargill 9810
