Funding Source: Australian Government – Smart Farms, Small Grants, Round 1 Program
Timeline: October 2018 – October 2020
Funding received: $95 000 (GST exc.)
Stock soaking up the morning shade from this paddock tree at Glenrowan
Managing farm water supplies during dry times means setting trigger points for water management on your property
Rows of trees planted in a block, like this woodlot, can create excellent summer shade
Landholders inspecting a 15 year old shelterbelt at Greta West
Project Description
The basic objective of the project is to help farms plan for climate change, by running a series of Farm Gate workshops and providing incentives to establish essential shade and shelter for stock.
Shade is essential for livestock health and productivity. It is important to take a look around your paddocks and assess what your stock needs are. Do you need shelter from cold winter winds? Or is summer shade more of a primary need on your property?
Our project has two components:
1. Farm Gate workshops – To provide information around the forecast impacts of climate change in North East Victoria and present a series of tools and management practices that can be implemented at the farm scale to assist farms in coping with these extremes in climate (rain, frost, heat). These workshops will use practical examples to improve knowledge and build capacity for change and adoption.
Proposed workshops include:
- Climate change – what does this mean for our farming communities and how can you adapt your farming practices? Held 25th October 2018
- The value of shade and shelter – Productivity gains, design guidelines and environmental benefits. Held 19th November 2018
- Farm Dams – Protecting and conserving your on-farm water supplies and long term strategies for coping in dry times. Held 11th February 2019
- Farm biodiversity – Identifying and protecting your assets. Held 24th March 2019.
2. On ground works – A property plan that considers the location of biodiversity assets, water supplies and need for shade and shelter will be developed for each property. Fencing and revegetation incentives will be offered to the landholder to establish new shelter belts or emergency shade blocks. Locations for these belts will be prioritised based on consideration of landscape connectivity, inclusion of biodiversity assets such as large old scattered paddock trees, and achieving multiple site objectives such as reducing erosion and soil disturbance.
Outcomes
We have actively worked on our onground works program over two years for this project. The final works program comprised:
- Twenty nine shade and shelter sites were completed in 2019 and two sites finalised in winter 2020.
- In total 31 new shade and shelter sites were established across the catchment over a total area of 17.7ha.
- 10.5km of fencing was erected, with 11.9ha of revegetation established using both direct seeding and planted tubestock.
- 5800 tubestock were planted, comprising of 1600 trees and 4200 shrubs.
- 7 laminated property plans were also developed for those landholders who had never used these as a planning tool previously.
Photos for a selection of our project sites are shown below. Please hover over the photo to read the caption for each site.
Protection of ephemeral creek and dam at property in Moyhu, creating a shelterbelt through centre of property
Corner triangle to provide windbreak on northern side of farm dam, Greta South
Long shelterbelt running E/W connecting roadside vegetation on two lanes, provides great afternoon shade at Oxley
Protecting and enhancing farm dams, to create windbreaks at Greta South. Trialling new guard type ‘greenPOD’ here at this site
Revegetating this ephemeral creek and around the dam to create a windbreak to stop cold air drainage across the property, Greta West
An L-shaped shelterbelt, to provide excellent late afternoon shade for stock at Greta West. Trees in central two rows, shrubs in outer rows
Wider shelterbelts allow for the development of great habitat for our woodland bird community, note the piles of small sticks left for foraging, Greta West
Corner triangle and shelterbelt under way at Moyhu. This site was direct seeded using native shrubs and then trees and selected other shrubs hand planted
Siting the shelterbelt over this eroding drainage line helps to achieve multiple outcomes at the one site, Greta West
Shelterbelt developed on western side of farm dam at Glenrowan West, by direct seeding with shrub seed and hand planting trees
Shelterbelt established by direct seeding shrubs and hand planting cutting grown shrubs and trees in corflute guards for kangaroo protection, Glenrowan West
Fantastic site preparation at this site at Greta South, including ripping prior to planting and follow up spraying in Spring
Protection and enhancement of this spring fed dam at Upper Lurg
Remnant paddock trees were incorporated into this shelterbelt and extensive planting of shrubs to create a dense shelterbelt at Moyhu
12 months after direct seeding at this site at Greta West, indigenous wattles emerging in natural curvy lines throughout the site
The Group has been successful in receiving funding under Round 2 and Round 3 of the Smart Farms, Small Grants program. This funding will allow us to continue rolling out a program of developing shade and shelter sites across our catchment. Please check our current projects for more information.
This project is supported by the Greta Valley Landcare Group through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.