Working farm becomes haven for birds, freshwater life in Waitomo

Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Farmers Felicity and Mark Brough are part of the King Country River Care group. They want to use their recent farm environment award achievement to encourage other land owners to form catchment groups around New Zealand.

The warm autumn colours of deciduous trees blend in with their native counterparts, leading up towards the rolling terrain forming the backdrop of Mark and Felicity Brough's farm.

It's a classic Kiwi landscape painting as the seasons change in the heart of the Waitomo district.

Walking on to the Brough farm at the right time of the day provides visitors with an experience not likely to be found in many other places around New Zealand.

'At the right time of the morning or night, you might see a native falcon (kārearea) swoop down and take out a kererū, it's an unbelievable sight,' Mark said.

The Broughs took over Paerua, Aria, in the Waitomo district about 20 years ago when they began their journey to improve the soil and water quality of the property.

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'The falcon comes screeching down and snatches the pigeon, then might sit down and pluck it. It seems cruel but I believe biodiversity is a big sign of a healthy environment.

'And we have got lots of native birds here now, like falcons, tui, kererū, fantails, as well as freshwater mussels and tuna (eels) in our streams.'

A new pond built on Paerua, near a road, provides people with a snapshot of the work completed on the property to encourage native birds, fish and invertebrate life.

The Broughs were named 2020 Regional Supreme Winners of the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards run by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust.

The award recognises their efforts at Paerua, a sheep and beef farm near Aria in the Waitomo district, which they took over about 20 years ago.

That was when they began their journey, carefully taking advice to come up with a staged plan for extensive planting around streams and ponds, and significant fencing to protect wetlands and drains.

The Brough's Paerua property runs about 170 weaner bulls and steer calves and 2150 sheep. The landscape has flats which transition into hill country. It was one of just two hill country properties entered into the Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards this year.

Two large dams with wetland areas have been created and the couple is planning to fence off more significant blocks of mature native bush.

Poplar poles control erosion, almost all paddocks have water troughs and beehives encourage clover growth. 

The Broughs hope to use their award, and experience over the past two decades, to encourage other land owners to come up with their own long-term plans for better environmental management of their farms.

Over the past 20 years, the Broughs have used a staged plan for extensive planting around streams and pond, and fencing of wetlands and drains.

They plan to hold a field day event at the property, after the country moves out of the alert levels, to show the public what they've achieved on their farm.

They'd like to show more people around, especially those from urban areas, to prove 'farmers are trying hard' to improve the environment.

But their property is a working farm and so inviting regular visitors isn't a possibility.

Mark said he hoped the work they've done will have a knock-on effect and the public will notice the difference over time.

Mark is on the New Zealand Conservation Authority Board and Felicity is a regional adviser for the Walking Access Commission. Both organisations focus on encouraging Kiwis into outdoor activity.

'We are not far from the native bush so what we are doing is creating a corridor to encourage native birds to move down to the next farm, so when they start their planting, the journey will continue,' Mark said.

The couple helped create the King Country River Care catchment group about 18 months ago and also want now to use their award achievement to encourage others to form similar groups around New Zealand.

'Hopefully, this (award) will be a positive for King Country River Care,' Felicity said.

'You can't work alone to improve the environment but when you work as a group, you can do so much more.

'Our property is at the headwaters of our catchment so if we make changes, hopefully that will help everyone else downstream.'

Mark said it might also apply a bit of 'peer pressure' to land owners not stepping up to the environmental challenge, like they have.

'I think if people come along to our field day and see what we have done, they will understand it doesn't actually cost a lot of money, versus the potential savings you could make,' he said.

'For example, fencing off waterways means you're not wasting time pulling sheep out of creeks.

'There's also that peer pressure element. If you are the only one in your catchment not bothering to fence off waterways when everyone else is, it might encourage you to do something about it.'

King Country River Care is one of a number of groups Mark and Felicity are involved in outside their farm.

Mark is on the New Zealand Conservation Authority Board which provides advice to the Department of Conservation and the minister of conservation.

A major responsibility is approving conservation management strategies and national park management plans.

For Mark, speaking with farmers about measures to protect what's left of New Zealand's biodiversity on private land is a priority.

Ministry for the Environment is working on a New Zealand biodiversity strategy, an action plan to protect plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms as well as the ecosystems on land or in water, where they live.

Felicity is Waikato regional field adviser for the Walking Access Commission, which provides advice and strategies for public use of trails and tracks around the country.

'It's about encouraging positive use of the environment, helping people get outdoors and be active,' she said.

'With private landowners like farmers, it's about supporting proposals to put in new access tracks and to help resolve access dispute.

'Both organisations we're involved with are about getting people outdoors and I think we're starting to realise it's not only good for physical health but for mental health too.'

The Broughs now go forward to contend the national Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Traditionally, the on-farm judging component of the national awards would be carried out in May and all regional winners would be interviewed in June.

Covid-19 has forced organisers to postpone until there's more clarity around the alert levels.

New Zealand Farm Environment Trust general manager James Ryan said there were still plans to hold field days and carry out judging, 'when it is deemed safe to do so'.

'We may yet need to get creative with our judging options, using technology.

'However, we are confident that through following Ministry of Health guidelines we will be able to proceed with judging later in the year. '

Ryan said the trust was committed to holding a national event to recognise all regional supreme winners, to celebrate sustainable farming and growing.

'Worse case scenario, we would delay it until early next year.'

Mark and Felicity said they were happy to be guided by the trust.

'We have no control over it (Covid-19) and we know the organisers are doing their best,' Felicity said.

The Waikato regional finals were announced via a YouTube video on April 29.

The Broughs said the online awards gave them something positive to look forward to during the coronavirus lockdown.

'All the entries were very different and have various strengths. It was nice for us to be one of two hill country properties in the regional final,' Felicity said.

Mark said he thought all the Waikato entries 'were amazing' as he watched their video presentation on the awards night.

'If you look at Waikeria Prison, their entry, they planted 200,000 trees, that's a huge achievement,' he said.

Mark also mentioned Landcorp's Renown near Reporoa, which is part of a wider dairy group.

Renown had a rotary dairy, monitored effluent systems and large calf-rearing facilities, coupled with significant planting programmes along river margins and drains, to name just a few features.

'When you look at the quality of all the entries for the awards, realistically any one of us could have won.'

Broughs' tips

* Join a landcare catchment group or investigate setting one up in your community. Pooling efforts and resources is better than trying to go it alone.

* Make contact with your regional council for advice and funding opportunities to help with the costs of fencing, riparian planting and other initiatives.

* Make a long-term plan to improve your property. The regional council has advisers who can help map out a staged approach over time to ease the burden of cost and labour.