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It's shaping up to be a hot summer this year, and irrigators need to ensure every drop of water counts. It's important to keep on-farm water systems in check, and to make sure water is going to the right place. If you haven’t already, it might be time to do a performance assessment to make sure your system is operating optimally. More information can be found at irrigation NZ here. Also check your irrigator placement to ensure you are only watering within your property boundaries and not the roads where it could cause a hazard.
Soil moisture monitoring can help you irrigate efficiently. If you haven’t got your own soil moisture probes on farm, there's evapotranspiration information on our website that shows the daily evapotranspiration rates for the previous 30 days as well as the monthly average figure for the past year. The sites are located in Lauder, Ranfurly and Windsor. With the predicted La Nina summer, river flows could get low so keep an eye on the ORC website for minimum flows at your monitoring site, and also make sure any residual flow requirements are being maintained.
Speaking of dry climates, congratulations to NOSLaM and the Lindis Catchment Group on their recent successful Jobs for Nature funding bids. NOSLaM received funding for riparian planting at 11 sites around North Otago. The Lindis group received funding for removing crack willow on the Cluden Creek and Lindis River, in addition to riparian planting, fencing and fish habitat enhancement. Along with water quality improvements, we expect to see some increased bird life along these new biodiversity corridors.
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