February 2010 edition
Shelterbelts for varying climatic conditions
Shelterbelts are vegetation barriers that reduce wind speed and provide shelter for stock. Providing shelterbelts allows animals to cope better in varying climatic conditions, especially in the extreme conditions experienced recently.
The primary benefit for providing dairy cattle with shelter during high temperatures is to maintain milk production. Stress on cattle created by heat or cold not only effects milk production but also conception rates and mortality rate of calves, impacting on the long term farm profitability.
Shelterbelts can also provide a range of other production and environmental benefits for your property and local catchments’ by:
- protecting crops and pastures from wind;
- reducing soil and wind erosion;
- reducing nutrient runoff and improve water quality;
- reducing groundwater recharge associated with salinity and
- creating new habitat for native fauna or corridors with existing vegetation.
Planning where to locate your shelterbelts so they have multiple benefits is best identified through developing a whole farm plan. A whole farm plan allows you to identify the best location for shelterbelts whether it is to enhance existing assets such as patches of remnant bush or address threats such as soil erosion.
Establishing shelterbelts will take time and money, so identifying the highest priority to start establishing them is important. A good place to start would be to identify a paddock that can be used in extreme conditions and create a shelterbelt around it first. This paddock might also be suitably placed for feeding stock and have a good water supply. When planning shelterbelts, thought should be given to the density, width and orientation, along with the species of plants and their growth pattern.
For more information on the design and benefits of shelterbelts and whole farm planning please contact Kylie Macreadie, DPI Catchment Management Officer at DPI Wodonga on (02) 6043 7922.
