1 Captions by Desney Shaw and Tracey Dawson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 Hello and welcome to Rural Delivery. Recently there has been a lot of talk about the ambitious target of making NZ predator free. This week we meet residents on the Otago Peninsula who have been working together to make that part of the country predator free since 2010. We speak with Brendon Cross, farmer and chair of the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group, who runs his farming operation close to Dunedin with his city neighbours in mind. And we find out about work by AgResearch and Otago University that's aiming to improved productivity in deer farming systems. In 2010 residents on the Otago Peninsula began a Landcare group with the aim of preserving and enhancing their environment. A key focus was pest control, and to date 10,000 possums have been eradicated from the area. They are now using some low-tech but highly effective methods of targeting the remaining possums. Brendon Cross is a local farmer and chair of the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group. We first got together in 2008, and it was really just a group of residents from the community and also landholders that decided that the peninsula was a pretty special place and what could we do to make it a better place. The talk at the time was, 'What's our approach?' and so from that we decided to go to the residents and see what pests were an issue for the residents on the peninsula. And so it came about from a survey that we could target, you know, multiple species, but in terms of something as a first-off crack was... came about was possums. In the past there has been some start-up of Landcare groups and things, but it was felt that the time was right that we could make this a peninsula-wide thing. People are living and working on the peninsula, but alongside that we have endangered yellow-eyed penguins, fur seals, sea lions, little blue penguins and also the iconic Royal albatross. Initially, we commissioned a report on how we could actually go about attacking the possums, and because of the area that we were talking ` 10,000ha ` and our group being relatively new to this pest control work, we went from the control methods that had been, uh, supplied to us in the report, and we modified those to work to our parameters in terms of funding. So initially when we set off, we set off with no 1080 was paramount to the project. It was a project that we needed to get the community onside, and so all of the work can be ground-based; it's accessible. So that was number one. Um, and also we said that we would fund it all, so all of the work has been done at no cost to the landowner. First of all, we set out and split the peninsula up into five different sectors. So we started at the far end of the peninsula and we're working our way back to Dunedin city. Once we started to roll it out, people got the confidence that it wasn't intrusive on to their farming operations, so then it grew from there. So the buy-in has been huge ` nearly 100% buy-in. So, I'd just put traps around the covenant. It is all contestable funding. DOC have been a good supporter in supporting our project manager and operations manager and some operational work. Lotteries and numerous local organisations have been funding us. But it is an ongoing battle for us to look for funding. We are getting well down the track. We are over 10,000 possums now. We are getting down to the nitty-gritty. Our approach has changed from contractors coming in and just a speedy, fast, uh, operation to more methodical, um, chew cards, tracking down. But probably a greater use of volunteers. These chew tracking cards or chew cards have been a wonderful tool for the Biodiversity Group. Along here you can see a yummy, tasty lure. Several animals might be interested in the lure ` possums, rats, mice, maybe the odd rabbit, hedgehog. But they all leave a quite different bite mark when they try to actually eat what's inside the chew card. So they are a detection tool for what's around. We have been using them to map where the possums are, because we are now at a stage, having taken 10,000 possums out, there will be hotspots; there will be areas that are clear. So in terms of mapping where the existing possums are, they are a great tool. This one has been eaten by a mouse. The mouse just nibbles at the top layer of this Corflute. You can see where it has been trying to take all the tasty lure out of that side of it and whoever has put the chew card up has done what we asked ` the name of that particular line, the date and so on. That is quite important. Rats, they just go in wholesale. They just eat the lot. So you will see a pile of what looks like confetti at the bottom where a rat has been. Now, possums, they don't actually eat the card. Here are just some possum bite marks. Here's another one. The possum maybe hasn't got as much of the lure out, but those are possum bite marks. And if we take our possum skull, they have quite flat incisors, and that's the bite mark that it makes on the card. So it's pretty easy for our volunteers to distinguish between the mice, the rats and the possums. We know that studies of certain North Island forests and one area in the South Island have shown that as you reduce possum numbers, rat numbers can go up. So right from the start, we were aware of this, and, 'Is this going to happen on the Otago Peninsula?' One way to find out is to do some rodent monitoring using inked tracking cards like this that go in tunnels. We monitor four times a year for one dry night. What we are seeing is a very slight trend of more rat numbers. Not statistically significant. We do have our expert, Deb Wilson, who is an expert scientist in this area, and she is going to be doing a more detailed analysis for us this summer. I am working across the whole programme at an operational level, which is from trapping and poisoning and trying to keep in touch with where possums are. We have to be respectful of the wishes of the residents on the peninsula, whether it is rural or residential areas. Some people, obviously, have concerns about the use of traps and poisons and even just whether or not we should be killing animals, you know. So there's a lot of concerns that we have to deal with and discuss with residents. But by the same token, a lot of residents have no problem with what we're doing and are, in fact, very supportive. They appreciate seeing the biodiversity gains that are accruing from the work. Because we are learning so much as we go and we are using a variety of techniques and tools and people, we are using it as an educational process as well as an operational one. And it is a social experiment too in the way that we are dealing with residents and they are dealing with us ` and the way that they are assisting us with the programme too. So it's quite an exciting programme to be involved with. The project was never about eliminating the TB threat. That was really just a sideline to it. It was to enhance the biodiversity on the peninsula. Anecdotally, we're getting some good feedback from the community in terms of they are seeing more birds, they are seeing tuis for the first time, they are seeing kereru where they haven't seen them before, you know, their roses are flowering, they're getting fruit. So all of that anecdotal stuff is great. But to back that up, the monitoring that we have done in terms of strategic bird walks and the rodent monitoring and the vegetation monitoring is what really backs that up. When we return, we learn more about Brendon's farming operation on his property that's just 25 minutes from the centre of Dunedin. 1 Welcome back. Before the break we met Brendon Cross, who's been living on the Otago Peninsula all his life. He's not only keenly aware of the environment he operates in but also the relationships he's building with those members of the public who also value this unique part of the country. Roselle Farm originally was just here at our home property. We have 200ha here. We, about 15 years ago, leased another property at Sandymount of 200ha, and about six years ago we leased a property off Dunedin City Council ` uh, Harbour Cone Hereweka ` which is 330ha, and we've since leased another couple of small blocks around that as well, so comprising of three properties. We're running 4000 ewes and replacements, 1000 hoggets. We run a small amount of cows, 30 cows. We are predominantly a breeding operation, selling mostly store lambs. I grew up here. Been here all my life. I'm sixth generation to farm here. So there is quite a tie to this property. In the original days, it was dairy farming. All of the farms down here mostly were set up as dairy farms. We gave up dairy farming, sort of, the late '50s and went to solely sheep. We have something like 38 neighbours surrounding us, between farms and community. So that needs to be in the back of our mind whenever we are out doing anything. One area behind me is a patch of bush that we have put into QEII covenant. It's a bit of regenerated native bush that we've protected. It was an area that we had fenced off previously, but Paula and I felt it was important that it gets protected in perpetuity. And so on the other side here we have a small area ` about half a hectare ` that we've just recently fenced off as an area for jewelled gecko habitat. The jewelled gecko, they have a few predators around here, so one being possums, and other things like cats. So we've` just trialling an area there where we have rabbit-fenced with three electric wires just to try and offset the animal predators. It's productive farmland, but it's an area that I see the value in taking it out and protecting it. This has been in my family for a number of generations, and so I enjoy being able to give something back and for future generations. I think we need to have areas on farms that are for that reason ` you know, an enjoyment area as well as productive areas. We are out at Sandymount. It's a block that we lease off George and Shirley Murray. This is relatively steep country, but it's got great natural shelter. We run a split-flock policy on our place, so we have got the three properties that we run. Young stock are run at home, and we run our A-flock ewes out here. So our 'born twin, scanned a twin' is a two-tooth. And good condition. No issues will come out here into our A flock. They get mated to a Romney ram from Te Whangai ` Hamish de Lautour's in southern Hawke's Bay. Out here we don't scan for triplets, but we've regularly scanned over the last three years either between 178 to 182. We have tailed from 155 last year to 160 a couple of years ago. So last year was a fairly tough year ` dry autumn. But we still maintained that production, which I was very happy with. We do monitoring throughout the year in terms of trying to work on their condition, the animal health needs. And so I try and put that in beforehand. So we've taken increases in lambing percentages since I've stayed out of interfering with them. So probably a reflection on my shepherding ability, but I think it's important on steep hill country to let them do their own thing. We do have a road that goes through the middle of it, so we have a lot of people that use that at certain times of the year. So we are certainly very much on show in terms of our farming practices. So that's always mindful. But we need to be mindful of that on the peninsula ` that the general public is viewing what we're doing. So other groups do share it. Walking groups use the property a lot. Even here where we are, the hang-gliding group use this a lot. They've printed up signs for the gates to shut it down over lambing. They are in contact with me. So they're great like that. They look after it as much as me. It becomes self-policing, in a sense, and I think that with a lot of` when you open up a property, people respect that, and so they don't want to see the general public abusing it. I enjoy farming. And a way of keeping me farming here and keeping me farming on our home block has been by leasing, so making it more economic. I think it is important for farmers to be involved with the community organisations as well, so that they can get an understanding of the challenges that I have as a farmer and the way we see things. So some of that interaction that we are doing around possums is also an interaction between the rural and urban folk, which I think is really valuable. When we return, we head to AgResearch Invermay to learn about what work is being done there, along with Otago University, for NZ's deer industry. 1 Hello again. Scientists at AgResearch Invermay, along with Otago University, have a long association with NZ's deer industry. Currently a large project funded by industry, AgResearch and Landcorp is building on earlier work on productivity as well as better understanding natural resistance to parasites. The Hitting Targets project is a multitude of different focuses on animal productivity and profitability, but by and large it is themed around certain areas where we can make the best bang for buck, so to speak, for deer. And one of those areas is genetics. And we focus strongly on genetics because we've got an animal that is only 40 years into domestication, so there's a lot of opportunities out there to improve the genetics. The DPT is short for the Deer Progeny Test, so that has been our flagstaff genetics project for the last few years. One of the key objectives was to use the Deer Progeny Test, or the DPT, to allow for improved linkage between farms with their size. So it's quite important for farmers who buy size to understand if they look at the breeding values for stags on one farm, they reflect what is happening on another farm, rather than just each farm doing their own thing. Right, so we're bleeding in CARLA sampling today? Uh, yep. Just scan first. The deer industry has a national genetics database, and that's called Deer Select. It's developed on the Sheep Improvement Limited database and analytical system. So we haven't invented something new, but we've been able to modify something existing. And there are quite a large number of breeders or stud breeders that actually put data on to Deer Select, and we use that to calculate the breeding values of the stags and the hinds for particular traits. At the moment it is mostly growth traits, but as a result of the Deer Progeny Test and other work that is carrying on now, we will have a wider range of traits available to them other than just growth. For instance, farmers often talk about temperament or the behaviour of their deer when they're, you know, with humans. So what we have been looking at are other opportunities like that. For example, one of the things we are focused on is around disease management. How can we use genetics to improve our ability to manage disease in deer herds? Ultimately, what we would like to see is that the industry adopts what we call indices, or indexes, where you combine a number of traits and you develop an economic index. So you are actually developing an animal across a range of traits rather than just focusing on one trait. There are a couple of things we're doing today. One is to collect a saliva sample, and that is used to assess the amount of CARLA antibody in the saliva. And that to us is a very good indicator the animals are mounting an immune response to injesting worms. And that potentially has a lot of utility in the deer industry for being able to select for animals that can be resistant to worm challenge. And the other thing we're doing, and it's related to it in a way, is the blood sample. And that's taken to look at various biomarkers, we call them, for immune function as well. So the work is really focused on can we use genetics, produce an animal that can perform well in natural farm environment in terms of being able to deal with disease challenge and still be productive? Our particular area of interest is animal health and disease. So the particular aspect we are concerned about is how can we better understand and manage diseases. The two diseases we are focusing on is Johne's disease, which is a chronic enteric disease, and parasitic diseases. And both of those, obviously, have become part of the Deer Progeny Test programme as another example of a production trait. I believe parasitism is the most important production-limiting disease that affects not only deer but also other livestock breeds like sheep and cattle. It's a very very expensive disease. Parasites have evolved uniquely not to kill their host but to coexist with their host, so they are the ultimate pathogen, really, and they are very widespread and cause massive production-limiting effects at the most important phase of an animal's productive life, which is its juvenile growth. We will be able to assess the predictability of the markers we are using probably within a year. But then we need to confirm that concept downstream, and that will require at least two or three years of studies. Certainly in terms of genetic progress, the industry has been very strongly focused on growth rate for venison production and antler size for antler production. But now we are starting to look much wider than just single-trait selection. There are dangers in that, of course. So we are more interested now in progressing the industry down pathways that look more at things like the actual product itself, so the venison. So we have done a lot of work with the Deer Progeny Test on the carcass and the genetics of the venison quality traits. And if nothing else, it's to show us that as we use genetics to progress our animals, we don't denigrate the product. But the upside is we may actually be able to improve the product through genetics. There is no doubt about it that NZ is a world major deer farming nation, and we have been lucky to have a non-native animal that was once a pest and now can be utilised for farming. But I'd have to say the success of deer farming rides on the back of the animal itself. It's a very adaptable animal ` much more adaptable than I would have ever given it credit for, years ago. And there are probably many deer species that just wouldn't succeed in that farm environment because they don't have that level of adaptability. But, you know, we're still a young industry. 40 years to go from live capture of wild animals to the type of situation we're in now where we can comfortably yard the animals and work with them and manage their genetics is quite a major feat, in my opinion. For more information on these and other stories we have covered, visit our website. You can get there via tvnz.co.nz. You can also watch this and previous episodes on TVNZ OnDemand using the keywords Rural Delivery. Next week we find out about efforts at Victoria University to combat the highly invasive Argentine ant, a major cause of concern for horticulturists and beekeepers. We meet Thomas Chatfield, a physiotherapist who switched his career to dairying and won the 2016 Bay of Plenty Dairy Farm Manager of the Year. And we learn about work at Scion, where a new bioplastic is being created from paua shell. Thanks for stopping by. Please join us again next time for the final episode in this series of Rural Delivery. Captions by Desney Shaw and Tracey Dawson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016