The Cork Dairies property was identified (Baker, 2011) as a high risk to catchment water quality due to its herd size (280 milkers plus juveniles and dry cows), proximity to Obi Obi Creek (with approximately 2 km of frontage), partial riparian fencing and lack of effective buffers and dairy effluent management, (no disinfection and likely discharge to waterways in high rainfall events).
Cork Dairies is the largest dairy property in the Lake Baroon catchment milking 280 cows – down from 300 twelve months ago due to milk quota reductions by National Foods. This has substantially impacted on profitability with at least two other dairy farms in the catchment recently ceasing operations.
This document reports on the implementation phase of the project. It measures the outputs in comparison to the original Project Plan, identifying any shortfalls in outputs which may affect the project outcomes or conversely identifies any additional activities that exceed the Project Plan.
The On Maintenance Report also documents the ‘handing over’ of the project to the landholder, with the project entering the monitoring phase, which in the case of this project continues for a further two years. An important part of the On Maintenance Report is the evaluation of the Implementation phase of the project identifying any issues or concerns encountered and how these were dealt with or resolved. This is particularly important for the evolution of best practice management and methods.
