Water security is front of mind for Gympie region cattle farmer Karen Jarling.
2022 was a wet year at the property she runs a Brahman-cross herd on, and while the rain was mostly welcome, it also caused issues with the farm's dams.
Now as things dry up the big concern is making sure there will be water in the future.
"This time last year we had two dams badly impacted severe rain events we experienced over and over again," she said.
"One dam we inherited on the property and one we had built by a very experienced dam building company - and still those weather events were too much for those dams to stand up without any damage.
"We spent the best part of last year completely and utterly focused on water - we suddenly had too much but damaged dams that wouldn't hold enough and on the top of that I'm thinking 'it's going to get dry again'."
Ms Jarling worked to improve the properties dams and now she wants to help other farmers get the best from what they currently have or are planning with dam construction.
In her role as events coordinator with the Gympie District Beef Liaison Group Ms Jarling has helped organise a "Cleaner Farm Dams" workshop helping educate producers on topics like improving water quality, carbon cycling, water security and biodiversity.
"Dams are critically important," she said.
"For a long time it's just been dig a hole, it will catch some water, she'll be right, but that is not enough anymore.
"They have to be well-designed, they have to have maintained spillways, and we need things like shade and fencing, overall we really need to up our game on water quality and catchment."
Ms Jarling said after the 2022 flood events adjustments made to her own dams motivated her to want to help others produce healthy, weighty cattle by improving the water quality and grazing environment.
"We took the opportunity to complete work on our dams so they can take bursts of rain but they are much more stable now it's not raining," she said.
"We are really impressed with how they are handling the evaporation, because they have been reworked they are behaving quite differently.
She also said that trees aren't always the best fit for the structural integrity of dam walls and bamboo can be used to create shade without the roots impacting the dam.
"We are using bamboo to create shade as it doesn't have the same root system, it creates shade which helps prevent evaporation and keeps the water cooler and cool water is better quality water."
The workshop is a combined initiative of Gympie District Beef Liaison Group and Burnett Mary Regional Group and interested landholders will hear from carbon scientists Dr Martino Malerba and associate professor Larelle Fabbro.
BMRG's regional agriculture landcare facilitator, Michael Grebert said farm dams were often methane emitters because they're rich in nutrients from fertiliser and manure run-off.
"An effective way to reduce methane emissions on farm is by improving dam water quality," he said.
"Even small improvements may result in big reductions in methane emissions from dams.
"Shading and fencing with offsite watering points can help to reduce nutrient load and the temperature in dams, while improved water quality also means better feed conversion and animal welfare in general."
The Cleaner Farm Dams workshop and information session will be held in Gympie on on Saturday, 25 February.
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