It's an early winter morning, dark and chilly, but Northland dairy farmer Jane Hutchings couldn’t be happier.

She’s leaning over a fence surrounding a stand of native bush, and completely tuned in to the soundtrack of her favourite music.

With husband Roger, Jane is one of dozens of dairy farmers helping achieve the Kiwi Coast dream of thriving kiwi, roaming freely throughout Northland, nurtured and cared for by local people.

Kiwi Coast got underway five years ago, building on work done by the Landcare Trust when Helen Moodie, who is now DairyNZ’s Northland sustainability specialist, provided guidance to people keen to look after the kiwi that were increasingly appearing in their backyards.

“Kiwi Coast recognises that looking after kiwi is not locking them up and throwing away the key,” Moodie says. “We have kiwi in our productive landscapes here in Northland where they’re eating the worms and other insects that are prolific in our pastures; and through Kiwi Coast we are growing the kiwi populations by managing their threats.”

Kiwi Coast is a joint project by 120 entities, says coordinator Ngaire Tyson. Community-led groups including dairy and other farmers, lifestyle and other landowners, landcare groups, schools, iwi and hapu make up 105 of the initiatives, with the remainder Northland agencies and businesses, including forestry companies.

“The 120 entities linked into Kiwi Coast now look after nearly 150,000ha stretching from the Aupouri Peninsula in the north to Mangawhai Heads in the southern region of Northland. Everyone has a shared vision of creating a corridor of comparative safety for kiwi.”

Tyson, who previously worked with Moodie at Landcare Trust, says the recipe is a simple one: landowner engagement, killing pests and controlling dogs.

The main predator on kiwi is stoats which kill 95% of kiwi chicks before they reach 12 months.

And there are the dogs. Man’s best friend is the biggest threat to adult kiwi and this is why Kiwi Coast and its affiliated groups encourage dog owners to control their animals.

She says farmers, as landowners, are vital in Northland’s kiwi protection work.

“Kiwi Coast has many farmer champions, and when others in the community see farmers are involved they want to help too. They say ‘we can do this; we can look after our patch’. Their imagination is captured.”

She says kiwi can do well on farms.

“Many farmers, have fenced bush, wetlands and stream margins to exclude stock, which helps protect kiwi habitat. And farms can be safe places for kiwi because farmers control their dogs to protect their stock.”

Jane Hutchings, whose family dairy farm is near Kerikeri, says having kiwi living and breeding on their farm is inspiring.

“We’re blessed that many people in Northland have the same passion to protect kiwi.

“We always knew there were kiwi on our dairy farm, although rarely sighted. The severe drought in 2009 brought kiwi out of the bush foraging for food and water. After seeing six kiwi out in the paddock one night we contacted the Kiwi Foundation to get advice on how to help them, not only through the drought, but also long-term.”

The Hutchings soon learnt the big threats to kiwi were pests and uncontrolled dogs.

With support from Northland Regional Council (NRC), they pulled together a pest attack group of farming neighbours and others in their immediate area, and so the Puketotara Landcare group was formed.

The group now protects kiwi in an area covering 5000ha from Kerikeri to Puketi Forest.

The group is also funded by Kiwis for Kiwis and Fonterra’s Grass Roots initiative.

“As well as helping protect kiwi, our work is seeing the surrounding bush flourish.”

The Hutchings

The Hutchings family milks 700 pedigree Ayrshire cows on 282ha. At least 30km of fencing protects a 20ha wetland graded ‘significant’, and 100ha of regenerating-to-mature native bush.

Their environmental care also includes a 22kW solar panel system on their cowshed roof, and they were Northland supreme winners in the 2014 Ballance Farm Environment awards.

Jane Hutchings now chairs the Northland awards committee and manages the Puketotara Landcare group Facebook page.