Last month Horizons Regional Council hosted a mock consenting trial for the proposed intensive winter grazing consenting application processes that will be necessary under new regulations in the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater.
Intensive winter grazing means grazing livestock on an annual forage crop at any time from the start of May to end September of the same year.
The intensive winter grazing regulations come into effect this year and consent applications, if required, will need to be lodged before October 31.
Horizons rural advisor Ian McNab says the workshop was a culmination of consent process work undertaken over five weeks by landowners, Horizons and industry groups. It was held to gather feedback from all involved.
“The purpose of the mock consenting process was to ensure that next year when consents will be required, Horizons has the information needed to create a realistic consenting process,” McNab said.
“Those who attended were pleased to see Horizons working proactively to find realistic solutions, while recognising that these new regulations will affect people’s livelihoods.”
He says the workshop aimed to identify issues and information gaps in the preparation and processing of consent applications in advance of the regulations coming into effect in May. Further workshops may be held and consultation will be ongoing over the coming months.
“This is just the start of us working alongside affected parties and partners for these processes,” he said.
Ashhurst dairy farmer Richard Ridd and his wife Wendy took part in the workshop, which Ridd says was a worthwhile experience.
Before taking part they were considering not winter grazing in the future, despite the practice being an important part of their farming system, not just from a financial perspective but also because of the environmental outcomes it achieves.
He says during winter they winter their cows on 2-3% of their farming platform, leaving the rest of the property stock-free during the most high-risk period of the year.
They mitigate the risk by using a feed pad.
The approach is the most effective tool to manage their heavy soil type over challenging winters.
Ridd says while he can only comment on his own farming situation, and the regulations will have a much greater impact on others, it was refreshing to talk with council staff and hear what he says is a genuine collaborative and proactive approach to finding solutions.
A Horizons-built risk assessment tool was successfully used and discussed during the workshop.
The tool, developed by Horizons’ rural advice team, helps identify inherent risks within the cropped area of a paddock. The tool classifies paddocks as low, medium or high risk for intensive winter grazing, depending on the presence of critical source areas, waterways, slope, erosion susceptibility, drainage characteristics and stock class.
Ridd, along with DairyNZ engagement leader Adam Duker, his milk supply manager and a farm consultant, went around every paddock on the farm with the toll, which he says helped to assess environmental impacts on different parts of the farm.
He says many farmers do that sort of thing anyway, but the tool helped with the thought processes involved.
Ridd, who is a member of the farmer group Acre (Agricultural Communities Respecting the Environment) was pleased to discover during the workshop that farmers could do a lot of the work required for the consenting process themselves, rather than have to pay a consultant to do the whole job.
However, he says consultants will still be needed for some aspects of the process, which will be another cost that farmers will have to absorb, along with the consent application cost itself.
Horizons senior consents planner Sara Westcott says the council recognises the need to work cohesively with farmers and industry.
She says information gathered for intensive winter grazing consents could be included in farm plans, which would be most effective when used as living documents to help make farm management decisions, which ensure environmental effects are appropriately avoided, remedied or mitigated, while still allowing flexibility for farmers.
“This is something we are continuing to explore with other regional councils,” Westcott said.
Sheep and beef, dairy and deer farms were used for the mock consenting process and multiple industry groups were present at the workshop, including DairyNZ, Federated Farmers, Open Country Dairy, Deer Industry NZ, Fish & Game, AgFirst, the Ministry for the Environment, Beef + Lamb NZ, Ravensdown, Greater Wellington Regional Council, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Otago Regional Council and Southland Regional Council.
