ONE PLAN INFORMATION MEETINGS

In collaboration with DairyNZ, we are running a series of One Plan information meetings to provide dairy farmers with an understanding of the current status of the intensive land use rules within One Plan, and the actions required to progress towards obtaining resource consent.

The below meetings will deliver information specific to dairy farmers who have either not yet applied for consent or have applied for consent but the application has either since been returned or yet to be granted.

The workshop will provide information on:

• The impact of the Environment Court declaration on the consenting process
• Horizons process while investigating a plan change
• A brief water quality summary
• Actions unconsented farmers should be getting on with now

Note: For dairy farmers who have a One Plan land use consent there will be meetings held in November/December providing specific information related to operating within the bounds of consent, and also a more comprehensive water quality update.

MEETING DATES:
Tuesday 24 October 2017
Rathole, Bulls                                     
10.00am – 12.30pm

Thursday 26 October 2017
Rua Roa Hall – Top Grass Road, Dannevirke
10.00am – 12.30pm

Thursday 26 October 2017
Phillips' Dairy Farm DSN47228 – 441 Kumeti Road, Dannevirke
6.00pm – 8.00pm

The same information will be provided at each meeting; you can therefore attend any one of the three to receive the necessary information.
If you have any questions, please contact Adam Duker on 027 226 5334 or by email adam.duker@dairynz.co.nz.

CROPPING OPTIONS

For those thinking about cropping options, please consider how you might reduce your environmental effects, in terms of paddock selection, fertiliser use, nutrient management and sediment control:

• Paddock selection – obviously you’ll be wanting to renovate pastures in the poorest performing paddocks; if your winter grazing plan worked in the tricky weather, the paddocks that need renovating are also the paddocks that got pugged the worst and will be first on your list for cropping. Aside from this, paddocks that aren’t close to a waterway will have a lower risk of nutrient and sediment getting into a waterway. If you do need to renovate a paddock close to a drain or waterway, a buffer strip of at least 5m wide depending on the slope of the land will reduce sediment and nutrient run-off.
• Species selection – there is a wide range of crops that can be planted and they can have varying effects on your bottom line and the environment. Talk to your seed rep or supplier about the different options, and check out our report on mitigations on Horizons website.
• Cultivation – while a good seed bed is important, consider the cost and time it takes to get a crop in. Less cultivation means there is less leaching of nutrients, soil is less prone to treading damage, costs are less and it may mean you can get your crop in sooner. While you must consider what is most suitable for your situation, the opportunity is there to perhaps try a different approach.
• Fertiliser – don't over fertilise the crop, as more of it will leach through the soil meaning a waste of money. This is especially true at sowing, but also during the life of the crop. Most dairy farm soils under pasture in New Zealand have healthy levels of organic matter and mineralisable nitrogen, particularly on effluent areas. Make sure the fertiliser you’re adding isn’t going down the drain. Advice from industry representatives can help.
• Grazing – if possible, start grazing as far away from the nearest waterway as practical, and graze towards drains or waterways. Back fence if possible and try to get the next crop/new pasture in as soon as you can. There is more information in our mitigations document on the web site.

Further information can be found on the Dairy NZ website or by contacting our Rural Advice team on free phone 0508 800 800. 

EFFLUENT IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT

The 2017-2018 milking season has been particularly challenging due to the amount and consistency of rainfall which has resulted in storage facilities reaching capacity more frequently around the Region. Please endeavour to irrigate every possible opportunity to drier soils on your farm if the wet weather has made it difficult for you to keep deferring effluent to the storage facility.

With some soils being increasingly saturated there is a much higher likelihood for effluent irrigation to result in ponding or runoff. If your storage capacity requires you to irrigate to wet soils daily such as a sump only system, please ensure your irrigator is set on its fastest possible speed setting to obtain the lowest possible application rate. It is also important to ensure irrigator nozzles are kept in good condition and the irrigator drag hose is set up in a way that is not creating drag for the irrigator. With this in mind, please pay attention to irrigation buffer distances to waterways and ensure these distances are being maintained if not extended in the current weather conditions.

Please take note of other areas of your farm which may not usually collect or discharge effluent, such as races and underpasses as they may have started to collect increased amounts due to these adverse weather conditions. Due to the increased amount of stormwater entering these areas they may need additional infrastructure installed or added management to avoid potential issues.   

If you are concerned with your farms effluent storage capacity and are having to continually irrigate to wet soils to avoid your storage facility overflowing please do not hesitate to get in touch with our rural advice team on free phone
0508 800 800 to discuss options.

We are keen to work with farmers through any issues that may occur before they result in any potential non-compliances or risks to the environment.

WATERMATTERS

We'd like to remind those of you who would benefit from using WaterMatters to complete the registration process in order to access your water data. Approximately 300 landowners have installed telemetry, however only 24 have registered for the recently updated site. 

To do so, click on the picture below and select the 'Register my account' button to complete the quick form. 

Please do not register immediately before wanting to access your data, allow 5 working days. Once you have filled in the registration form, our staff will match up your details ensuring everything is correct before allowing your login to view your water data. If you are experiencing problems, or would like some help please call free phone 0508 800 800.

If you are keeping manual records of your water take and take more than 5 litres per second, you have the option to install telemetry on your flow meter. This will allow you to determine whether the amount of water you think you require is accurate, as well as being able to assess the effects of your water take. The installation cost and maintenance of the telemetry unit is currently covered by Horizons. Once you have telemetry installed your records will be sent to us automatically saving you time, as you will no longer have to submit your water use records manually to compliance.shared@horizons.govt.nz as per your consent conditions.

If you would like to set up telemetry on your flow meter give our hydrology or consents monitoring team a call on free phone 0508 800 800.