First aerial winter grazing compliance inspection completed

Environment Southland completed its first aerial compliance inspection of the winter grazing season on 4 July, identifying some great compliance and only two potential sites of interest.

The flight focused on western and central Southland.

Environment Southland compliance manager Donna Ferguson said the team was impressed with the buffers in place and the critical source areas left uncultivated and ungrazed.

“These were two areas we were specifically checking compliance with as they’re key criteria in the rules and can have a big impact on water quality if not managed well.”

She also noted there was a lot of pasture-based grazing happening, where bales of hay or baleage are placed evenly across grass paddocks and stock are break fed from these.

“Remember that good management practices need to be applied to stock grazing on crop as well as on pasture with baleage,” she said.

The flights were an opportunity to see if the good preparation observed earlier in the year was being followed up by good practice and compliance with the rules.

“While we observed many good examples of winter grazing practice, there are always improvements that can be made. In particular, we’ll continue to encourage the use of portable troughs and back-fencing, as well as grazing towards waterways.”

The sites identified for follow up were in relation to crop being grazed on what appeared to be a critical source area, and a paddock with no buffering from a waterway, Donna Ferguson said.

Follow up will be done with an assessment on the ground, and any further action will depend on the level of environmental impact.

Flights are planned for the start of each winter month and follow paths guided by known areas of concern and incidents reported.

“We will be undertaking further aerial monitoring flights and responding to complaints through the winter grazing period.”

Anyone who sees something they're concerned about environmentally should get in touch with Environment Southland directly. The Ministry of Primary Industries inspects animal welfare concerns, and can be contacted by calling 0800 00 83 33 or emailing animalwelfare@mpi.govt.nz.

The Government announced proposed changes to the winter grazing rules in the Resource Management Act in April, however they’re yet to be finalised. Regional rules for winter grazing already exist in the Southland Water and Land Plan.

Farmers who are unsure about the rules and what they need to do to comply should visit the Environment Southland website for more information www.es.govt.nz or contact the consents team directly for specific advice.