Thursday, 11 August 2022
Understand what you can do: making a plan for new intensive winter grazing regulations
New government regulations for intensive winter grazing come into effect on 1 November 2022. These were initiated to mitigate the effect of land use on groundwater and freshwater bodies such as lakes, rivers and streams.
To ensure you meet the permitted standards, before establishing feed crops this season, you need to know where you stand with intensive winter grazing.
Understanding the standards is important. Some farms will meet the permitted standards already, while some will need to obtain resource consent.
One important variable to determine whether a farm meets the permitted standard is the amount of land to be used for intensive winter grazing. If your farm is 500ha or less, then you are permitted to use 50ha: this increases to 10% of your farm area for those farms over 500ha in size.
Also relevant for these standards is the slope of your paddock, which you need to be aware of prior to sowing winter feed crop. In order to use land for winter grazing, regulations require the maximum slope must be 10° or less. Published guidance to the regulations notes that this maximum slope should be taken across any 20m distance. Although a paddock can contain steeper slopes, these areas must either be excluded from intensive winter grazing or be covered by resource consent.
Although these regulations are relatively technical, with specialist advice most farms should be able to develop a winter grazing plan that would ensure the standards are met, or assist with applying for resource consent.
An additional guidance document is set for publication in the spring, clarifying the other aspects of the regulations around pugging management and resowing, which were notified in April.
In the meantime, if you think you trigger either of the criteria noted above, on permitted area or maximum slope, prior to establishing winter crops this year, contact the Ravensdown environment team, via your agri manager. We have all the technical capability you need to work out the most appropriate solution, and ensure your farming operation is not compromised by these new regulations.