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A June flyover by Southland Regional Council identified 21 potential sites of interest where winter grazing rules were broken.
Southland farmers ordered to immediately stop winter grazing are “stressed” and “don’t know what to do,” an industry leader says.
Environment Southland issued abatement notices to several farmers after it deemed rules under the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater were being broken.
The notices told farmers to “cease and desist” winter grazing immediately.
Environment Southland resource management manager Donna Ferguson said so far this season five abatement notices and one infringement had been issued for breaches of winter grazing rules.
In June an aerial compliance inspection of winter grazing found 21 potential sites of interest.
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Winter grazing is the practice of feeding stock on fodder crops.
Sites raised red flags because they appeared to be on critical source areas, or broke slope rules, she said.
Land with a maximum slope of less than 10 degrees could be used for intensive winter grazing activities, but grazing on a slope more than 10 degrees needed a resource consent or certified freshwater farm plan.
Dairy farmer and Federated Farmers winter grazing spokesperson Jason Herrick said farmers were told to stop winter grazing “straightaway” until they complied with regulations.
Non-compliance came with the risk of a fine or jail sentence, he said..
By law, crops planted for winter grazing on farms that were given notice could not be eaten by cows.
Herrick said Government regulations were poor and turned good citizens into criminals, but regional councils were bound by a legal framework and “have to do what they’re doing.”
However, the situation left farmers feeling stressed and with no idea what to do, he said.
“My advice to [farmers] is compliance is their decision. They can work with the regional council [but] none of them I’ve spoken to want to do that.”
None of the farmers he spoke to were contacted by the council to carry out farm visits after the June flyover, he said.
“They received abatement notices in the mail with no warning,” he said.
Kavinda Herath/Stuff
Federated Farmers winter grazing spokesperson Jason Herrick says, Government regulations were poor and turned good citizens into criminals.
Ferguson said a notice asked a farmer to stop grazing the paddock and to become compliant with the rules.
“There is no fine with an abatement notice, only a cost recovery invoice, which covers time spent on the investigation. The council has an obligation to recover costs where it can from those in breach of the rules to prevent the costs falling to the general ratepayer.
“There are however, consequences for breaching them. One infringement has been issued for $300 after advice was not followed up. The amount is set out in the Resource Management Act.”
An abatement notice must provide a time to act and recipients were advised that, if that timeframe was impractical, they could contact the council to discuss an extension, Ferguson said.
The council tried to contact farmers to discuss their situation before an abatement notice was issued and had talked to all of those affected, she said.
“In those calls we have found people to be cooperative and genuinely interested in working to become compliant.”
Under new rules farmers unable to undertake intensive winter grazing as a permitted activity were required to have either applied for a resource consent or deemed permitted activity.
Environment Southland consent manager Bruce Halligan said intensive winter grazing consents were granted for between five and eight years. Deemed permitted activity notices were valid until 1 November next year.
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