Taieri dairy farmer Gerald Holmes tells a recent field day
how he manages his dairy shed effluent. Photo by Craig
Baxter.
Disposing of dairy shed effluent is not straightforward.
Taieri dairy farmer Gerald Holmes told a recent Otago
Regional Council field day on his farm that planning and
construction rules kept changing, while paper roads and
drainage systems made it difficult to dispose of effluent.
Mr Holmes said he had decided to spend $50,000 on a new
holding pond, calculating that it was a better investment
than a $25,000 fine for an illegal discharge.
But the presence of paper roads and drainage ditches meant he
had to abtain a consent for the structure, adding to the cost
and time.
Taieri farmers said encroaching subdivisions and having to
deal with staff as farms became larger added to the problems
of dealing with effluent.
"We're just farming and as we go along, the council is
telling us more and more what we can and cannot do."
Mr Holmes said his farm had grown over the years from a small
World War 2 returned serviceman's block, and this season he
would milk 720 cows on 240ha.
As farms grew, owners had to entrust staff more with
management, such as spreading dairy effluent.
There were two soil types on his farm - Momona and Paretai.
Momona soils tended to be drier than Paretai, and Mr Holmes
said that meant careful management when spreading effluent.
Last spring, part of his farm to the north was very wet and
he had to wait until the Otago Regional Council started
pumping water below his property before it would move.
Other farmers felt council inspectors were too rigid.
They said the undulating nature of paddocks meant some
ponding was inevitable, but on inspection, the soil
underneath was dry.
The council's land resource manager Susie McKeague said
farmers needed to know the holding capacity of their soil and
it has installed monitoring sites in parts of the province
that provide information on the council's website on when to
apply effluent.
Monitoring sites had been installed at Inch Clutha, Clydevale
and West Otago but not on the Taieri, something farmers felt
was an oversight by the council.
Environment Southland has imposed a maximum application rate
of 10mm an hour, something Mrs McKeague said the ORC was
reluctant to do.
It has opted to set standards which farmers must meet and it
was up them how they were met.
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