Nearly $30,000 in fines has been handed down to two Otago farmers for practices which in one case led to significant damage of a river bed.
In the Dunedin District Court yesterday Judge Paul Kellar, of Christchurch, sentenced the Crawford Family Ltd and Stephen Hugh Crawford, of Clydevale, for the discharge of silage leachate to land and Allan Robert Murray, of Evans Flat near Lawrence, for disturbing the bed of a river, after the farmers entered guilty pleas.
Mr Murray was grazing a herd of about 110 cattle in a paddock next to the Tuapeka River last winter.
While he fenced off most of the river, he had left a gap so stock could drink from the river, but he took down the fence when a storm hit in August, allowing the stock unhampered access to the river.
Otago Regional Council counsel Alastair Logan said about 280m of the Tuapeka River was damaged during the 11 days the river was unfenced.
The situation was compounded by snow and rain which caused wet ground conditions and made the river more vulnerable to trampling cattle.
"Significant damage occurred."
There was no effort to remove stock and replace the fence during the 11 days, although after a regional council enforcement officer visited on August 26, the fence was replaced.
Bridget Irving, counsel for Mr Murray, said he was thinking of the welfare of his stock when he took down the fence as he wanted to prevent them from becoming entangled and to allow them to find shelter and dry land during the storm.
The storm was the worst the area had seen for about 30 years and Mr Murray lost a significant number of stock, she said.
Since the incident, he had installed a reticulated water system in the paddock and was looking at the best way to fence the river bank.
Judge Kellar said both sides of the river were heavily pugged by the cattle, although as the riverbed was gravel, it was largely undamaged.
The Tuapeka River was a significant trout and spawning habitat and was also home to adult trout and eels.
However, a reinspection by the council in December indicated the area was showing good signs of recovery, he said.
He convicted and fined Mr Murray $15,750 plus court costs of $132.89, legal fees $113, disbursements $7.25.
Mr Crawford's dairy unit, Kilmore Farm, was visited by an Otago Regional Council enforcement officer on May 23, 2011.
Silage leachate was found draining from two silage pits into a gully 2km from the Clutha River.
Mr Logan said the discharge was the "inevitable" result of the lack of any mechanism to catch and contain leachate from the two pits. They had also not been monitored.
While there had been more rain that expected, dairy farmers should be able to manage in those conditions, he said.
The run-off went into a small stream which had intermittent flows although there was enough rain to wash the leachate a considerable distance downstream, he said.
Mr Crawford had been issued with an infringement notice of $750 in 2007, also for leachate discharge.
Ms Irving, counsel for Mr Crawford and Crawford Family Ltd, said the offending was at the lowest end of the spectrum and three new silage pits with disposal for leachate had been constructed since.
Judge Kellar fined Mr Crawford $9000 plus court costs of $132.89, legal fees $113. Crawford Family Ltd was fined $10,000 $132.89, legal fees $113, reparation $195.62 and disbursements $33.
He ordered 90% of the fines in both cases to go to the Otago Regional Council.
