Farmers’ workshops in Rangitīkei, Ruapehu ahead of new intensive winter grazing rules

New rules on intensive winter grazing come into force on May 1. Photo / Bevan Conley

Workshops to help farmers understand new intensive winter grazing rules will be held in Hunterville, Ohakune and Taihape next month.

Horizons Regional Council is collaborating with Beef and Lamb NZ to help farmers understand how to implement the intensive winter grazing (IWG) rules and apply for consent.

Three workshops are being held in March for farmers to learn how to complete winter paddock management plans and apply for consent if required.

Horizons senior rural adviser Ian McNab said those who attended the workshops would be able to outline how forage cropping fitted into their systems, carry out risk assessments, outline any winter grazing monitoring required, complete a paddock management plan and apply for consent if needed.

“New regulations, which came into effect on November 1, 2022, require farmers who cannot meet permitted activity rules to apply for resource consent for IWG by May 1, 2023,” McNab said.

“The workshop will start with farmers being asked to review how a winter forage crop fits into their farm system before carrying out risk assessments using Horizons’ purpose-built application.

“The risk assessment application is a tool farmers can use to indicate the risk to freshwater of contaminates from overland flows from IWG.

“The assessment application is also a gateway for farmers to establish if they need to apply for a consent for IWG or not at this point.”

Information provided by Beef and Lamb NZ would help farmers decide on their intensive winter grazing practices, McNab said.

“Horizons staff will be available to help farmers get a better understanding of how IWG regulations will be implemented and provide advice on consent applications where required.

“These workshops come on the back of other work Horizons has done to help farmers understand how to implement the IWG rules, such as building the paddock risk assessment application and hosting a mock consenting process.

“Horizons’ regulatory team have also done multiple on-farm visits to talk through the practicalities of implementing IWG regulations. These visits were useful for the farmers present, as well as Horizons staff.”

The workshops are in Hunterville (March 7), Ohakune (March 8) and Taihape (March 14).

Visit Beef and Lamb NZ’s website www.beeflambnz.com/events to register for the workshops and Horizons’ website www.horizons.govt.nz for more information about IWG.