South Canterbury winter grazing flyover finds strong progress and some problem areas

Winter grazing is a common farming practice where livestock (cattle, sheep, and deer) feed on forage crops between May 1 and September 30. This ensures animals have energy to maintain weight and health during the cold and often wet months when pasture growth is slowest.

If managed poorly, this activity can have negative effects on the environment which is why key mitigations are crucial – including Critical Source Area (CSA) management and buffer zones. These mitigations help improve water quality and protect the farmer’s greatest asset, soil.

What the flyover found

The team were impressed with:

• farmers’ paddock selection, choosing paddocks that were lower risk to the environment
• forage crops being sown with wide grassed buffers between major waterways
• innovations working to improve environmental outcomes, such as one farm which had sown brassica and grass across the slope as a soil armour to stop sediment moving downhill.

Concerns:

• although major waterways appeared protected, smaller waterways (which can link to bigger waterways) were often not
• some CSAs (spots in the paddock prone to carrying runoff to waterways) had crop sown through.

If your winter grazing set-up isn’t right just yet, there’s still time to manage risks to the environment. Make sure you leave buffers next to waterways and ensure they are fenced while winter grazing.

Got questions? Come along to one of our drop-in sessions:

• 17 June (Wednesday) 2pm to 5pm — Waimate Library, Waimate
• 1 July (Wednesday) 2pm to 5pm — Geraldine Library, Geraldine

Why Critical Source Areas matter

The national rules state that CSAs within or next to winter grazing paddocks must not be grazed at any time through to 30 September.

If you have sown winter crop through a CSA, the regulation says that the area must remain ungrazed, vegetated, and with no cultivation or harvesting.

This is crucial to ensure runoff isn’t flowing into rivers and streams. Unfortunately for some, this might mean wasted crops this season, so please ensure you leave the CSA unsown for next winter.

Fundamentally, the goal is to keep sediment and contaminants out of waterways and on the paddock.

Farmers adapting winter grazing practices

Federated Farmers South Canterbury president Greg Anderson, who joined the flight as an industry representative, said he was pleased to see many farmers doing great work fencing off waterways and critical source areas.

“There’s definitely more awareness out there. Some farmers will have to think about the way they graze their paddocks, but there's still time to make decisions on that,” Greg said.

Strategic grazing can reduce soil loss from your winter grazing paddocks by up to 80 per cent. If your winter feed is on a hillside, graze across the slope wherever possible, starting at the top of the hill.

Mid-season winter grazing flyover planned

A mid-season winter grazing flyover is planned for June/ July in South Canterbury to provide further direction.

This is an educational activity run by our Water and Land team. No recordings or photographs will be taken during the flight.