Cultivation for winter grazing

Plan ahead - cultivation this spring

We know spring is a busy time on-farm and with new rules being introduced for cultivation through the Southland Water and Land Plan it may be more complex than previously.

Whether you’re doing it yourself or you’ve hired a contractor we recommend having a plan in place to communicate exactly what you require to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Watch the cultivation and winter grazing webinar for great tips for planning your planting, identifying critical source areas, strategic grazing and the role of compliance.

Create a cultivation plan

Having a plan and a map that highlights the ins-and-outs of your farm – including the environmental hazards and regulatory expectations. This will help ensure the work is completed efficiently, economically and environmentally responsibly. Comprehensive planning also reduces the risks of miscommunication.

Both landholders and contractors have a regulatory responsibility to protect waterways on farm and work within the rules that apply to the area. Should works be carried out on the property in breach of the rules or damage caused to a waterway – both the landholder and the contractor could be liable.

Your cultivation plan should include:

A map which identifies the paddocks to be cultivated including base information like the year, area in hectares, existing vegetation, planned cultivation method and timing, and subsequent crop/grass rotation
Identification of critical source areas. This includes marking where cultivation will not take place, and methods to manage risks including sediment detention and management measures.
Identification of the chosen buffer width. This may be wider than the required minimum if there is an identified risk / need.
Identification of slope of paddock, this can include specific areas that may be excluded due to higher risk of sediment loss due to steep slopes (measured over 20 metre length)
Method to communicate the areas of paddock that will not be cultivated to tractor drivers – staff, or spray and cultivation contractors
Links to intensive winter grazing plan (required in southland farm plans), and actions in your Southland farm plan – cultivation techniques (minimum tillage, fertiliser management etc)

A checklist for your property

Running your contractor through expectations and a checklist particular to your property before starting is a useful way to ensure positive outcomes. Here are some broad items to consider before you contract works:

Know the regulations that apply to the activity and area.
Share the health and safety requirements on-farm including a map with hazards.
Make sure the contractor is suitably qualified and/or has industry credentials; that the job has been communicated properly; that the appropriate equipment, seed, fertiliser chemical is available, and they have the correct product and rate recommendations for the job.
Use proof-of-placement technology for nutrient and chemical applications. Should there be an issue with placement you’ll have records available to review. Proof-of-placement can also help with N-Cap reporting on dairy operations.
Take note of the weather conditions and notify your contractor if the conditions on farm are not suitable for the work in advance.
Ensure the contactor is aware of rules around waterways and are shown where any buffer zones and sensitive areas (including wetlands and critical source areas) are located. You can mark out these areas physically using temporary fencing or flags and can be mapped in software such as TrackMap.

Good practice for cultivation

Identifying critical source areas

Critical source areas are landscape features like gullies, swales or depressions that can transport large amounts of soil, phosphorus and E. coli to waterways or subsurface drains. They can also include non-landscape features that have high levels of contaminant losses, such as silage pits, fertiliser storage areas, stock camps and laneways.

It’s crucial to manage them well before and during the winter grazing season by leaving them uncultivated in winter crops, excluding stock and using buffers zones.

Want to know more about specific activities?

Check out the cultivation factsheet for regional rules, including buffer zone requirements.
Nutrient application resources can be found at the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand (FANZ) and at GroundspreadNZ.
Further support on chemical application at the Environmental Protection Authority and Worksafe. For local rules go to the Southland Air Plan, chapter 6.
Soil quality, management, productivity and preservation at the Foundation for Arable Research.