Intensive winter grazing 2023

Carefully planning how and where you winter graze your stock is important as it will help reduce any impacts on waterways and animal health. Farmers in Southland have made great progress with winter grazing actions, we want that to continue.

Both the proposed Southland Water and Land Plan and the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater have a list of permitted activity criteria for intensive winter grazing. New rules are in place for winter 2023, which mean you may need a consent or be granted a deemed permitted activity.

Environment Southland wants to provide regulatory certainty to farmers until the framework for freshwater farm plans is in place. Providing a deemed permitted activity pathway allows farmers who are not able to meet the slope criteria in the National Environment Standards for Freshwater on winter grazing, to avoid going through the consent process and remain compliant next winter.

We encourage you to look at your grazing activities and the criteria you'd need to meet if you were to continue without a resource consent, or to be granted a deemed permitted activity. Use the checklist below to find out if you need a consent for your grazing. You'll be able to use an existing farm plan or create a winter grazing plan to help manage your activities.

Now is a great time to contact our consents or land sustainability team to discuss your grazing plans - before starting on any consent application or farm plan. Give us a call on 0800 76 88 45 or email esconsents@es.govt.nz.

Do I need a resource consent for my winter grazing?

Complete this checklist to find out if your intensive winter grazing is permitted or if you need to apply for a resource consent.

Once you've completed the checklist, you can either continue on to apply for a resource consent, or register your permitted activity with us.

If it looks like you need to apply for a resource consent, please give us a call . We can provide some advice and guidance on this step in the process.

Click here to check if your intensive winter grazing is permitted.

Apply for deemed permitted activity notice

Note: to apply for a resource consent online you will need to be a registered user with My Environment Southland. Not signed up with us? Click the ‘Log In’ button at the top of this page, and click ‘Sign up here’.

Once logged in, you will be able to save your application form and come back to complete it later.

Before starting, we recommend having this information to hand.

Requestor details
Site details
Slope details of land being grazed
Farm Environmental Management Plan details. This can be uploaded within your application and may include maps, photos and plans.
Click here to access Environment Southland's Cultivation and Intensive Winter Grazing Mapping Tool, and other videos to help understand more about the risks on your farm.

Please note: Deemed permitted activity notices will be valid until 1 November 2024.

Apply for a resource consent

Note: to apply for a resource consent online you will need to be a registered user with My Environment Southland. Not signed up with us? Click the ‘Log In’ button at the top of this page, and click ‘Sign up here’.

Once logged in, you will be able to save your application form and come back to complete it later.

Before starting, we recommend having this information to hand.

Applicant details
Site details
Slope details of land being grazed
Total hectares previously grazed between 1 July 2014 - 30 June 2019
Details of crop and stock types to be grazed
Assessment of environmental effects (good management practices or mitigation options used on farm)
Farm environmental management plan details
Supporting documents. These can be uploaded within your application and may include maps, photos and plans
Click here to access Environment Southland's Cultivation and Intensive Winter Grazing mapping tool

Please note - if you are granted a resource consent, this will likely be for a 5-year term.

You can apply for a resource consent by clicking here, or you can download a pdf version of the form to complete here.

We encourage you to look at your grazing activities and the criteria you'd need to meet if you were to continue without a resource consent. Now is a great time to contact our consents or land sustainability team to discuss your grazing plans - before starting on any consent application or farm plan. Give us a call on 0800 76 88 45 or email esconsents@es.govt.nz.

Mapping tool

Use the Cultivation and Intensive Winter Grazing mapping tool to understand more about the risks on your farm. The tool pulls in data from a range of areas into a map. You'll be able to see the features on your farm including waterways, stop banks, wetlands, drains and make good decisions around paddock selection, cultivation method and strategic grazing.