Environment Southland chief executive Rob Phillips said he was keen to ensure farmers were prepared for winter grazing this season.
Regional council and primary sector industry body staff will take to the air over Southland this month to identify potential winter grazing risks ahead of winter.
Environment Southland, with support from DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand, will view cultivated forage crop paddocks from the air and by land, to identify those that may pose risks to water quality this winter.
The council’s land sustainability team will follow up directly with farmers identified as having higher risk paddocks to ensure they have a grazing plan to reduce risk and to offer advice on managing those issues.
Environment Southland chief executive Rob Phillips said he was keen to ensure farmers were prepared for winter grazing this season.
“We appreciate the hard work farmers have put in improving their wintering practices over the last few years,” Phillips said in a statement.
The inspections are looking to ensure critical source areas have been left uncultivated, buffer zones are in place by waterways, how feed crops are managed to keep vegetation between waterways and animals, and if the paddocks look like they could pose an increased risk of overland flow.
