Thread: An open letter to Fish and Game

One of the key outcomes of the clean streams accord was an agreement to fence off all dairy farm waterways in order to reduce faecal contamination (through stopping dairy cows having direct access to waterways) and reduced Phosphate leaching into waterways (through the creation of riparian buffer zones). As of last year 99% of dairy farm waterways have now been fenced. It is now a condition of supply for all of the major dairy companies.

It sounds like plenty has been achieved to me. Still plenty more to go though.

Back in your uncles day they built their cowsheds next to the closet stream and hosed the effluent straight into it. These days effluent is collected and applied to the land at a time when the soil has the ability to absorb it and the pastures roots can uptake the nutrients and use them for growth. We are now required to have 90 days of effluent storage and must prove that our ponds do not leak.

Back in the day dairy farmers had little understanding of their environmental impact beyond their physical farm, but as we have learnt more about it we have adjusted our systems (most by choice and some by the use of a stick) and as a result our per cow and per kg of product nutrient losses has decreased significantly. There is a computer programme called 'Overseer' (developed by Agresearch) which models a farms nutrient losses and as a result can provide options for altering the farming system/infrastructure to reduce nutrient losses while still maintaining profitability. Eg changing the rate/timing of fertiliser inputs, changing effluent system, building a feedpad/cow barn to capture more 'piss and shit' as effluent.

You might not be "geting 5 to 600 of my mates to shit and piss in a different 2 acre paddock every 14 days maybe 21.
then startin at that paddock again depending on which rotation they are in". But I'll remind you that a lot (not all and this is part of what we need to work on) of the nutrients in this 'piss and shit' are captured by the pasture and used for growth. When you shit and piss where does it go? Unless you have a modern sewerage system that has kept up with population growth, then whenever you have more than 5mm of rain there is a good chance that it will find it's way (in it's raw state) into the nearest waterway. Where does your storm water go? If you really care about water quality then perhaps these are questions that you should be asking your local council and then perhaps suggest what you as a rate payer should be contributing additional money for????

Like I said we are all part of the problem, lets have a mature conversation about how we can all be part of the solution......

Originally Posted by gsp follower

no they pulled out because they saw it for what it is [ so did forest and bird] a thinly disguised sop to do fuck all but look like its doing a lot.
i agree with a bit of what fed farmers say ie many oportunitys are given to hunters and anglers but many are held for guides and overseas hunters to.
its not rocket science to realise that there are certain areas and soil types where dairy farming shouldnt be.
my uncle was a cow cockie and i have fond memories of time at the various farms but if he for one minute thought he was damaging fish or fowl, he,d a moved elsewhere or packed it in mad keen duckshooter and fisho that he was
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true but im not geting 5 to 600 of my mates to shit and piss in a different 2 acre paddock every 14 days maybe 21.
then startin at that paddock again depending on which rotation they are in