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Amid authorities and farmers working to end poor intensive grazing in winter, new images have emerged of farms across the South Island showing animals living knee-deep in mud this winter.
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Authorities have been working to end the practice known as intensive winter poor grazing. Source: 1 NEWS
The images, posted to 1 NEWS by environmental activists, showed cows trapped in muddy pastures, the ground beneath them softening after rain on the West Coast, Otago and Southland.
In the worst cases, cows were seen calving in the mud.
Environmentalist Geoff Reid said the images showed “there has been no change from previous years.”
“We still have a major problem,” he said.
“When the rains come, our landscapes begin to flow into our rivers and estuaries.”
Winter grazing can be done well, such as when animals forage in areas where grass does not grow.
But, when heavy winter grazing is not done well, where there are many animals on a small amount of land, the ground can collapse in bad weather. This creates animal welfare problems and runoff in rivers.
John Hellstrom, the independent chairman of the government’s winter grazing task force, said there was a “significant group of farmers doing their best.”
But, he said they got caught because they hadn’t planned properly.
“It’s more of a lack of support, a lack of knowledge and skill.”
The federated farmers said it was just a few rotten eggs, and most of the farmers grazed responsibly during the winter.
“Sometimes it is not done well. But the vast majority of the time, 95 percent of the time, this is done really well, ”said Bernadette Hunt, Vice President of Federated Farmers Southland.
“We are not done yet. We are still working hard to keep raising that bar and keep improving the standards. “
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Farmers strongly oppose the laws, saying they are “not arable”. Source: 1 NEWS
The Winter Grazing Action Group of the Ministry of Primary Industries, established earlier this year, continues to advise the agricultural industry and provide help to farmers where they need it.
The group acknowledges that progress has been made, but says there is no short-term solution and there is still a lot of work to do.
