Sheep and beef farmer in the gun with council

The unnamed farmer was formally warned for breaching the Resource Management Act (RMA) by exceeding a nitrogen discharge cap on properties in the Lake Taupo catchment over a two year period.

The council’s farming services manager Nicole Botherway told Rural News the farmer tends to purchase weaner heifers late/early in the year (Dec-Jan) and sell them just over a year later at about 18 months old (R2). 

During the 2013-14 year the R2 heifers were meant to leave in April-May.

“However, the drought hit in late summer and he held on to the stock in the hope rain would arrive and the cows would be able to reach higher weights,” Botherway says.

“He did not [sell them until] the following January at which stage the [they] had been on the property for over a year. Thus, for almost a year, greater numbers of older (mature, bigger) stock were on the property than proposed. With regard to stocking rates, sheep on the farm were relatively similar to that outlined in the NMP (nutrient management plan). 

“The main differences were with cattle. In the NMP all cattle were outlined as being of Angus breed. During the monitoring years more than half of the cattle were Friesian breed. Friesians leach more nitrogen than Angus due to their higher metabolic rate which requires a greater amount of feed being eaten and therefore nitrogen being cycled through the animal’s body.” 

It is the first warning issued by Waikato Regional Council under the new Variation 5 consenting regime designed to protect the lake’s health from nitrogen.

The warning came after it was discovered more than a tonne of excess nitrogen could eventually leach into the lake as a result of the farmer’s operations over the two years. By themselves the breaches are not expected to have a major detrimental effect on the lake’s health.  

Botherway says this is the first such formal warning by the council and does not know if any other council has handed out a similar warning. There are no other waterways and lakes in the Waikato region to which limits apply for sheep and beef farmers.

Botherway says the case is particularly unfortunate as the farmer has personally been involved in efforts to protect the lake. “He has been open and co-operative, and acknowledged he did not do things properly on the properties concerned,” she says.

 However, Botherway says the council will continue to monitor farms and hold people to account if they negligently or deliberately breach resource consents. This is for the health of the lake and in fairness to all those working within their cap.

“It’s a situation where more attention needed to be paid to adhering to the details of the farm’s nutrient management plan. We are serious about protecting the financial investment that Waikato Regional Council, Taupo District Council, Ngati Tuwharetoa and central Government are making in protecting the lake.”

The council’s warning letter to the farmer said the breaches occurred because he did not farm in accordance with his registered nitrogen management plan and failed to inform the council he was deviating from the plan. The breaches totalled an extra 1030kg of potential nitrogen leaching in total. 

Botherway says if the council ever decided to prosecute a sheep and beef farmer for breaching nitrogen caps it would be for the courts to determine what penalties were imposed under the penalty provisions of the RMA. She says the court would take into account the circumstances of each case.