With calving almost over for most of Otago’s more than 400 dairy farmers, the Otago Regional Council (ORC) is reminding people the annual auditing and farm checks will be getting underway shortly.

Team leader compliance monitoring Mike Cummings encouraged farmers uncertain about any consenting to contact the regional council as soon as possible.

Otago had 462 dairy farms with the majority clustered around the Clutha and Waitaki districts, and most of the remainder on the Taieri Plains, Maniototo, the Manuherikia and Ida Valley and Hawea Flat areas. 

These farms were monitored annually on a risk-based approach, with the focus on how to support the sector.

For the 2023-24 season the compliance team completed 400 dairy inspections, with some farms being visited more than once. 

“Farmers have been doing some great work over the years, which our dairy monitoring programme shows, but it is important that we carry on with this great work together,” Mike said.

This year the team will again be checking compliance with dairy effluent storage and application to land, and how silage, farm rubbish and offal was managed, he said.

“The team will also be looking at where water is sourced from and how it is used on farm.”

This was an education focused programme, but like with any activities, appropriate compliance action was considered where needed.

The programme had been run successfully for a number of years, with staff taking the chance to talk to farmers about a range of topics.  

Staff would also engage with farmers on farm specific topics, from clearing drains and putting crossings across streams to how best to become compliant with rules.

“The dairy programme gives us a great opportunity to continue to work with the dairy sector and have good conversations about their on-farm activities,” he said.

By December 4 all dairy farms with less than 40 days effluent storage would need a resource consent for applying dairy effluent to land, and many farmers would require a consent for effluent storage as well.