when it rains don't go swiming

I am very concerned about our rivers and I know I'm not the only one. When I say rivers I really mean water - that essential component of life that should be available to all. Part of my concern is due to the dairy farming and the excessive cowshit flushed into the water systems. When it rains don't go swimming because many stormwater systems just cannot cope - and that is with human and animal waste.

The story below illustrates the animal waste situation well. (pun intended)

Stuff

At least 138 Darfield residents had serious stomach upsets after drinking water contaminated with animal waste.

The Canterbury District Health Board's Community and Public Health division has released its report on last year's outbreak of waterborne gastroenteritis in Darfield.

Twenty-nine people tested positive for campylobacter in the July and August outbreak. Another 109 people were defined as having probable campylobacteriosis.

Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Ramon Pink said the outbreak happened after heavy rain caused animal effluent to enter an untreated well.

That is a lot of sick people and I fear this type of event will increase as we continue to bend over backwards to supply dairy farmers with water, so they can make money, and as a consequence we have spoiled water or depleted rivers. It is common I believe and I know of more than a few instances where farmers have diddled the system to get more water than the rivers can allow - leading to dried up streams and fish gasping for breath in fetid ponds. Too often I also see the farmer near us let his cows wander down to the river to drink and shit with impunity - what has happened to the clean streams accord? Well it was voluntary - nuff said.

This despoilment of the commons was touched on by JMG and I recommend reading this post from him. We have to take back our commons and restore equality for people and communities and we have to start now while the rivers have some chance of recovery.

As for dairy farmers - first I would make their personal water supply be sourced downstream from their farms - that would sort 90% of it out quite quickly imo.

what is happening

I am enjoying time with my mother and son over the holidays. I love watching the generations together, 76 and 4 and me closer to mums age than Kahu’s. Mum was born into a family that lived in the Catlins, in what would be called now, a shed. Where will Kahu be when he is 76. I do believe we are heading towards tough times but I have hope. I believe in my son and the world he is growing into. I will do everything to make that world the best it can be for him and his peers.

Part of that is highlighting aspects of our society that are detrimental to the benefit of everyone. I was shocked to read this report about dairy farms and their voluntary (non) compliance with the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord

Nelson Mail

Under the latest accord figures published last month, 69 per cent of Fonterra Tasman dairy farmers told the company their stock was totally excluded from all permanent waterways on their properties deeper than a Red Band gumboot and wider than a stride. However, a representative audit conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture of 35 of those farms found that the actual figure was just 17 per cent, the second worst result behind Marlborough with 8 per cent. Nationally, MAF found 42 per cent of 587 farms inspected excluded stock from waterways, just half of what Fonterra's survey of farmers suggested.

69% to 17% is a disgrace and should be investigated thoroughly. There is something really wrong that farmers can misrepresent what is happening to the environment within their farms. These waterways flow and carry any shit, silt and mud downstream.

Neil Deans, Nelson Marlborough manager of the environmental group, which has long been critical of the policing of the accord, said the gap between what farmers said they did and what MAF had found was too big to put down to a mistake and it was clear some farmers were "pulling the wool".

Sadly a lot of dairy farmers, for all sorts of reasons, are letting us all down. We want the rivers to be clean and alive with strong mauri and plentiful life. The dairy farmers who are actively working against that should be ashamed, and they are making life more difficult in the future for our children – that should be reason enough for them to change their ways. But to date they have made the problems worse and changed little for the better.

Scoop

The number of dairy cattle in New Zealand increased to 6.2 million at 30 June 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. This provisional result from the 2011 Agricultural Production Survey was up 260,000 on the number in 2010. "This is the first time the number of dairy cattle in New Zealand has exceeded 6 million" agricultural statistics manager Hamish Hill said. "The dairy herd is now double the number it was 30 years ago."

Our environment should not be sacrificed for a small group to make money. The basic requirements are compliance even if it lacks teeth and is woefully inadequate. The fact that this simple requirement cannot be met should send shivers down our spines because what the hell is actually going on. How bad is it?

i'm leery

I have been having a real think about this proposal for Ngai Tahu to get into dairying after reading this article in Te Karaka. I don't want to knock ideas but I am not sure about this  - maybe my concerns are illusory, I hope so. I know the arguments in favour of this idea of dairy farms and I agree with some of them but I am one of those who are very leery of this.

Mark Solomon

Ngai Tahu plans a dairy farm totalling nearly 1000 hectares in Canterbury in a bid to develop a "new model" of sustainable farming.

If the pilot is successful, the iwi could develop a dairy operation totalling 16,000ha in Canterbury.

Ngai Tahu chairman Mark Solomon said the three-year trial would be monitored to see whether a dairy farm could be developed that did not pollute water and land.

There are a number of people in Ngai Tahu who are very leery about dairy farming and have a negative view," he said.

Our property firm believes we can run sustainable dairying, so we will have a look and see how they do. If they can show to Ngai Tahu that it's sustainable, then we will do it.

Is it possible to develop a dairy farm that doesn't pollute water or land - surely pollution is inevitable - just the amount is variable. It is a pilot for sure, but I worry about the effects on the land and river. Runanga have been fighting for years to protect the mauri of the waterways and rivers from water use for dairying and pollution. I struggle to see how this proposal and these fights can be reconcilled but apparently they have been.

The sustainability targets are very important - what is success? This is obviously the nub of the 'sustainability' angle and is part of the measurement of the success of the pilot, so a fair bit of work must be going into this area already. The difficulty is words like sustainability which often means different things to different people. "No pollution" is pretty clear though.

If dairy farms are going ahead then surely organic farms, where best practices for the treatment of the cows, water and land are met, should be strongly considered and piloted. Sure organic farms are not perfect but in combination with a permacultural approach they can produce product of high quality that is needed and wanted. Why not create the model within this sector. And plant trees for the cows to shelter under.

Are we potentially putting at risk the land and the river and the downside of getting it wrong is great.

mother for sale

I've blogged about the crafars a few times now - from their animal abuse and constant infractions against the law, whether due to incompetance or plain cruelty. One thing I am sure about is that their farms should NOT be sold to overseas interests. The chinese are concerned that they may not get permission to buy the farms and their representative has blown a fuse.

From Stuff

"The company’s vice chairman, Graham Chin asked whether New Zealand wanted Natural Dairy to take its "huge investment in New Zealand factories and milk exports across the Tasman to Australia or to South America."

YES PLEASE

Natural Dairy (NZ) Holding Ltd’s used to be known as China Jin Hui Mining Corporation - that should tell you what their attitude to natural resources is. We don't need to sell to these overseas interests - it is not in our best interest. Give the stolen land back to maori if you want to do something with it.

mountain cows

We have to keep a close watch on the plans to farm dairy cows anywhere and everywhere. They continue to choose the most inappropriate areas - such as the Mackenzie country.

From stuff

"The Environment Court has approved a large-scale dairy farm in the Upper Waitaki, rejecting a warning from regional councillors that the development would be too big for the area.

But the decision has already been criticised by the Aoraki Conservation Board and the Green Party because of the farm's impact on the environment.

The court has granted Little Ben Dairy effluent and land use consents to farm more than 1400 cows for 25 years, 6km from Lake Benmore, just north of Omarama.

Environment Court judge John Jackson said a decision was reached after mediation between ECan staff, Little Ben and the Department of Conservation.

DOC Twizel manager Rob Young said the department agreed to the consent after it was assured the owners would erect stock-proof fences 20m from the Ben Omar Swamp reserve, and there were appropriate penalties if nitrate levels were exceeded.

This is just crazy - the figures put out recently show that a high percentage of dairy farms do not currently comply with the clean streams accord. These farmers cannot do the right thing now - why do you think they will change and do the right thing into the future - they won't.

"ECan wetland ecologist Mark Davis said the Ben Omar Swamp was "one of the most important remaining wetlands in the Waitaki and Mackenzie basins". The consent conditions require that the discharge area be 165 metres from the swamp.

At last year's hearings, the ECan panel said there was insufficient information about possible cumulative effects because dairying was new in the area.

This wetland will be diminished, it will be compromised and it will be abused. And of course there is insufficient information - you aren't supposed to grow cows in that area - but when the cows do come in big numbers - there presence will certainly be felt.

The facts

"Little Ben is a subdivision of Buscott Station. Its directors are Mervyn McCabe and Richard Gloag.

The farm is near Ben Omar swamp, part of which was on conservation land.

The company initially applied for a 35-year consent to farm 1400 cows.

ECan was willing to approve a 750-cow operation for 10 years.

Little Ben went to the Environment Court, which has agreed to let the company farm 1400 cows for 25 years.

Up to 7560 litres of raw effluent a day would be produced by the proposed farm. It would be stored in two ponds and spread over 120 hectares on the farm.

As Idiot/Savant says

"The government should not be allowing this. We should keep the MacKenzie brown, for the benefit and enjoyment of all New Zealanders, not turn it into another cow paddock for the benefit of the few."

I agree with that view entirely.

the whenua - not yours to sell

Remember the gnats declaring that this country was 'open for business'. There are multiple attempts going on from massive overseas interests to buy our whenua in the disguise of buying dairy farms.

It is not yours to sell - it is not yours to buy.

From The ODT

"The Chinese-backed company seeking to buy 29 North Island dairy farms is also trying to buy up to 100 farms in Otago and Southland and build a dairy factory in Southland."

There are 809 dairy herds running more than 400,000 cows in Southland and 355 herds with 180,000 cows in Otago.

Long-term plans were to build dairy factories in the central North Island and another in Southland.

One factory would manufacture long-life milk and the other infant formula, with Natural Dairy planning to use its packaging and distribution expertise in 24 Chinese cities.

Last week, Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden warned the rush to secure future food supplies posed a threat to the co-operative as heavily backed overseas companies bought New Zealand farmland and tied up supplies of food.

Ms Wang said Natural Dairy was doing nothing different from Fonterra owning dairy farms in China to supply the Chinese market.

Last year, a Dubai-backed Maori trust abandoned plans to buy 28 Southland sheep, beef, deer and dairy farms.

Earlier this year it was revealed Auckland-based Southern Pastures, with offshore backing, was trying to raise $500 million to buy farms in the southern hemisphere, but with a bias towards New Zealand."

I cannot understand why we allow these offshore interests to consider buying our farms, our land - that is just stupid. We need to stop these attempts to sell our land, our whenua - the point is - it is not yours to sell!

crafar farms sold to chinese

Interesting news that the crafar dairy farms have been sold to the China Jin Hui Mining Corporation - recently renamed Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings.
From stuff

"Bloomberg reported that Natural Dairy would pay $1.5 billion for New Zealand farm assets, farm land, livestock and milk powder production plants."

That's a lot of money from natural dairy nz holdings - LOL why don't we stick with your original name mining corporation - this is not fooling anyone.

dirty dairy farmer fined

These polluters were caught because of a routine inspection. So we can be pretty sure that this wasn't the only effluent discharge to land incident - just the one they caught.

From the ODT

"A Clydevale dairy farmer and his company were each fined $16,750 plus costs, in the Environment Court in Dunedin yesterday, for discharging dairy effluent to land.

Shameful 'Barry Stuart Cowley and Cowley Ltd' didn't care about the water or the rivers, they have no interest in the future for their children or our children.

A fine of $16,750 plus costs is insignificant - I'd add a zero to that and make them get their drinking water from the nearest river for a year.

special board of enquiry set up by smith

Good news that the cubicle dairy farms have been 'called in'.

from Stuff

"I have called in these discharge consents as they are nationally significant due to their scale, the fragile and iconic nature of the Mackenzie Basin environment, the importance of freshwater quality to the Government and the high level of public interest," Dr Smith said.

"The effluent from these intensive farms is equivalent to a city of 250,000 people and raises quite legitimate questions over the long-term impacts on the water quality in the Mackenzie Basin."

Environment Canterbury has received more than 4000 submissions against the proposals, while both the parliamentary commissioner for the environment and the Green Party have urged the Government to "call in" the proposal as a project of national significance.

Calling in the application means it by-passes local authorities and the normal Environment Court process and instead goes to a special board of inquiry, set up by the Environment Minister, and chaired by an Environment Court judge.

The board will comprise Environment Court Judge Jane Borthwick, water engineer Michael Bowden, scientist Dr Jim Cooke, Ngai Tahu representative Edward Ellison, and Waikato University lake ecologist Professor David Hamilton.

"I have deliberately chosen board members with first-class expertise on water quality issues and three who are also serving as commissioners on related water take consents to ensure appropriate continuity of the decision making process," Smith said.

This is almost a dead duck, but the pressure must be kept on and we need to keep our eyes open to their other plans. They will be equally witless.

designer dairy farms

Designer diary farms?

"Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) is selling 29 "designer dairy farms" it has built on former forestry land around Tokoroa.

They range in size from 218 to 726ha and in price from $5.1 million to $10.4 million.

The company hoped their sale will bring $224.5 million.

Mike Fraser-Jones, senior agent for realtor Bayleys, said the CHH had begun selling off land in the area during the late 1990s but retained 30,000ha for development.

"The farms represent the end process of converting forested land back into a productive state," he said.

That's right - if it isn't a farm - it is not productive and is a waste of space and time.

from stuff

"Each farm comes with a new dairy shed configured for farm size and a mixture of herringbone and rotary systems. The farms are based on an assumption of three cows per hectare, have deep water bores and pressure water systems, and new residences.

"Each of the farms has been designed for optimum efficiency, with approximately 1,500 metres being the longest walking distance for the cows, centrally located, top-of-the-line dairy sheds and three architect-design homes located for both convenience and views," Bayleys says.

The farms were converted with substantial investment in modern machinery, roading and residences ahead of Kyoto Protocol rules that came into force in 2008 requiring that cleared plantation forests be replanted rather than converted to another use.

All farms are being sharemilked at present and are supporting 20,000 cows. None have a farming record longer than 18 months and the most recent began operations in June last year. It appears likely that the properties will also be marketed internationally, once a domestic marketing campaign has been undertaken, thereby satisfying Overseas Investment Commission rules.

Hmmm this does appear to be a way to get a wider range of people on the land but which people?

Farming should not be about commodification. If they were really smart they first, wouldn't have converted the land, but seeing as how they are tricky dickies they got in before the kyoto protocol came into effect, why not convert the land into sustainable, organic, permacultural farms - it probably wouldn't have cost much more, maybe less. Then, instead of monocultural dairying, we could have hollistic farming that is good for the farm, the land, the ecosystem, the farmers, the community and the animals. I have the same view about any group that converts forestry into dairy. We must keep looking forward and thinking ahead - the rip, snort and bust approach is not the way to go.

Great Ngai Tahu submission

Yes! This is the type of submission we want and need from Ngai Tahu. Thank you Paul and the team.

From MATTHEW LITTLEWOOD - The Timaru Herald via Stuff

"Ngai Tahu says the science in support of widescale irrigation proposals in the Upper Waitaki is "patchy".

Hearings considering more than 126 consent applications to take water in the Mackenzie Basin and Upper Waitaki, covering more than 27,000 hectares of land, will resume in Christchurch from January 25 until March 9.

Legal adviser Paul Horgan's submission documents released yesterday said Ngai Tahu was "alarmed" by the scale and intensity of the Southdown Holdings, Five Rivers, Killermont Stations, Simons Hill, Simons Pass and the two Rosehip applications.

"Ngai Tahu considers that the science presented in support of the proposals is patchy and that there is a raft of uncertainties surrounding the actual and potential effects, especially those upon cultural values," he said.

"Unfortunately, we are led to the view that what the applicants are seeking is that a suck-it-and-see approach be adopted.

"For Ngai Tahu, its enduring relationship with the Upper Waitaki is too sacred for such a cavalier approach to be justified."

Ngai Tahu will speak at the hearings on January 25, but it is understood that the submission will provide the bulk of its evidence.

Mr Horgan's submission said although many of the smaller consents would not pose significant environmental or cultural risk to the area, it felt many of the larger applicants had failed to properly assess the science.

He claimed that the applicants have only measured water quality in the two arms of Lake Benmore, once in January 2008 and again in April 2008. He was also concerned about the accuracy of the sampling.

Ngai Tahu cultural adviser Mandy Waaka-Home's submission said she was not convinced the larger consent holders would be able to operate in a "benign manner".

"We do not believe we should have to suffer the indignity of gathering and eating food from an environment that is knowingly polluted. There is no dignity in that.""

Remember this is what they want to do

"Three companies: Five Rivers Ltd, Southdown Holdings Ltd and Williamson Holdings Ltd have lodged consents applications with Environment Canterbury to allow 17,850 dairy cows to be housed in large sheds around the clock from March to October and for 12 hours a day for the rest of the year.

Waitaki District Council gave the proposals land use consent without public notification, but ECan has received more than 4000 submissions against them."

We will stop this development, and then we will stop the next one and the one after that too. They don't stack up or make sense - they are mono-cultural exercises in greed.

interesting speculation regarding 28 farm purchases in southland

What an interesting story. From Neil Wallace at The ODT

"A Maori trust, with financial backing believed to come from Dubai, has contracted to buy 28 farms in Southland, with plans to buy others throughout the country.

The cost of the farm purchases so far is estimated at more than $150 million.

Two of Southland's largest rural real estate companies, PGG Wrightson and Southern Wide, declined to deal with the trust, but the farms have been bought through other real estate agents.

Mr Murray, from Invercargill, declined to name the trust he represented or confirm rumours its funding came from Dubai.

He did confirm that an option was for milk from the trust's farms to be processed specifically for Dubai markets.

Mr Murray said the trust he represented was not aligned to a tribe, but made up of a group of individual Maori people from throughout New Zealand who had pooled their resources.

"We're just Maori people who have got together and decided, `Let's do this'."

There was no Treaty of Waitangi settlement money involved."

and the rumour mill

"The trust's activities have fed a rumour mill in the South, with speculation Dubai leaders were privately funding the trust to secure future food supplies.

Farming newspaper Rural News has reported on its website that "a hapu trust" was negotiating a 99-year treaty with a Dubai World subsidiary.

It would bankroll the buying of the farms, as well as processing plants, in return for a guaranteed 99-year food supply.

Mr Murray is described as fronting the trust, and Rural News quotes him as saying: "All I know is that it asked me to buy farms and that the Arabs approached us because they wanted to deal with an indigenous country."

Mr Murray could not break down the numbers of dairy, sheep, beef, or deer farms his trust had contracted to buy, but the total cost could easily have already surpassed $150 million.

Affiliated to the Te Rarawa tribe from Kaitaia, Mr Murray has lived in Southland since 1960 and lists among his jobs an electricity transmission line overseer, publican at the Mossburn Hotel and volunteer at Invercargill Prison.

Well a story with a number of very interesting angles. i'll be keeping an eye on this one.

cubicle cows shocker

Good to see the MSM and greens have taken up this story. Wouldn't be nice if opposition to this traversity could be coordinated.

"Three companies want to build massive dairy farms in the Mackenzie Basin, where cows would live in "cubicle" stables most of the time.

Opponents warn the plan will tarnish New Zealand's environmental reputation.

Proposals by the three companies for resource consents for 16 new dairy farm developments managing nearly 18,000 cows housed in cubicle stables are before Environment Canterbury (ECan).

Under the plans, cows will be confined in cubicle stables 24 hours a day for eight months of the year, from March to October, and allowed outside for 12 hours a day from November to February.

Grow cows where they grow best. Diversity, sustainability and working with nature instead of in opposition. It's pretty basic really but until we front up to our 'cow problem' we will only be giving lip-service to our clean-green mantra.

Cows deserve respect

We deserve respect

The future of our dairy farms - is this where our dairy farms are headed?

"It is a containment farm, meaning the herd of more than 4855 animals resides in the four massive cow barns on the 35-hectare property, or in the calf-rearing shed or heifer barn.


Three thousand pregnant Friesians were imported from New Zealand to start the herd, which has just begun its second calving season.


The efficient containment system succeeds where pasture feeding is not an option – as in much of China where the land is unavailable or the winters are too harsh.


Self-consciously high-tech, the farm relies heavily on computers to track each cow's life history, medical records and movements, to measure feed consumption and forecast calving schedules, and to plan the herd's diet.


The milking operation goes 18 hours a day, with each cow milked three times. Two 30-tonne tankers leave the farm each day trucking milk to a range of domestic producers."

Lucky cows. Three times a day is a lot. Is this really the way to go. They are already considering the concept here. And i am not saying there shouldn't be dairy farms but they should be where cows grow best. A barn is not that place.

I wish we were helping the people over there bring back their traditonal methods. Those methods worked, they spread the wealth and benefits across more people and communities, they were sustainable and conservationally orientated. The answer seems to be in working with nature not in opposition by trying to put things where they are not meant to be.

By working with nature we achieve so much more.