Farmers curb nitrate leaching
Tararua dairy farmers are turning over a new leaf to reduce their environmental footprint.
Plantain, a common weed, is being injected into pastures to help reduce nitrogen leaching into the district’s waterways.
The fibrous plant holds less nitrogen, meaning less passes through a cow’s system after they eat it. It also causes them to pass urine more frequently, resulting in less concentrated urine patches in a paddock.
Many farmers in the upper Manawatu¯ River area are operating without consents, faced with reducing nitrate leaching by 60 per cent to meet targets in Horizons Regional Council’s One Plan.
Run by Dairynz, the Tararua Plantain Project is tackling the problem head on, with several farmers getting on board and sharing their findings.
Dannevirke farmer Blair Castles has used plantain and chicory for six years on his 100-hectare block, which spans 5 kilometres of the Manawatu¯ River.
He has considered scrapping chicory and lifting the rate of plantain in his ‘‘fruit salad’’ pasture of ryegrass and clovers.
The industry often received a bad wrap for punishing the environment, but people didn’t see the investment going into modern-day farming practices, he said.
‘‘It’s hard to say this is the silver bullet. You get labelled as the dirty dairy people and, to some extent, there are some muppets out there.’’
The project showed farmers were serious about keeping the country clean, he said. ‘‘Everyone wants to take their kids down and throw a fishing line out or go for a swim.
‘‘You’ve got to make a living off the land, but you don’t want to see the river getting dirty and everyone is on board with that now. We don’t own the river. It’s just water passing through.’’