Farmer bullied over cattle in river
Kiwis who vent outrage on social media about farming practices are nothing but ‘‘schoolyard bullies’’, says a high country farmer whose property is visited by more than 100,000 visitors annually.
Randall Aspinall said his Mt Aspiring Station, 40 kilometres northwest of Wanaka, has many cattle, a large distance of unfenced waterways and at least 95 per cent of the property can be seen from public access ways.
‘‘I can understand why some people are confused or concerned when they see cattle with free access,’’ he said.
But he said low stocking rates and extensive land areas of high country farming were different to intensive dairy farming, where Fonterra claimed about 98 per cent of its suppliers’ waterways had been fenced, Aspinall said.
‘‘What is frustrating are people who do not try to understand the situation, but can garner immediate attention through social or mainstream media.
‘‘We are trying to be proactive environmentally by following the regional council plan. We also test the river as it enters and leaves our property and are comfortable that our low density cattle access into a high flow, hard bottomed river is having minimal or no effect on the water quality.’’
The station had received support from DOC and the Otago Regional Council during these occurrences.
‘‘I have never had a single stranger approach me on the farm and ask ‘I am concerned about those cattle in the river and why do you allow it?’, yet people have gone straight to social media, national radio, newspapers and even the prime minister to demonstrate their outrage at this terrible occurrence’’.
‘‘This is a sad indication of the direction our society is heading and in my opinion, no better than schoolyard bullying,’’ Aspinall said.
‘‘However, there is still a significant mental toll incurred from dealing with these issues and worrying about when the next one will occur.
‘‘It only leads to further polarisation, rather than productive discussions about how we can all help improve water quality.
‘‘A further negative is that we tend to focus on fixing the issues that can be easily seen by the public, rather than those that are hidden, but would provide the greatest environmental benefit,’’ Aspinall said.
Otago Fish and Game Council chief executive Ian Hadland said it accepted there were practical difficulties in fencing waterways on extensive high country properties.
‘‘Fencing can be a significant burden and you are dealing with mountainous flood plains that are unforgiving on fences.’’ In Otago, there were properties like Ngai Tahu’s Greenstone Station at Glenorchy that had been farming cattle for more than 100 years with no problem, he said.
‘‘However, in places, high country properties are becoming more intensive, with an increase in stocking density.’’
‘‘You’ve got to separate intensive agriculture from waterways. Where the high country is increasing in intensity it should also fence stock from waterways as well.’’ Otherwise, this could led to crumbling banks and increasing stock effluent in waterways, Hadland said.
The Aspinall family, which has farmed the property since
1920, voluntarily surrendered
50,000 hectares to help create Mt Aspiring National Park, traded another 7700ha through the tenure review process and ended up with 2309ha of freehold land.
The property was 18 kilometres long with the grazed area split by the Matukituki River and more than 20 creeks providing more than 35km of natural waterways accessible to stock.