ADVICE ON TAP VIA DAIRYNZ WEBSITE

EFFECTIVELY MANAGING EFFLUENT is hugely important – to farmers and the environment. Optimising effluent use is one of the ways farmers can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also contributing to better water quality.

Most dairy farmers are doing the right thing with how they manage effluent on their properties and have invested considerably in reliable and sustainable systems, DairyNZ environmental change specialist Caleb Higham says.

“Well-designed and constructed effluent storage provide a lot of benefits – better flexibility for irrigation, better environmental management, peace of mind and reduced risk of effluent noncompliance.”

Advice on effluent management systems is available from dairy companies and regional councils. DairyNZ resources are available to all dairy farmers, including A Farmer’s Guide to Building a New Effluent Storage Pond. Trusted advice can also be accessed through Accredited Effluent System Designers and Warrant of Fitness assessors, both of which are DairyNZ supported programs.

Meanwhile, more dairy farmers are adopting innovative solutions and technology onfarm to improve their effluent management, Caleb says. Here are some of the options farmers are reporting favourably on:

Irrigation monitors – minimise or prevent discharges from stalled irrigators and broken pipes, make managing systems more efficient, prevent environmental mishaps and save farmers stress and time. Most can be operated from a smartphone.

Travelling rain guns – use ‘water wheel’ type turbines to irrigate with greater speed control, creating greater wetted diameters, meeting slower soil infiltration needs and the ability to target only part or half circles.

Hydrofan washdown nozzles – reduce water use by about half in dairy sheds.

DairyNZ’s effluent spreading calculator app – helps contract effluent spreaders and farmers to know how much land they needed to spread over to match desired nutrient levels.

DairyNZ’s Envirowalk app – is used by farmers as they walk around the farm to help identify risk areas and possible solutions. Plans can be saved and updated.

A ‘green water’ approach – using recycled effluent to ‘green wash’ dairy shed yards is also making effluent management easier for a growing number of dairy farmers. Water use in and around the farm is reduced by up to 65 per cent and effluent storage requirements by around 50 per cent.

Visit www.dairynz.co.nz/effluent for more advice.