Upper Waikato drystock nutrient study

TR 2014/19
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Report: TR 2014/19

Author: Perrin Ag Consultants Ltd

About this report

In 2009, Waikato Regional Council undertook the Upper Waikato Nutrient Efficiency Study alongside partners DairyNZ, Ballance AgriNutrients and Fonterra. This study undertook farm system and nutrient management analysis on ten dairy (plus one modelled average Waikato dairy farm) and four sheep and beef farms in the Upper Waikato catchment, and assessed both nutrient loss and mitigation strategies to lower N loss to hypothetical targets modelled in 2006 for the Waikato hydro lakes.

The sheep and beef sector felt it was under-represented in both scope and focus of the original study and that there was little readily available data on the environmental footprints of dry stock farm system types in the Upper Waikato catchment.

Waikato Regional Council, along with Beef + Lamb New Zealand Inc,  were keen to undertake further study to identify possible mitigations to round out the farm systems covered within the Upper Waikato Nutrient Efficiency Study, and to further understand cost-benefits on dry stock farms from reducing nutrient loss.

Both parties were also interested in widening the scope of the original work to assess phosphorous losses as the earlier study was heavily focussed on nitrogen only.

This report details the supplementary study work, carried out by Perrin Ag Consultants Ltd in November and December 2012.

Read or download the report

Upper Waikato drystock nutrient study [PDF, 2.1 MB]

Contents
  Executive summary and recommendations
1 Background and terms of reference
2 Methodology
3 The case study farms
4 Discussion
5 Conclusions and recommendations
  References
  Appendix 1: Base economic assumptions
  Appendix 2: Status quo operating performance
  Appendix 3: Wintering pad cost calculations