Jason Herrick: Gather evidence for future farm plans

Federated Farmers junior vice president Jason Herrick. Photo / ODT Files

Opinion: Documenting good winter grazing practices now will pay off for the farm plans of the future, Federated Farmers junior vice president Jason Herrick writes.

As beet, swede and kale crops run out and we look towards spring, many of you will have already done most of your planning for next winter's grazing.

Chances are, you already know which paddocks this is planned for, which crops you'll be growing, what the key risks are in those paddocks, and how you'll mitigate those risks.

That's bread and butter for most of us and I'm sure not going to tell you how to suck eggs.

What you might want to consider though, especially if you still have crop to be eaten off, or you've taken photos or videos of the winter grazing in action, is collating the evidence of how your good practices paid off.

Have you got a video of the critical source area protections or waterway buffers, showing how the run-off is caught and prevented from reaching waterways?

Or photos that show how your choice of grazing direction meant that the highest risk parts of the paddock were grazed last, or back fenced to keep stock out of them once completed?

Or how your minimum tillage methods or long feed face stopped extensive soil damage or run-off from steep slopes?

These are things a lot of us do because it's the best way to farm. But they're also important mitigations that will be vital in winter grazing plans and eventually farm plans.

The time is coming when, like it or not, we'll have to show those plans to a certifier and justify our mitigations do the job intended to protect freshwater.

A picture tells a thousand words and, for the certifier, if you can show them the good practice you've outlined in your plan is proven to do the job on your farm, how can they argue?

Make it easy for them to give your plan the big tick so you can get on with the job.

I know that for some of us, farm plans sound like yet another bit of office work we don't need. And in some ways, they will be. But the reality is none of us wants prescriptive rules, and we know they wouldn't work anyway.

We need to be able to tailor our on-farm practices to suit our system, soils, topography, and more.

Farm plans are how we'll get to do that while making sure those who are dragging the chain are forced to toe the line (because we all know that for those people unless someone is going to check them, they just won't do it).

I don't want more paperwork any more than the next person, which is why I'm gathering the photos and videos that will do the talking for me.

I strongly encourage you to do the same.