Good Management Practice

Good Management Practice (GMP) has been defined by a number of industry groups and accepted by ECan in the Industry Good Management Practice Guide. The guide describes practices which improve irrigation, nutrient and animal management for all common land uses in Canterbury.  A summary is available in a handy poster.

Barrhill-Chertsey Irrigation expects all existing shareholders to achieve GMP by 2020.

IrrigationArableDairyDairy SupportSheep and Beef
Irrigation NZ have been working hard to make sure you have the resources you need to irrigate efficiently. Further information and support is available from IrrigationNZ to become a SMART Irrigator.  Some useful tools they have available are:

Irrigation in a Box: All in one resource for all irrigators

Irrigation NZ have created an easy to use Bucket Testing App called: “Check it” Bucket Test. You can also use the IRRIG8Quick to measure the performance of most irrigation systems.

Irrigation NZ also run regular training workshops:

Irrigation Operation and Management Training

HortNZ  have a variety of resources available on Good Management Practice. Other resources they have available include Allocation of Nutrients to Production Land Principles and, for those prone to losing soil to waterways, Erosion and Sediment Control Guidelines.

Foundation of Arable Research (FAR) have some good resources available for arable farm systems. 

DairyNZ should be your first port of call if you need any support on good management practices within the dairy sector.

You can complete the Farm EnviroWalk checklist to see if there are any key areas you need to improve on.

Effluent Management

The Good Effluent Management pages includes information on how to use your travelling irrigator, the Effluent WOF programme, staff training available, and designing effluent storage ponds and spreading systems.

Staff Tools

A useful one page Effluent Management Poster can be sent to you or downloaded. A useful staff guide to managing your effluent is also available. For travelling irrigator systems, the Top Tips Poster and the Irrigator Run Sheet, are also good tools. These posters are great to keep on the wall of the dairy shed for staff to see what they need to do.

Nutrient Management

Drivers of N loss on dairy farms and what you can do to reduce it is summarised on the Nutrient Management page. We have work booklets to look at these factors on your property and identify where you can make improvements. Please feel free to contact the office if you would like a copy.

Effluent Storage

If you are not sure if your effluent pond holds enough storage to get your through wet periods without irrigating, go through the Dairy Effluent Storage Calculator, the Working Effluent Volume Calculator and/or the Application Depth Calculator here.

Odour Management

New ponds can generate a bit of odour when you start using them. For guidance on how to reduce the amount of odour produce, have a look through this page.

Nutrient loss management from Dairy Wintering and Dairy Support systems are a new area of research at the moment.

Foundation of Arable Research (FAR) is currently in the process of collating the latest research on Good Management Practice (GMP) for dairy wintering systems. A general guide, particularly if you have undulating land and/or waterways is available here.

DairyNZ have also prepared a guide to selecting the best paddock for wintering on your property and a review of your wintering system . 

Beef + Lamb NZ have been working on the Land and Environment Plan Toolkit , which is a one stop shop for everything you need to help implement Good Management Practice.

Pork

NZPork have prepared the Good Practice Guide for Nutrient Management and a EnviroPork Manual.