March 18, 2026 • 11 mins
On this DairyNZ Dairy Update, Michelle talks to Shaun Hazelton, Senior Regional Policy Advisor at DairyNZ ,about effluent management.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another Dairy n Z update, and today we're
talking to Sean Hailton, who is based up in the
y Kettle. Hey Sean, how are you? Yeah? Good? Thanks,
And today we're actually talking about effluent management and why
it's important on farm your Dairy ENDZ Senior Regional policy advisor.
But what is your Can you tell us a little
bit more about your background was the effluent side of
things and what you've got to do with that?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Cool? Thanks? Yeah, So my background is really in the
environmental policy space. So I've spent a lot of time
working in the farmers and dairy in Z now on
those regional policy issues which often include effort. But beforehand,
I spent quite a bit of time working in the
(00:42):
real compliance space for regional council. So I've seen thousands
of different systems and probably every type of issue that
has gone wrong on some farms in the past as well. So, yep,
seen a lot of farms, a lot of systems and
has worked out what's good and bad over the time.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Well, that'll be really useful because I'd imagine it's a
bit of trial and error with some things.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, yeah, And I guess the core parts of the
eflence system that have remained the same, but there's a
lot of additions which have been added on to the
farm over time. So people have started investing in feed
pads or adding in underpasses, heard homes, feed bunkers or
that stuff makes the system more complex and also means
(01:26):
you have to consider how to manage it ethln obviously,
which adds to the risk.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Pretty much all farmers are environmentally conscious, aren't they, And
effluent is a big part of that. Looking after when
you put it on when you din't is a big
part of that, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah. Yeah, So there's the timing and the application of
effort which is really important. I think if you can
get the effluent managed within your nutrient budgets that you're
already doing on farm, there's the opportunity for what I
think it's in the tens of thousands of dollars for
an average four hundred cow farm with of nutrients you've
(02:02):
got there, particularly if you've got the likes of a
big pond or weeping water, get some effluence spread over
the cropping times of the year when you're putting your
maize down, for example, is a good opportunity to save
some money on those fertilizer bills.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I bet, And we all like to save money, don't we.
So that's probably number one. But also why is effort
management important on the farm? I mean, obviously saving money
is a big part of that. That's a very good thing.
But what are some other things?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Given my role in policy, I think the biggest thing
is the liability side of things now. So with the
recent resource management reforms, we've seen the I guess the
infringement finds jump up from the hundreds of dollars into
the thousands, and we've also seen the amount of farmer
can be prosecuted for in the courts range up from
(02:49):
four hund of one thousand to a million dollars for
an individual, and from memory it's I think it's ten
million dollars for a company. So if the liabilities increase significantly,
and obviously with farmers collecting more effluent nowadays, the risk
does potentially increase as well when you're adding in more
things to your system.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And with looking out for those sort of systems and
making sure you're doing the right thing, you have some
tools available, don't you. I was just looking up on
your website about the WAFT and accredited advisors. Could you
explain a bit more about how that works.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, So there are two of the industry good programs
that we've developed to make sure farmers about the right
place or the right people to go to. So the
first one you mentioned the warren A Fitness, So that's
really intended for those looking for a review of their
existing system or particularly perfect for someone moving on to
a new property first to June, either to purchase it
(03:44):
or to move on as a manager of contract Milker.
So the Wine of Fitness provides the independent assessment of
the performance of your farm on system and any identifies
any opportunities for improvement. So it's a voluntary program carried
out by trained and certified independent professionals. So in practice
(04:07):
it really takes about three to four hours when those
assessors will come out and test your system, look at
things from your pumps, your pond, your irrigator, and provide
any advice and changes and processes. So it's really useful
to get that professional advice before you walk into a
new system, a new job, or new farms. So that's
(04:27):
something I would really recommend for anyone looking to upgrade
their existing system or to put a new effluent pond
or system in there. Indeed recommends and has developed the
farm very efcellent accredited system Designer's course. So those accredited
advisors carry a green tick beside their logo, and that
(04:49):
indicates that they've demonstrated the capability to provide those evidence
space solutions, meet industry standards and also ensure that you
can comply with your local council regulations. So everyone's probably
happy to take your money to the build a new system,
but it's important to look for those green techs beside
the company or professional name before you get on the
(05:11):
phone and ask them for any advice on upgrading your system.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And on the website, Sean, there's a really good tool
called the effluence Spreading Calculator. Can you explain a bit
more about how that works and what in combination with
that helps with this effluence spreading off far?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah. Cool, that's a really useful tool, And I think
before that, one thing I would recommend would be actually
first using our theory and z bucket tests, which is
measuring the application depths and rates and timing that you're
putting the effluent on pasture, so you're basically checking out
a bunch of buckets using an Excel spreadsheet to tell
(05:50):
you use the application rates and depths that you're using
the spreading calculator. Then you can load those application depths
and rates into the tool and then also contain the
input the results from your effluent samples that you've done
to estimate how much nutrients you're actually putting on paddock.
(06:11):
So they're two really useful Excel sheets and they go
into quite a bit of detail. So it's great to
jump on our website and have a look at how
you can use them. But yeah, they are recommended to
be done at least annually to get the best value
out of it.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And i'd imagine we were in autumn now obviously, Sean,
but different times of year those tools will be really useful,
right you say doing them annually, but would you use
them at different times of year as well the season changes,
with water levels changing and things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, ands like taking effluence samples are pretty valuable to
knowing what type of nutrients you're applying and how much
you're applying when. But as you mentioned, the nutrient concentration
can vary basically monthly or quarterly, so it is recommended
to take some representative samples throughout the year, whether that
springs summer and then into the autumn, just to get
(06:59):
in average of what the concentration from your ponders. And
also if you're applying solids to your cropping blocks, it's
useful to take a sample before you go and do that,
especially if you're using a larger weaping war where you've
got quite a lot of solids sort up and.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Best practice for farmers looking at effluent management, what is
best practice excellent systems.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's not a one size fits all model and therefore
I guess best practice around management needs to be specific
to that farm's infrastructure and the characteristics. So the white
Kadda would be completely different to Southland or a target
for example. It's also quite important to remember that when
you're looking at the Council's rules, they should really be
considered a minimum standard or starting point to work on.
(07:45):
So when I'm looking at best practice, I really think
it could be broken down into three main areas. So
the first one is getting that right advice and system
designed to start with, and asking the right questions of
those designers to get the right for your system to
whether that's the next few weeks of storage or a
different solid separation system because you've got a bit more
(08:09):
palm kernel for example, going through your system. The other
one would be developing an effluent management plan and tracking
all of those maintenance and training that occur on farm.
So if you can love all those it's great from
a liability perspective because if anything was to go wrong,
you can obviously prove that you're keeping up with maintenance
and you're doing the right things. And the other thing
(08:30):
is connecting effluent into your nutrient management on farm. So
taking samples and strategically timing if application rates to grow
more grass also reduces the risk of that leaching through
the soil profile. So while design system provides basically the
right equipment and processes to manage those on farm risks
and turn what is a liability to many into a
(08:53):
valuable economic benefit.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
And as far as designing and upgrading effluent systems, if people,
if farmers wanted on those designs, what questions to ask?
Is there people that can go to and ask and
find out what those questions should be for their farm.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, So the first one, if you're looking to put
a new system or upgrade your storage or any of
those type of things. The people you're looking for are
the green Tick accredited companies. You can find them on
Irrigation Indeed's websites if you Google search accredited epport system designers.
So it's really important when you're chatting of those guys
(09:29):
to make sure that they understand your systems needs, the
staff that you capacity that you've got on farm, and
the way that you want to manage your system. Because
when you're using tools like the Dairy and their Dairya
Fluence Storage calculator, it'll spit out a number that works
for your farm, but you really need to be involved
in those inputs because, for example, irrigation days, you can
(09:51):
say that you're going to potentially irrogate three hundred and
fifty days of the year if the saw conditions in
the calculator allow. In reality, a lot of farmers won't
be able to irrigate that often, and a lot of
the time they also might want to break during carving.
So you can make those changes in the tool and
work with your consultant or credited designers to actually make
a design for your farm.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So Sean, just to wrap things up, what would be
one final piece of advice, that you would like to
give farmers about developing effort systems on farm.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, as far as developing effllent systems on farm, I
think whoever you're using, hopefully it's in the credited designer,
I would recommend asking a lot of questions, so trying
to make sure that the system fits how you want
to run the farm or how you are operating the farm.
For example, a lot of people are going for collars
such as Holter to obviously give them some more flexibility
(10:44):
with how they farm and how much time has got available.
The same goes for an effluent system, so you don't
want to be signing yourself up to irrogate three hundred
and fifty days of the year when in reality you
want to potentially do maybe one hundred and fifty applications
higher rates. So getting a system that's designed for how
you want to manage it is key to making and
(11:06):
enduring future decisions making process.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And of course if people want to know more, they
can head to the darien Z website. Can't they find
all the resources and information there?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yes, yep. So we've got many of resources available, plenty
of farmers guides. If you want to get some training
guides on how to use different types of irrigators. You
want to check out some of our tools like our
spreading calculators or Effluence storage calculator. It's all available on
our website and hopefully you should be able to find
it through our new AI friend Daisy.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Thank you so much for your time today, Sean. I'm
sure shed a lot of light for some people and
made some little light bulbs go off for some as well.
Thanks for your time and we're talk again soon.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Well. Thanks for Jerre, great chatting
Welcome to another Dairy n Z update, and today we're
talking to Sean Hailton, who is based up in the
y Kettle. Hey Sean, how are you? Yeah? Good? Thanks,
And today we're actually talking about effluent management and why
it's important on farm your Dairy ENDZ Senior Regional policy advisor.
But what is your Can you tell us a little
bit more about your background was the effluent side of
things and what you've got to do with that?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Cool? Thanks? Yeah, So my background is really in the
environmental policy space. So I've spent a lot of time
working in the farmers and dairy in Z now on
those regional policy issues which often include effort. But beforehand,
I spent quite a bit of time working in the
(00:42):
real compliance space for regional council. So I've seen thousands
of different systems and probably every type of issue that
has gone wrong on some farms in the past as well. So, yep,
seen a lot of farms, a lot of systems and
has worked out what's good and bad over the time.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Well, that'll be really useful because I'd imagine it's a
bit of trial and error with some things.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, yeah, And I guess the core parts of the
eflence system that have remained the same, but there's a
lot of additions which have been added on to the
farm over time. So people have started investing in feed
pads or adding in underpasses, heard homes, feed bunkers or
that stuff makes the system more complex and also means
(01:26):
you have to consider how to manage it ethln obviously,
which adds to the risk.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Pretty much all farmers are environmentally conscious, aren't they, And
effluent is a big part of that. Looking after when
you put it on when you din't is a big
part of that, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah. Yeah, So there's the timing and the application of
effort which is really important. I think if you can
get the effluent managed within your nutrient budgets that you're
already doing on farm, there's the opportunity for what I
think it's in the tens of thousands of dollars for
an average four hundred cow farm with of nutrients you've
(02:02):
got there, particularly if you've got the likes of a
big pond or weeping water, get some effluence spread over
the cropping times of the year when you're putting your
maize down, for example, is a good opportunity to save
some money on those fertilizer bills.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I bet, And we all like to save money, don't we.
So that's probably number one. But also why is effort
management important on the farm? I mean, obviously saving money
is a big part of that. That's a very good thing.
But what are some other things?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Given my role in policy, I think the biggest thing
is the liability side of things now. So with the
recent resource management reforms, we've seen the I guess the
infringement finds jump up from the hundreds of dollars into
the thousands, and we've also seen the amount of farmer
can be prosecuted for in the courts range up from
(02:49):
four hund of one thousand to a million dollars for
an individual, and from memory it's I think it's ten
million dollars for a company. So if the liabilities increase significantly,
and obviously with farmers collecting more effluent nowadays, the risk
does potentially increase as well when you're adding in more
things to your system.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And with looking out for those sort of systems and
making sure you're doing the right thing, you have some
tools available, don't you. I was just looking up on
your website about the WAFT and accredited advisors. Could you
explain a bit more about how that works.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, So there are two of the industry good programs
that we've developed to make sure farmers about the right
place or the right people to go to. So the
first one you mentioned the warren A Fitness, So that's
really intended for those looking for a review of their
existing system or particularly perfect for someone moving on to
a new property first to June, either to purchase it
(03:44):
or to move on as a manager of contract Milker.
So the Wine of Fitness provides the independent assessment of
the performance of your farm on system and any identifies
any opportunities for improvement. So it's a voluntary program carried
out by trained and certified independent professionals. So in practice
(04:07):
it really takes about three to four hours when those
assessors will come out and test your system, look at
things from your pumps, your pond, your irrigator, and provide
any advice and changes and processes. So it's really useful
to get that professional advice before you walk into a
new system, a new job, or new farms. So that's
(04:27):
something I would really recommend for anyone looking to upgrade
their existing system or to put a new effluent pond
or system in there. Indeed recommends and has developed the
farm very efcellent accredited system Designer's course. So those accredited
advisors carry a green tick beside their logo, and that
(04:49):
indicates that they've demonstrated the capability to provide those evidence
space solutions, meet industry standards and also ensure that you
can comply with your local council regulations. So everyone's probably
happy to take your money to the build a new system,
but it's important to look for those green techs beside
the company or professional name before you get on the
(05:11):
phone and ask them for any advice on upgrading your system.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And on the website, Sean, there's a really good tool
called the effluence Spreading Calculator. Can you explain a bit
more about how that works and what in combination with
that helps with this effluence spreading off far?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah. Cool, that's a really useful tool, And I think
before that, one thing I would recommend would be actually
first using our theory and z bucket tests, which is
measuring the application depths and rates and timing that you're
putting the effluent on pasture, so you're basically checking out
a bunch of buckets using an Excel spreadsheet to tell
(05:50):
you use the application rates and depths that you're using
the spreading calculator. Then you can load those application depths
and rates into the tool and then also contain the
input the results from your effluent samples that you've done
to estimate how much nutrients you're actually putting on paddock.
(06:11):
So they're two really useful Excel sheets and they go
into quite a bit of detail. So it's great to
jump on our website and have a look at how
you can use them. But yeah, they are recommended to
be done at least annually to get the best value
out of it.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And i'd imagine we were in autumn now obviously, Sean,
but different times of year those tools will be really useful,
right you say doing them annually, but would you use
them at different times of year as well the season changes,
with water levels changing and things like that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, ands like taking effluence samples are pretty valuable to
knowing what type of nutrients you're applying and how much
you're applying when. But as you mentioned, the nutrient concentration
can vary basically monthly or quarterly, so it is recommended
to take some representative samples throughout the year, whether that
springs summer and then into the autumn, just to get
(06:59):
in average of what the concentration from your ponders. And
also if you're applying solids to your cropping blocks, it's
useful to take a sample before you go and do that,
especially if you're using a larger weaping war where you've
got quite a lot of solids sort up and.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Best practice for farmers looking at effluent management, what is
best practice excellent systems.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's not a one size fits all model and therefore
I guess best practice around management needs to be specific
to that farm's infrastructure and the characteristics. So the white
Kadda would be completely different to Southland or a target
for example. It's also quite important to remember that when
you're looking at the Council's rules, they should really be
considered a minimum standard or starting point to work on.
(07:45):
So when I'm looking at best practice, I really think
it could be broken down into three main areas. So
the first one is getting that right advice and system
designed to start with, and asking the right questions of
those designers to get the right for your system to
whether that's the next few weeks of storage or a
different solid separation system because you've got a bit more
(08:09):
palm kernel for example, going through your system. The other
one would be developing an effluent management plan and tracking
all of those maintenance and training that occur on farm.
So if you can love all those it's great from
a liability perspective because if anything was to go wrong,
you can obviously prove that you're keeping up with maintenance
and you're doing the right things. And the other thing
(08:30):
is connecting effluent into your nutrient management on farm. So
taking samples and strategically timing if application rates to grow
more grass also reduces the risk of that leaching through
the soil profile. So while design system provides basically the
right equipment and processes to manage those on farm risks
and turn what is a liability to many into a
(08:53):
valuable economic benefit.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
And as far as designing and upgrading effluent systems, if people,
if farmers wanted on those designs, what questions to ask?
Is there people that can go to and ask and
find out what those questions should be for their farm.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, So the first one, if you're looking to put
a new system or upgrade your storage or any of
those type of things. The people you're looking for are
the green Tick accredited companies. You can find them on
Irrigation Indeed's websites if you Google search accredited epport system designers.
So it's really important when you're chatting of those guys
(09:29):
to make sure that they understand your systems needs, the
staff that you capacity that you've got on farm, and
the way that you want to manage your system. Because
when you're using tools like the Dairy and their Dairya
Fluence Storage calculator, it'll spit out a number that works
for your farm, but you really need to be involved
in those inputs because, for example, irrigation days, you can
(09:51):
say that you're going to potentially irrogate three hundred and
fifty days of the year if the saw conditions in
the calculator allow. In reality, a lot of farmers won't
be able to irrigate that often, and a lot of
the time they also might want to break during carving.
So you can make those changes in the tool and
work with your consultant or credited designers to actually make
a design for your farm.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So Sean, just to wrap things up, what would be
one final piece of advice, that you would like to
give farmers about developing effort systems on farm.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, as far as developing effllent systems on farm, I
think whoever you're using, hopefully it's in the credited designer,
I would recommend asking a lot of questions, so trying
to make sure that the system fits how you want
to run the farm or how you are operating the farm.
For example, a lot of people are going for collars
such as Holter to obviously give them some more flexibility
(10:44):
with how they farm and how much time has got available.
The same goes for an effluent system, so you don't
want to be signing yourself up to irrogate three hundred
and fifty days of the year when in reality you
want to potentially do maybe one hundred and fifty applications
higher rates. So getting a system that's designed for how
you want to manage it is key to making and
(11:06):
enduring future decisions making process.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And of course if people want to know more, they
can head to the darien Z website. Can't they find
all the resources and information there?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yes, yep. So we've got many of resources available, plenty
of farmers guides. If you want to get some training
guides on how to use different types of irrigators. You
want to check out some of our tools like our
spreading calculators or Effluence storage calculator. It's all available on
our website and hopefully you should be able to find
it through our new AI friend Daisy.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Thank you so much for your time today, Sean. I'm
sure shed a lot of light for some people and
made some little light bulbs go off for some as well.
Thanks for your time and we're talk again soon.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Well. Thanks for Jerre, great chatting
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