1500 submissions lodged against proposed 'cubicle' dairy farms

Environment Canterbury has been flooded with submissions in opposition to proposed large-scale "cubicle" dairy farms in the Upper Waitaki basin.

More than 1500 submissions have been lodged against publicly notified consents for Five Rivers, Southdown Holdings and Williamson Holdings.

The proposals have been criticised by dairy exporter Fonterra, and Prime Minister John Key has said the Government does not support the idea which would have the cows in cubicles for 24 hours a day for eight months of the year, and 12 hours a day for the remaining four months.

Should the consents be granted, the companies would install more than a dozen free-standing dairy farms, capable of holding more than 17,000 cows over 8000 hectares.

Submissions have outstripped the 1300 lodged in opposition to the Central Plains Water scheme, the most controversial irrigation scheme ever proposed in Canterbury.

The proposed farms will be near Lake Ohau and Omarama.

Applications include effluent ponds with 414 million litres of storage capacity and plans to put up to 1.7 million litres of diluted effluent onto the land every day.

The consents were publicly notified on November 22, but ECan consents team leader Carly Stevens said all but 70 of the submissions had been lodged in the past week.

Some were related to animal welfare issues, she said, but most were concerned about the environmental effects.

Ms Stevens said ECan had received submissions from as far away as Britain and France.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman was not surprised by the outcry. "It goes beyond the issue of animal welfare and to the very heart of how we view farming should be done in New Zealand," he said. "But it's more than that. People simply do not want to see the beautiful dryland landscapes ruined."

Dr Norman said the Government should call in the consent applications as a project of national significance.

Southdown Holdings director Richard Peacocke said the farm management plan was not unique.

"It is widely used around the world and increasingly in Southland and Canterbury, where farmers are coming under increasing pressure to better manage their discharge of nutrients to the environment," he said.

Mr Peacocke said containing the cows in barns for much of the year would enable methane to be collected from effluent and utilised on-farm to drive all farming requirements and provide surplus power into the grid.

Earlier this week, Mr Peacocke invited the Green Party "to study the detailed farm environmental management plans".

Dr Norman said yesterday: "I took him up on his offer, but I'm still waiting for that call. He's more than welcome to show them to me."

Public submissions close on December 18, but a date for the hearing has yet to be announced.

- © Fairfax NZ News