Winter crop cultivation

Cultivation management

Ensuring paddocks are cultivated with agreed management strategies will reduce the risk to animals and the environment. Soil cultivation removes vegetation and exposes the soil to the weather, increasing the risk of soil loss in runoff during wet weather. Nitrogen, phosphorus, soil and E. coli losses from winter forage crops are much higher than those from pasture grazed during other times of the year.  

Why have a plan?

Having a detailed cultivation plan for every paddock will help you meet winter grazing requirements. Plans should include any critical source areas to avoid; swales, gullies, waterways, paddock slope, and the required width of the buffer.

Planning with your contractor

Your contractor is an essential part of setting up your farm for successful wintering. Ensure your contractor has all the information required before they start. Sharing detailed cultivation plans with your contractor before cultivation begins will ensure they know what is expected and prevent any future complications.

Before starting, consider the following:

• Cultivate across slopes rather than up and down. If the paddock is too steep to cultivate across the slope, it is likely that it is not suitable for winter cropping. Cultivating up and down can speed up the overland flow of water during heavy rainfall events.
• Map exclusion zones around swales, gullies and waterways in TrackMap (or similar software) so contractors do not spray or cultivate these areas. If software options are not available temporarily fence off areas or use flags to indicate where to plant. Pass this information on to your contractors.
• Leave grass buffers at the bottom of slopes. This will filter and slow down runoff from the paddock, reducing the amount of sediment lost from the paddock.

Cropping around swales, gullies and waterways

The presence of slope, swales, gullies and waterways increase the risk of sediment, E.coli and phosphorus loss to waterways. Careful management of these areas has been shown to significantly reduce losses, and uncultivated buffers around waterways act as a filter for overland flow.

Creating an uncultivated buffer at the bottom of the slope will help to reduce the risk of sediment from winter crops entering the waterway. The national intensive winter grazing rules require a minimum 5m buffer around waterways, wetlands or drains (regardless of whether there is any water in it at the time).

Buffers around waterways, swales and gullies (including drains) need to be left in grass and ungrazed through the whole winter period. Buffers around critical source areas need to maintain vegetation cover until after 30 September. Please check with national rules and your regional council to determine if a wider buffer is required under local regulations.

Crops should only be planted on slopes that are 10° or less. If you wish to plant on slopes over 10°, they will require a consent or a certified freshwater farm plan. This requirement is part of the wintering regulations that have been in place from 1 November 2022.

Key takeaways

• Soil cultivation removes vegetation and exposes the soil to the weather, increasing the risk of soil loss in runoff during wet weather.
• Create a grazing plan and use this to determine your cultivation plan. Share the plan with you contractor.
• Leave an uncultivated buffer at the bottom of the slope and around swales, gullies, and waterways, this will help to reduce the risk of sediment from winter crops entering the waterway.
• Crops should only be planted on slopes that are 10° or less.
• Intensive winter grazing rules are now in place around cultivation.