Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

State DNR Board Approves Stricter Manure Regulations
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 05/25/2006

Wisconsin's largest dairy operations may soon be required to have at least six months storage for liquid manure and have the ability to inject its liquid manure during certain months under new rules approved by the state's natural resources board. During the panel's meeting in Elkhart Lake on Wednesday, board members voted unanimously for an animal waste management plan, which the agency says will only affect about 165 farmers in Wisconsin.

According to the DNR, the regulations were drafted as part of an effort to reduce manure-related problems that contaminate drinking water, kill fish and pollute lakes and streams. The rules will govern manure management of Wisconsin's largest farms that have at least 1,000 animal units and generate at least 6.5 million gallons of manure a year plus other wastes. The proposed changes are triggered by recent changes in federal rules governing such large-scale operations, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs.

Other major changes would include a ban on spreading solid manure on frozen or snow covered ground during February and March unless it was immediately worked into the ground; require that manure spread on land be set back from private and public drinking water wells and from sinkholes and fractured bedrock; require farms to follow nutrient management plans based on applying the right amount of phosphorus to the soil. This nutrient, if it enters lakes and rivers, can decrease water quality and fuel algae growth; require farms applying manure near lakes and streams to implement practices such as leaving crop residue on fields and limiting the amount of manure applied to protect against manure runoff; and require farms to develop an emergency response plan to address manure spills or discharges.

The measure now head to the Legislature, where lawmakers will have a chance to make adjustments to it.

An estimated 80 percent of regulated farms already have such storage, and Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Indiana already require at least this much.