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NR 243 Manure Management Enforced!
3/8/07

 

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 After more than 4 years of public comments and hearings around the state, the State Senate and Assembly Agriculture Committees allowed the rules governing manure management on 150 of the states largest farms to go into effect on March 8th.

Following a Natural Resources Board hearing in January where the Dairy Business Association presented the DRB with a letter requesting further weakening of NR 243 it was feared that the hearing process would have to start all over again.  Fortunately, thanks to all of the calls, cards and letters, and combined efforts of special groups over the last several years, the Committee listened to their constituents and put the rules into effect.

We now have manure management rules for the ‘factory farms’ in Wisconsin that require:
• 6 months of manure storage capacity of liquid manure by 2010.
• A ban on surface spreading of liquid manure during February and March by 2010.
• A ban on surface spreading of liquid manure when the ground is frozen/snow covered.
• All animals must be counted using the DNR’s Mixed-Animal Unit Calculation.

[Under the NR243 Rules animals must be calculated using the conversion factor to determine how many equal 1000 animal units.  1000 animal units is the factor determining a Combined Animal Feeding Operation. (CAFO) and can be made up of different animal types to arrive at the total amount. Examples are: 710 mature cows, or 2500 hogs, or 5500 turkeys would be equal to 1000 animal units.]

The number of CAFO’s in Wisconsin has risen from none in 1985 to nearly 141 in 2006 and there are currently 59 CAFO’s in Northeast Wisconsin Region. While the vast majority of Wisconsin’s 30,000 livestock farms are generally small, (the average dairy herd is 70 cows) the number of very large farms is growing along with the many problems associated with the waste and odor generated by the large factory farm operation.

 

Door County Environmental Council
P O Box 114, Fish Creek WI 54212
Phone: 920-743-6003 | FAX: 920-743-6727
Info@dcec-wi.org