Vernon County Broadcaster, WI
06-21-07
Details of possible hog farm debate
by Tim Hundt
Jeff and Bonnie Parr have not officially applied for any permits to build a 2,400head hog operation in Vernon County, but they have hired a consultant to help
them design a facility and that has neighbors up in arms.
About 50 people showed up a Vernon County Land and Water Committee
meeting last week to discuss a proposed animal siting ordinance and the
possible construction of the facility near Retreat in the town of Sterling.
The Parrs hired consultant Mike Sexton of Twin Lakes Environmental Services of
Iowa to help investigate if they can construct hog confinement barns like those
that exist in Iowa. Sexton said he has helped farmers design and build more than
300 such operations.
The proposed facility would be just under the 999 animal unit limit that would
automatically put the facility under Wisconsin DNR CAFO (Concentrated Animal
Feeding Operation) regulations. CAFO regulations for manure storage and
handling are strict and involve monitoring. There are currently two CAFO
operations in Vernon County, and those are both dairy operations.
DNR guidelines on what constitutes one animal unit varies by type of farming
operation. For example, a dairy farmer can have up to 710 dairy cows and be
under the 999 animal unit limit, but hog farms can have up to 2,500 hogs. Or a
farm could have up to 10,000 hogs if they are under 55 pounds before they reach
the limit.
County Conservationist Kelly Jacobs passed out a draft of the proposed animal
siting ordinance that will require a permit for large animal operations. Attorney
Stephanie Hopkins, who helped draft the ordinance, said the ordinance follows
state guidelines and can not really get more stringent than state standards.
Hopkins said attempts to make local ordinances more stringent in other areas
have been challenged legally. The land and water conservation committee will
take up the debate on that proposed ordinance at a special meeting June 25 at
9:30 a.m.
Neighbors of the Parrs came to the meeting to ask questions and voice concerns
about such a large animal operation in the hills and valleys of Vernon County.
Dan Ames said his family has land next to the Parrs and handed out a map that
showed the number of families who lived close to their property. Ames said he
was in the farm supply business and many of his friends farm, but he was
concerned about air quality for those who will be "I don't know if you have ever
lived next to hog facility, but I have," Ames said. "I lived in Decorah, Iowa, for a
while and 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, you could smell these noxious fumes.
You could smell it for a mile in every direction. It is not pleasant. My mother has
serious lung problems and that black dot (on the map) is where she lives."
"The primary control you have is with your town board and your local residents,"
said land and water conservation committee chairman Richard Hansen. "The
adjoining residents have a lot of control on this."
"To my understanding Sterling Township is unzoned," said Ames.
"Yes it is," said Hansen. "But this is what can help you with some of this and this
is one of the reasons for township zoning. The town board has control whether
they sign a building permit."
Marvin Christianson, Sterling town chairman, said the building permit in the town
is used only to get structures on the tax rolls — there is no approval process.
Matt Urch, a local beef farmer, asked that the county consider controlling animal
operations between 500 and 1,000 animal units.
"There has been study after study that shows these large CAFOs depressing the
surrounding property values," Urch said. "It doesn't seem fair that one person can
come in and things they are making money on drop other people's property
values. How do you compensate them? There is a big difference between hogs
and dairy. My grandparents raised both and I can tell you which one we closed to
the window for. I would encourage the board to drop the number to 500."
Four years ago, a Milwaukee-area waste recycling company tried to begin storing
and spreading industrial waste on the David Thurin farm southwest of Viroqua.
That proposition was blocked largely due to procedural snags.
"I was hoping the board would do something after the David Thurin fiasco." Urch
said. "That was a couple miles from my house and I thought 'Here is the wake up
call… time to do something about this zoning'… nothing. I wish the townships
would do something too, but this is a countywide issue. The exciting things here
are what's happening with the small diversified organic or sustainable farms. I
don't think we want to become a target for these big CAFOs. Go to North
Carolina, go to Iowa and see what's going on in those places. We have a much
more fragile ecosystem here and until we come up with a plan to deal with it we
are going to sit here with a big bull's-eye on us."
Sexton passed out a detailed map that laid out all structures and topography in a
6,000-foot radius of the potential barn site and clarified that the Parrs have not
officially applied for any permits at this point and are just investigating the
possibility of constructing the facility.
Sexton said that the Parrs would also be required to get a manure storage permit
and fill out a 313 document from the NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation
Service) a 590 federal application documenting their operation.
Sexton said the next step they will undertake in their investigation will be to dig
test pits to determine if the site is above Karst rock formations that are too porous
for manure storage structures.
"If we dig down and hit Karst topography in five feet, that site is probably not
going to work," Sexton said. "It is very uncommon to have this kind of meeting
before anyone has filed for a permit because maybe we are all sitting here
wasting out time."
When asked about building in Vernon County, which has a high percentage of
Karst topography, Sexton said the soil testing will tell them if they have a suitable
site. Sexton said the engineering will protect against sinkholes and loose rock
structures.
Sexton said the waste produced by the operation will be applied according to a
nutrient management plan that meets all regulations and the 590 federal
standards, which includes injecting the manure into the ground instead of
spreading. The waste from the pits under the barns will be emptied once a year
in the fall, Sexton said.
"In my opinion, if every farm followed the 590 standard, we wouldn't have a water
quality problem in the United States," Sexton said. "And Jeff Parr's ground is
going to follow the 590 standard."
Sexton said the DNR regulations dictate that an operation like Parr's can apply
up to 4,800 gallons of manure per acre. Parr said in Iowa he generally has to
keep the spreading down to 3,000 gallons per acre.
When asked if Parr will have enough acreage to spread the waste that 2,400
hogs will produce, Sexton said Parr will be able to spread on any land that is
rented as long as it meets the 590 testing. When asked what will happen if Parr's
rented land is no longer available, Sexton said the economics of the situation
make it easy to get rid of the waste.
Sexton said spreading the hog manure, including a penny per gallon spreading
fee, costs $30 per acre. He said the manure is worth about $115 per acre. Many
farmers would want it as a fertilizer, Sexton said.
Kevin Roys from Clayton County, Iowa, said he has helped oversee the
construction of a number of these facilities and owns 700 acres. Roys said he
has these facilities all around him and his father has a facility like this 1,400 feet
from his house. Roys said it hasn't been an issue even though he is elderly and
diabetic. Roys also disputed the notion that land around such operations will lose
value. Roys said land that has manure easements on it is generally worth more.
"There are always people that are against change and that's not all bad," Roys
said. "It is good to bring concerns up."
Urch cited an Iowa State University study that showed a 10 percent drop in
property values if a livestock feeding operation is located upwind of a residence.
"My point is you can throw a whole bunch of studies at me and I can throw a
whole bunch of studies at you and at the end of the day you don't know what the
property values are going to do until you get the site put up and see what
happens," Urch said. "I think the people around here have enough common
sense to know which one of those theories has more relevance."
Roys and Sexton offered to take groups by bus to a modern hog facility for tours.
"Why are you choosing to slide just under the 1,000 animal units?" asked Tom
Wilson. "Why are you afraid of that CAFO rule?"
"That's the standard that all of Iowa follows," Sexton said. "It is the size of the
building. That's what everything is built to, to be under that CAFO rule. To be
honest this would meet the CAFO except for probably the odor study. This is
what Jeff and Bonnie want to build and they don't have the acreage to go any
bigger."