Restrictions on winter spreading proposed

By Kevin O ’Brien

“Like picking up a skunk by the tail.” That’s how county supervisor Jacob Langenhahn, chair of the Environmental Resources Committee (ERC), describes the act of trying to restrict winter manure spreading in western Marathon County.

At Tuesday’s ERC meeting, county conservationist Kirstie Heindenreich presented ideas for doing just that after previously hearing encouragement from committee members who want to see more done to stem the flow of phosphorus into the county’s waterways. Stopping winter manure spreading could reduce phosphorus output by as much as 360 percent, she said.

When similar restrictions were proposed in 2019, Langenhahn said he cast the deciding vote against advancing a ban on winter spreading. As someone who represents a lot of dairy farmers in the western part of the county, Langenhahn said he remains opposed to any ordinance change that would prohibit them from spreading manure on their land during times of the year when many of them run out of space to store it on See WINTER SPREADING/ page 3 Winter spreading

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“I always view this as a matter of storage and proactive planning,” he said. “An ordinance like this is reactionary, and I don’t think that’s good planning.”

Other committee members, however, were more open to the idea of restricting winter spreading, which is a major contributor to contamination of the Big Pleine Reservoir and other rivers and streams in the county and beyond. One of those in support of new regulations is Tom Mueller, an Athens area farmer who represents the agricultural community on the ERC.

Mueller said staff at Conservation, Planning and Zoning (CPZ) “nailed it” when they were asked in November to come back with recommendations on developing proposed winter spreading regulations for the county to adopt. He pointed out that 40 percent of farms in the county do not have nutrient management plans even though they’ve been available for years.

“Our industry has been allowed to police ourselves and we failed,” he said. “So, now we’ve got to go to the next step and force the issue a little bit.”

The proposal outlined by Heidenreich was based on a few general strategies developed by CPZ staff: countywide implementation rather than focusing on impaired watersheds; less emphasis on the size of farms; and a gradual phasein over three to five years. Even though CPZ will continue urging farmers to plant buffer strips along waterways, she said they don’t necessarily want to make it mandatory as part of any new ordinance.

“If you want to incorporate buffers in the ordinance, you still can,” she told the ERC. “It’s just a lot of change in a small amount of time.”

Conservation analyst Matt Repking went through CPZ’s ideas for changing the county’s animal waste ordinance in a way that would mostly eliminate spreading during times of the year when the frozen ground is unable to absorb manure.

Even though there would be less emphasis on farm size, Repking said CPZ did divide the county’s farms into five categories for the sake of discussing levels of regulation. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), for example, are already prohibited from winter spreading by the Wisconsin DNR, which regulates all operations with more than 1,000 animal units Livestock siting farms, on the other hand, are usually between 500 and 999 animal units, and most of those in Marathon County have enough manure storage capacity to get them through six months of winter weather. Repking said CPZ’s suggestion for these farms is to prohibit the spreading of liquid or slurry manure when the ground is frozen and/or snow-covered, but to allow for emergency applications as approved by the CPZ.

The next category of farms are those that have received some type of financial assistance from the Wisconsin DNR to build manure storage facilities, usually because they’ve had an overflow in the past or they don’t have enough acreage on which to spread. These farms are already prohibited by state law from winter spreading, so the CPZ is recommending that the county ordinance reflects that and also allows for emergency applications.

All other farms in the county would be banned from spreading liquid or slurry manure during the months of February and March, when runoff events are most likely, and they would all be required to have a winter spreading plan in place. Those farms with a nutrient management plan would simply have to follow the winter spreading practices included in their plan.

The heaviest regulations would fall on the 40 percent of farms that do not have a nutrient management plan. They would have to develop a winter spreading plan that complies with federal 590 standards and also obtain a winter spreading permit through the CPZ that would potentially last up to four years. These farm fields would have to be reviewed on an annual basis in the fall or early winter before any manure is applied to the ground.

Repking said the ultimate goal of these regulations would be to get all farms on a nutrient management plan in the future.

Solid manure could continue to be spread throughout the winter under the CPZ’s proposal.

Heidenreich said these revisions need to be approved by either the Wisconsin DNR or the Department of Agriculture, and she suggested taking that step after the ERC had endorsed them but before the full county board votes on them.

Before the discussion goes much further, though, Heidenreich agreed to reach out to groups such as the Farm Bureau to get their input. She said she’s already had about 20 conversations with individual farmers, most of whom support the proposed changes.

Going forward, Langenhahn said the issue would continue to be on the ERC’s agenda, and he encouraged farmers and others to come and speak during public comment.

“It’s better to have as many people on the board before it sets sail,” he said.