I get a good laugh out of you farmers that think it is only the "INDUSTRIAL FARMS" that are going to be hit by this ruling. I see far more manure issues on the small farms than the larger farms. Most larger farms can and do spend the money to contain and apply manure to where it is needed. The few that do have problems are already on the DNRs radar and are getting fined an inspected at a higher rate.
I would bet that well above 90% of the larger farms already comply with whatever the new "rules/law" will be. It will be the medium size and small farms that will get hammered the hardest.
I see many small 10-30 cow herds that are fed hay in one spot along the road that have ZERO manure control. So if we get a big spring rain that manure is washed straight down in to creeks. It is rarely if ever spread on fields. It will jus take ONE single water sample for that producer to be under the ruling that manure as a solid waste.
HERE is a real life example of what is going to happen: If you have over 1000 animal units in IOWA you have to have an ANNUAL manure plan WITH a EPA water discharge permit. To get and keep the EPA permit you have to have annual water discharge plans done and 100% inspections of these plans. THE farmer can not do the plan it has to be a certified EPA planner. This cost $15,000 the first year!!! Then $6000-7000 each year after that. Manure sample are not included in that cost. That is usually another $750-1000 each year.
How do I know these numbers??? I get to write those checks each year!!!
I guess we are an "INDUSTRIAL FARM" 8 lots/pens that can hold up to 200 head each. This barely makes enough PROFIT to support my two sons. It would not support them without the grain land to go with it.
So be darn careful of the unintended consequences!!!!!
Most of us seem to agree that bigger in not usually better. The trouble is you get these rules in place and it hits the smaller or beginning farmers the hardest.
We have to figure around $10 per head for DNR and EPA program costs. If a person with only 200 head has to pay for just the EPA water discharge permit and study they would have $75 per head in it the first year an then $35 per head there after.
What do you think your general farm liability policy will cost if they start regulating all livestock waste as solid waste like what comes out of sewer plants????
I see and hear a lot of smaller producers on here talking gleefully about the "industrial farms" getting hit with this. Well there are darn few "INDUSTRIAL farms" that are not family owned and operated. They just usually have multiple generations still on the farm.
These court rulings will speed the drive to be bigger. A smaller producer will be hard pressed to pay for the cost of complying with the programs and laws that will come about if manure is treated as solid waste.
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Today's Featured Article - A Lifetime of Farm Machinery - by Joe Michaels. I am a mechanical engineer by profession, specializing in powerplant work. I worked as a machinist and engine erector, with time spent overseas. I have always had a love for machinery, and an appreciation for farming and farm machinery. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Not a place one would associate with farms or farm machinery. I credit my parents for instilling a lot of good values, a respect for learning, a knowledge of various skills and a little knowledge of farming in me, amo
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