Dunn County Board receives LOSG report

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  — The Dunn County Board has officially received the report generated by the Livestock Operations Study Group.

Steve Rasmussen, chair of the Dunn County Board and county board supervisor from Boyceville, reported at the Dunn County Board’s July 26 meeting that he had attended all but one of the LOSG meetings held over the past eight months.

“It was a real pleasure to work with those 21 people (on the LOSG),” Rasmussen said.

“Kudos to the committee for their hard work,” he said.

The Livestock Operations Study Group was created as a result of an ordinance passed by the Dunn County Board October 16, 2016, imposing a six-month moratorium on all new livestock facilities with 1,000 or more animal units or expanding existing operations to 1,000 or more animal units. A dairy cow is 1.4 animal units.

The six-month moratorium was approved by the county board last fall to give the study group time to evaluate the impact of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) on the health, safety and welfare of Dunn County’s residents and resources, to report on the group’s findings and to make recommendations.

Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing, a member of the LOSG and chair of the county board’s planning, resources and development committee, said the LOSG had held 23 meetings over the past eight months.

The study group was “an exercise in local democracy,” he said.

“We learned a lot from each other,” Quinn said, adding it was time to give the report and move on.

The report is a “blueprint” to identify what the county is doing in regard to CAFOs, what the county should be doing and how the county can improve, he said.

Bob Colson, zoning administrator, described the more than 40 page LOSG report as a “blueprint with recommendations.”

Not all of the county board members were impressed with the LOSG report, however,

Larry Bjork, county board supervisor from Menomonie, said he had gone through the whole report, and the message he took away from it was “agricultural growth will result in environmental degradation.”

The report indicates trucks hauling silage and manure are “wrecking the roads,” but farmers pay taxes, too, Larry Bjork said.

Residents are being told the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources doesn’t “follow through,” he said.

A Legislative Audit Bureau report released in June of 2016  revealed that DNR employees responsible for regulating water quality in Wisconsin failed to enforce regulations more than 94 percent of the time over the last ten years.

Dunn County should have room for 50-cow dairies and larger dairies, Bjork said.

And what about cow comfort? Bjork asked, noting the LOSG report did not address cow comfort, but when cows are more comfortable, they produce more milk.

“I think there’s room for both types of farms … you did a great job of scaring the public,” Larry Bjork said.

If manure is land spread, then people worry about nitrate contamination in their wells. Dunn County should be encouraging economic growth in agriculture, he said.

No positives

Gary Bjork, county board supervisor from Colfax, a member of the PR&D committee and a member of the LOSG, noted he is a livestock farmer.

Some members of the LOSG had a negative view of agriculture from the start, he said.

The LOSG report does not include the positives associated with agriculture in Dunn County, Gary Bjork said.

Hay and pasture helps hold the soil and reduces problems with run-off. Cover crops and no-till also help hold the soil, he said.

Manure provides valuable nutrients for the soil, and children working with youngstock gain a work ethic and a sense of responsibility, Gary Bjork said.

Food is manufactured from dairy products, and agriculture is a sustainable enterprise because farmers feed the cows, and the cows keep the soil fertile, he said.

The report is biased and does not show the benefit of agriculture to the county, Gary Bjork said.

No ordinance

Gary Seipel, county board supervisor from Eau Galle, also is a member of the PR&D committee and was part of the LOSG.

“I feel it’s a good, thorough report,” Seipel said.

But even though Seipel said he would accept the report, he also said he would not support some of the recommendations in the report, such as the recommendation to consider a livestock operations ordinance.

About 95 percent of the committee voted in favor. A livestock siting ordinance would cover unzoned townships in Dunn County, he said.

“I will not support the livestock operations ordinance,” he said, adding he wondered if Dunn County has adequate personnel for monitoring an ordinance.

Robust

The LOSG engaged in a robust process to generate the report, said Diane Morehouse, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the LOSG.

The report was produced through a detailed, intricate and long process, she said.

Dunn County also must be just as robust in looking at the recommendations included in the LOSG report, Morehouse said, adding she assumed there would be additional processes for looking at the recommendations in the report and also assumed the county board chair would forward the report to the appropriate committees for consideration of the recommendations.

“I will endorse receipt of the report,” she said.

Enforcement

County board supervisor Pete Prochnow is chair of the Red Cedar Town Board.

The county needs more help on enforcement, he said.

Red Cedar has been part of county zoning since county zoning was enacted, Prochnow said.

The town board turns over issues to the county’s zoning office, and the zoning office sends out letter after letter after letter, but that is as far as it goes, he said.

Zoning office employees do not have citation authority, Rasmussen pointed out.

One of the recommendations in the report is to provide citation authority to the applicable county employees regarding compliance with livestock operation policies, including manure storage requirements and nutrient management plans.

Challenges

Quinn said he does not disagree with the idea that Dunn County must have farms of all sizes.

The report supports diversification of agricultural operations, he said.

Through the process of studying livestock operations and writing the report, Quinn said he had learned groundwater contamination is probably not caused by livestock manure.

Quinn said he now worries more about the expansion of crop farming in Dunn County and the fertilizer with nitrogen that is applied to crops.

The report does not say “no CAFOs,” and there will be expansion of CAFOs in Dunn County, Quinn said.

The report does not solve problems, but instead says there must be a way to help with problems, he said.

The livestock licensing and operation ordinances were “the toughest discussions” and will have the largest impact on large farms, Quinn said.

The biggest challenge will be how to solve the problems and challenges facing agriculture while at the same time helping to protect and not to undermine agriculture, he said.

Receipt

The LOSG committee is an example of a good-faith effort to work together in a democracy, said Gary Stene, county board supervisor from Colfax.

The only action item in front of the Dunn County Board is to receive the report. After the report has been received by the county board, the county board chair will refer the report to the appropriate committees, he said.

The only actionable item is to receive the report, Stene reiterated.

Rasmussen, as chair of the county board, confirmed the only action item on the agenda was to receive the report and that after the county board had received the report, he would be forwarding it to appropriate county board committees.

After Rasmussen had confirmed the action item and the forwarding of the report, Stene “called the question.”

On a voice vote, 26 members of the Dunn County Board approved receiving the report from the Livestock Operations Study Group.

One supervisor, Larry Bjork, voted against the motion.

County board supervisors Kelly McCullough and James Tripp were absent from the meeting.