Listen Up! This is an open invite to comment...

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday February 09, 2010 · 8:58 PM PST

2010/02/09 · 20:58

There’s going to be a Public Hearing given by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to receive comments relative to Wisconsin's Livestock Siting Rule.

The exciting part is that you can email your comments to Michael.murray@wisconsin.gov before March 10th. Or you can mail them ATTN: Michael Murray, DATCP, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911.

Here’s an article from the that may interest you.

It’s time to speak up. Listening Sessions are February 18th at Dodger Bowl in Dodgeville from 3 to 6 pm, or Eau Claire, Oshkosh and Wausau in late February and early March. Again, please speak up and be heard on this important issue.

Where do those cows come from?

harvstpt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday January 29, 2010 · 9:13 PM PST

2010/01/29 · 21:13

You knew it would happen. Just like that (snap!)the DATCP sited a Livestock CAFO and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources permitted the largest Big Ag Dairy in the state to become a reality. Another four thousand dairy cows and one hundred fifty beef cows move into Rosendale Dairy. After several years of hearing about the possibility and two years of organizing protests against the inevitable onslaught of Big, another rural place became befouled by someone’s definition of progress--an 11,500 head dairy CAFO. Maybe you read it in the paper last weekend.

The pictures really don't tell the whole story. You can't smell this nor realize how many of millions of gallons of water are being taken from your groundwater for this many cattle.(30 to 50 gallons per day for drinking times 11,000 cows is roughly 1/2 million gallons per day) Or what's being put back into the soil along with the other wastes coming from this herd.
More..

<hr>

harvstpt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday December 18, 2009 · 10:51 AM PST

2009/12/18 · 10:51

I attended the 3 December, 2009 "Hearing" on the State of Wisconsin’s largest Dairy farm to date! For those who couldn’t attend, here’s what I saw. Look:

First, the DNR spokesperson stated the sole purpose of the hearing was to hear only comments germane to the modification of three issues: 1) whether the producer could double his current herd to 11,500 Animal Units, 2) an amendment in the Nutrient Management Plan that allows increases in liquid manure to be land-spreading over 12,000 acres with reduced State monitoring requirements, and 3) a reduced compliance schedule for evaluating processed wastewater and storm water discharges at the producer/owner’s request. (That’s right twice as many cows but a reduction in testing, say what!)

harvstpt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 23, 2009 · 10:35 AM PST

2009/11/23 · 10:35

Okay, according to the recent survey here, I have a deadline. (Is this like a mandate of the people? Look at those survey results!) The Public Hearing for the "Permit Action" is December 3rd in Ripon, WI. The written comments "and suggestions shall be received no later than December 10th at the Basin Engineer’s office: Elizabeth Spaeth-Werner, 625 E County Road Y, Suite 700, Oshkosh, WI 54901.(Parenthetically, basin--I’m thinking toilet bowl. I hear a flushing sound. "Basin Engineer" get it!) The Announcement actually says "All comments and suggestions received from members of the public...will be used, along with other information on file and testimony presented at the hearing, in making a final determination." But I’m really suspicious this is the case. Here’s why:

Poll

3 votes Show Results

You must include this in your FORMAL COMMENT:

3 votes Vote Now!

You must include this in your FORMAL COMMENT:

Stick to the facts like 52 million gallons of water per day from the Aquifer

1 vote

Mention Big Farm's Suck

0 votes

Reference the environmental harm outlined in the EIS

0 votes

Point out the WDNR is "out of their league" dealing with these issues

0 votes

Suggest the State Dept. of Ag should be in charge of enforcement, they're paid more

0 votes

Invite State Officials to have 92 million gallons of manure on their lawn

0 votes

Suggest too much of one thing is harmful to the environment

0 votes

All the above

2 votes

The manure will take care of itself...

harvstpt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 16, 2009 · 1:17 PM PST

2009/11/16 · 13:17

First of all, thank you for your response(s) to my last Diary here on Daily Kos. Honestly, most of the comments helped. Thanks to others of you who may have read it but were too busy to write a comment--I understand.

I am having much consternation about CAFOs in Wisconsin. (NOTE: Even a good friend of mine who grew up on a farm asked me, what the heck is a CAFO?) In our state it stands for Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operation. It means 700 mature dairy cows, 2,500 pigs, or 55,000 birds/poultry and suchlike fed in one place; usually not pastured.

For me, the CAFO-Rosendale has been the "tipping point;" mostly due to its size and because our Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) went to great lengths to write an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) relative to this CAFO. When I read the 197 page EIS in December 2008, I really got concerned. This report made this CAFO seem like a huge blight on our environment; and because WDNR scientists [and Protectors of Our Environment] wrote this in the EIS.

Poll

59 votes Show Results

Write a Formal Comment on the WPDES Permit for Phase 2 for CAFO-Rosendale

59 votes Vote Now!

Write a Formal Comment on the WPDES Permit for Phase 2 for CAFO-Rosendale

Yes, Write and Submit a Formal Comment. Conservation Issues which protect the environment are too important to ignore.

51 votes

No. Itâ€<sup>TM</sup>s a done deal. No one really cares about this issue. Give it up!

8 votes

I’m Depressed... and Don’t know what I can do About it

harvstpt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 06, 2009 · 10:00 AM PST

2009/11/06 · 10:00

Yesterday, I got a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) that I’ve known was on its way since last February.

You see, in February we rec’d word that the largest Dairy CAFO in Wisconsin would be "permitted" by the WDNR. What would you do? Listen:

This dairy CAFO, in the Town of Rosendale, we call it CAFO-RD, asked for a permit to Confine 11,500 Animal Units. The WDNR wrote an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) telling everyone why this CAFO wasn’t a good idea. The 197 page EIS points to issues like the 127 species of birds, invertebrates, and suchlike that could be harmed in nearby grasslands, marshes and fields. It mentioned the 94 million gallons of cow manure that would be land-spread on 5631 acres of crop land, across 4 major area watersheds and already EPA 303d-listed waters (The largest untreated sewage area in the state of Wisconsin...even the cities of Milwaukee and Madison, though slightly larger, at least have some sewage treatment.)

RSS

Listen Up! This is an open invite to comment...

Where do those cows come from?

Holy Cow! a follow-up report on Wisconsin's Big Dairy.

We have a job to do...I need your help

The manure will take care of itself...

I’m Depressed... and Don’t know what I can do About it