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Wisconsin dairy farmers concerned about water and proposed manure management rule

A dairy farm group leader says her members are concerned about Wisconsin’s proposed changes to manure management regulations.

Shelly Meyer is with the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin and tells Brownfield farmers are always mindful of how they handle nitrogen and phosphorus, and when you start looking at prohibitions and limiting the ability to manage manure applications, that’s a big concern. “We just want to make sure that if we have regulations, they’re good regulations that allow us to make the timely decisions that we need to be able to apply the nutrients back onto the land in the amount that land needs.”

She says farmers are concerned about the state getting too restrictive with the timing of manure applications.  Meyer says, “You cannot manage the land when you’re working with a complicated biological system in concert with a very moody Mother Nature from looking at someone’s rule book.”

The Professional Dairy Producers have two water quality educational tours highlighting what farmers are doing to protect ground and surface water in the Wausau area Tuesday and Barron County Wednesday.