Animal waste applications approved for swine facility

The Animal Waste Storage applications for Blue Hills Swine Facility, owned by Four Mile, LLP, were approved during a Rusk County Land and Water Conservation Committee meeting Aug. 10.

Nick Stadnyk, county conservationist for Rusk County, provided committee members with information on who Blue Hills is, including a map showing where the facility is slated to go in, the operation and maintenance plan, and numbers on the waste storage facility itself.

“And then, the conditions that we would like to see on the animal waste permit,” said Stadnyk.

Blue Hills is slated to be located on 310th Avenue, off of County Hwy. G, near Sheldon.

The business will raise gilts for breeding stock, with the facility set up to handle weaned pigs to 300-pound breeding gilts.

Stadnyk says the facility is about one-quarter of a mile from the Jump River, which two of the conditions on the permit address.

Stadnyk says he would like to see the applicant stay away from having junctions in the drag lines, used to apply manure to fields, anywhere in a direct conveyance to the river.

“So, if a junction ruptures, it’s not in a ditch,” said Stadnyk.

Stadnyk says the other condition is not to have the drag lines cross the river.

Also addressed, was the acreage where the facility will be located, included on the nutrient management plan calculations. A Blue Hills representative present at the meeting said those acres will come off the management plan, as well as acreage in fields that are too near rivers or standing water.

When it comes to crossing the river with drag lines, the Blue Hills representative said that they have talked it over before.

“We don’t want to cross any water bodies,” said the representative.

For land on the other side of the river, he said they will likely haul to a frac tank, then do a drag line off of that frac tank.

He says using the drag lines will also reduce road traffi c. Injecting the manure into the ground also can help with neighbor relations.

Committee member Bill McBain Sr. asked if they already got DNR approval, which Stadnyk confirmed they did as part of the 590 standard.

McBain asked if there was ever any conversation if Blue Hills would ever go over 1,000 animals. Stadnyk says it is a condition of the state, as well as a condition of the permit, that as soon as they get to the point where they are going to go over 1,000 animal units, they have to notify the state and the county.

“It meets the environmental and construction standards,” said Stadnyk.

McBain also asked who does the monitoring. The Blue Hills representative said they do it themselves, until the facility hits Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) conditions, which is 1,000 animal units.

“Then the requirements go up, of course,” he said, with regular monitoring requirements that get turned over to the DNR.

The Blue Hills representative says they are looking to follow those conditions right from the start, even before they hit a CAFO level, so they are used to it.

Following the discussion, committee members approved the Animal Waste Storage applications.