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Feedlot program Q&A
Question: Which state agency is responsible for licensing Commercial Animal Waste Technicians?
Answer following Calendar
 MPCA feedlot program staff were among trade show vendors at the 2013 Pork Congress at the Minneapolis Convention Center Jan. 16-17. Also, Wayne Cords, feedlot program east unit supervisor, was a presenter at the manure applicators workshop, with updates on setbacks and manure management plans.
2013 pork awards
Each year at the Pork Congress recognition is given to individuals and families who have made
significant contributions through pork promotion, consumer and producer
education, youth mentoring and service to the pork sector. This year’s award honorees were: Distinguished
Service, posthumously presented to Bob Christensen, Christensen Farms, Sleepy
Eye; Environmental Steward, Paul and Stephanie Fiedler, Fiedler Finishing,
Villard; Family of the Year, the Chris and Clare Veldhuizen Family, Edgerton;
Pork Promoter of the Year, Reuben and Judy Bode, Courtland; and Swine Manager of
the Year, David Wubbena, Riverdale, Inc., Fairmont.
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Brown County looks to add second feedlot inspector
Brown County is planning to hire another feedlot inspector to assist county feedlot officer Desiree Hohenstein. In December county board referred the position request to the Personnel
Advisory Committee. If the position is ultimately approved by the county, the new feedlot
technician could be on the job later this spring.
County feedlot program reviews under way
The MPCA feedlot program is conducting annual reviews of county programs. Guidelines have modified addressing 2012 program year changes, and county feedlot officers have two new minimum program requirements (MPR) for 2013. MPR No. 4 now requires
that inspections are documented on the Non-NPDES Inspection form (including the customizable version). MPR No. 7 now requires that
a feedlot owner is notified of inspection results for any compliance inspection
conducted at his/her site. Previously, CFOs were
required to notify the feedlot owner of inspection results only if non-compliance
was determined. CFOs must conduct and complete a feedlot
re-registration update campaign in 2013. All CFOs should have a plan for
conducting this update in their 2012-2013 work plan.
Open lot agreement survey under way
County feedlot officers are in the midst of completing a survey on the status of open lots and the open
lot agreement (OLA) in their counties. More than 4,000 OLAs
were signed by feedlot owners in delegated counties between 2001 and
2005. The survey seeks to gather information about the
results of the OLA, including the number of sites with OLAs that have been
fixed and sites with OLAs still needing to be fixed, so it is available to the
legislature and other stakeholders.
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 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner John Stine visited Minnesota Milk’s Board of Directors at their board meeting recently to provide an update on MPCA happenings. Commissioner Stine highlighted the agency’s efforts towards improving permitting turn-around time and the agency’s goals for minimizing Minnesota’s contributions to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.
He gave insight on MPCA’s proposed changes to Minnesota’s feedlot rules, which will be open for comment later this spring. The agency is still finalizing many of the details for the revisions; however, Commissioner Stine outlined some of the differences between the new State Disposal System (SDS) for feedlots compared to the Federal NPDES permit. According to Stine, while the proposed SDS may provide an alternative to some producers compared to the Federal NPDES permit; Minnesota’s SDS permit holders will be held to a “zero” discharge standard and it does not allow for some of the citizen lawsuit protections available to NPDES permit holders, under the Clean Water Act.
The Board of Directors asked the Commissioner to help change the stereotype that Minnesota’s environmental requirements and permitting process is too burdensome for producers to establish or improve dairy operations in the state. The Commissioner welcomed ideas and partnerships that would help improve that perception.
In the meantime, Minnesota Milk will continue to pay extreme attention to MPCA’s rule revision process to ensure dairy farmers permitting concerns are clearly communicated and addressed. You are urged to share your experiences and comments with us so we can be effective in this effort. To share your comments please email us at mmpa@mnmilk.org. - Minnesota Milk Minute
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Annual report forms for
livestock farms with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits
are now available on the MPCA feedlot program website. Completed forms are
due Thursday, March 1. Links to the form are located on the feedlot
program main page, and permits and forms webpage, or download the document.
The report has been revised to
include the following two changes: 1) The time period for the entire report has been changed to a cropping
year. The cropping year for this year's report is Sept. 1, 2011 to Aug. 31,
2012. 2) The complete manure application records for all transferred manure are
now required to be submitted. As a result of these changes
please ensure the newly revised annual report is used.
Paper
copies of the report may be requested by contacting the MPCA regional offices. The office phone
numbers are listed on page 5 of the report. For farms that do not transfer
manure, land application records can also be generated using the MPCA excel
based Manure Management Planner under Create Crop Year Records. These record
forms may be used and submitted instead of the Records for 300 or More Animal
Units form. A link to the planner is located on the feedlot program Nutrient and Manure Management webpage.
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The Department of Agriculture announces a schedule of approved workshops providing required training for Commercial Animal Waste Technician licensing. Licenses are valid for three years; to renew your
license, you must attend recertification workshops in at least two of those
three years. The workshops are
also open to the general public. Upcoming Current Issues in Manure Management workshops are listed below. Contact organizers for registration details:
- Jan. 30: Sauk Centre City Hall, 320
Oak Street S., 9:30-3:30, registration contacts: Todd County
SWCD, Ed Uhlenkamp 320-732-2644, Stearns County
SWCD, Mark Lefebvre and Megan Molitor 320-251-7800.
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Feb. 21: Best Western Victorian Inn, Hutchinson, 8 a.m., Minnesota
Custom Applicators Association, Richard Martens
320-679-5485 or 612-390-9530 or martensfarm@northlc.com.
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Feb. 28: Mankato National Guard Armory, 11 a.m., SE Minnesota
Feedlot Officers, Dan Vermilyea at
507-444-7488 or Dan.Vermilyea@co.steele.mn.us.
- March 6: Adrian, 9:30 a.m., Doug Bos,
Rock Co. SWCD-Land Mgmt, 507-283-8862 x3 or douglas.bos@mn.nacdnet.net, Al Langseth,
Nobles Co. Environmental, 507-295-5322 or alangseth@co.nobles.mn.us.
- March 15: Steele County fairgrounds, Owatonna, 12:30 p.m., SE Minnesota
Feedlot Officers, Dan Vermilyea at
507-444-7488 or Dan.Vermilyea@co.steele.mn.us.
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University of Minnesota Extension is presenting workshops
for livestock producers and ag professionals on the use of grid soil sampling
to guide manure application. Grid soil phosphorus and potassium maps from
Minnesota livestock farms are used to create manure
application zones and manure exclusion zones within fields in order to maximize
the economic value of the manure as a fertilizer replacement and minimize
phosphorus in runoff. Determination of manure application rates and
supplemental fertilizer where necessary are part of the demonstration and
discussion. Eight case studies are posted on the UM Extension manure website, http://z.umn.edu/manure .
Since the number of workshops funded by the McKnight Foundation project grant
is limited, we invite county feedlot officerss and NRCS/SWCD staff to attend one of the
following workshops. The workshop presentation Powerpoint is available for
those wishing to conduct their own workshops, and a few more workshops could be
presented by Randy Pepin, UM Extension (pepin019@umn.edu).
Currently scheduled workshops and hosts are:
- Feb. 12: 10 a.m., Browerville Community Center, Ed Uhlenkamp, Todd County SWCD.
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Feb. 26: 10 a.m., Steele County Admin. building, Owatonna, Mike Donnelly,UM Extension.
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Feb. 27: 1 p.m., Meeker County Courthouse, Litchfield, Nathan Winter, UM Extension
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March 5: 11 a.m., Lake Crystal American Legion, Diane DeWitt, UM Extension.
- March 6: 1 p.m., Murray County Courthouse, Slayton, Mike Boersma, UM Extension.
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The Department of
Agriculture will be hosting several public listening sessions to
seek input on the proposed development of the Minnesota Agriculture Water
Quality Certification Program (MAWCP). The concept behind MAWCP is that if
farmers agree to conduct certain practices on their farms they would receive
“certification” and not be subject to any additional regulations that will be
developed and implemented by state agencies. The MDA and Gov. Dayton
have requested $3 million from the Legislature to implement this program.
- Feb 4: Worthington, MN West Community College Commons, 6-8 p.m.
- Feb 12: Stewartville, Stewartville Civic Center, 6-8 p.m.
- Feb 19: Roseville, Ramsey County Librairy, 4-6 p.m.
- Feb 21: Crookston, UofM Crookston Ballroom, 6-8 p.m.
- Feb 26: Mankato, South Central College, 6-8 p.m.
- Feb 28: St. Cloud, MnDOT Training Center, 1-3 p.m.
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Feb. 7-8: 69th annual Minnesota State Spring Barrow Show, Freeborn County fairgrounds, Albert Lea.
Feb. 25: Ag Symposium: New Tools for New Rules. South Central College conference center, North Mankato.
March 13-14: Midwest Poultry Federation Convention, St.
Paul RiverCentre.
Wisconsin Extension offers CAFO workshops
University of Wisconsin Extension and Wisconsin DNR are hosting a series of five workshops around the state in February for CAFO operators (and farms near CAFO sized), their consultants, and agency staff working with these farms: Feb. 12-Juneau, Feb 13-Green Bay, Feb. 14-Marshfield, Feb. 15-Rice Lake, Feb. 19-Richland Center. For more information contact: Kevin Erb, Extension Conservation Professional Training Program, 920.391.4652, kevin.erb@uwex.edu. The workshop objectives are: Improve nutrient management plan implementation; improve communication between plan writers, permit holders and WDNR; and also provide other information on regulations that may affect large farming operations.
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Q&A Answer: Department of Agriculture
The MPCA Feedlot Update
welcomes news submissifrom partners about, projects, people, and upcoming
events. Email submissito forrest.peterson@state.mn.us. Please note that
the MPCA has switched to a new service, called GovDelivery, to deliver the
Feedlot Update. To ensure delivery of these messages, please add mpca@public.govdelivery.com to
your address book or safe sender list. Past issues of Feedlot Update are
available on the feedlot program publications webpage.
Forrest
Peterson
Public Information
Officer
MPCA-Willmar office
320-441-6972
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