CRAWFORD COUNTY - Roth Feeder Pigs, owned by AV Roth of Wauzeka Township in Crawford County, has submitted a Wisconsin Pollution Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) for his proposed hog CAFO facility in Marietta Township in Crawford County. Roth submitted the application on March 27.
The WDNR regulates the discharge of pollutants to waters of the state through the Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) program. Wastewater permits contain all the monitoring requirements, special reports and compliance schedules appropriate to the facility in question. Permits are issued for a five-year term.
Claire O’Connell, Senior DNR Wastewater Specialist out of the Dodgeville office is Roth Feeder Pig’s Runoff Management Specialist for his application. Roth’s application is for a new hog CAFO facility in Marietta Township.
Projected animal units
As part of the WPDES application, Roth Feeder Pigs was required to complete a ‘Projected Animal Unit Calculation Numbers’ worksheet. A pig up to 55 lbs. (a feeder pig or ‘gilt’) is listed as 0.10 animal unit. A pig weighing from 55 lbs. to market weight, and a sow, is listed as 0.40 animal units. Boars are listed as 0.50 animal units.
In the completed worksheet, Roth reported that his new facility in Wauzeka would have 960 feeder pigs (96 animal units); 2,008 pigs from 55 lbs. to market weight (803.2 animal units); 5,144 sows (2,057.6 animal units); and 48 boars (24 animal units). This would bring the facility total for mixed animal units to 2,980.8.
In the application Roth was required to submit site specific information: aerial maps, soil maps, and ‘other attachments,’ which appears to be a map of the facility he proposes to build.
The operation is described in the permit application as including animal housing, manure storage, and feed storage.
The manure storage facility for the Gilt Development Unit (GDU) is projected at 1,240,000 gallons of liquid manure. The manure storage facility at the gestation barn will contain 5,441,171 gallons of liquid manure.
The crop consultant for the facility is Nicole Wagner of Insight FS, located in Marshall, Wisconsin. The design engineer for the facility will be Robert Pofahl of Resource Engineering Associates, Inc., in Middleton, Wisc.
Moratoriums
In December of 2019, the Crawford County Board of Supervisors passed a one-year moratorium on county approval of livestock facility applications. When a CAFO producer wants to build a new or expand an existing production facility, they are required to obtain two permits. The first is a DNR WPDES water quality permit, and the second is a permit from their county or township (if the municipality has adopted a livestock facility siting ordinance under the state livestock facility siting law).
After passing the moratorium, the county convened a CAFO Study Group to investigate possible detriments to the health, safety and welfare of Crawford County citizens from the operation of CAFO facilities in the county. The study group has held two meetings, with the April meeting being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Study Group will furnish a final report to the Crawford County Board of Supervisors in October of 2020.
Prior to the Crawford County Board adopting their moratorium, the Town of Marietta, where the proposed facility is to be located, passed a moratorium in August of 2019. Following passage of the county moratorium, the town board voted to rescind their moratorium in December of 2019.
