CAFO Permit Public Hearing in Elmwood

Ridge Breeze Dairy is requesting an expansion of their existing DNR permit. Plans will add a new 44 million gallon manure pit to an existing 11 million gallon lagoon. It will also add two (2) 80 gal/min hi capacity wells to existing three (3) 60 gal/min wells, and increase the dairy herd from 1,700 cows to 6,200 by next year. Waste generation will balloon from 24 to 78 million gallons annually. Around 150 residents (including adjacent family farmers) voiced their concerns to the DNR at the scale of the corporate farm, the impact to water levels in adjacent wells, wear and tear on county roads used to transport the liquid waste, and runoff into adjoining wells and waterways. This is not traditional farming as we know it.