Dane County Expecting Spring Runoff, Advises Caution When Spreading Manure

March 08, 2011
Joshua Wescott, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823; Kevin Connors, Director of Land and Water Resources (608) 224-3730
County Executive

 

With rain in the forecast over the next 24 hours and the ground still frozen, the Dane County Department of Land and Water Resources is reminding farmers there will likely be a significant amount of runoff.

 

Farmers who plan to apply manure over the next few days are being asked to carefully consider those risks and help reduce chances for manure runoff into streams and lakes.

 

Both solid and liquid manure applied during the winter months can pose serious runoff threats to surface waters when fast snow or ice melt occur.  Current ice cover coupled with frozen ground conditions puts Dane County at risk of having such a manure runoff event. 

 

Producers applying liquid manure on frozen, snow covered or ice covered cropland in Dane County are required to follow the conditions stated in a winter spreading permit obtained from the Dane County Land Conservation Division.As an alternative to spreading, producers are encouraged to temporarily stack solid manure  and delay spreading liquid manure until weather conditions become less risky for runoff events.

 

For further questions, please contact the Dane County Land Conservation Division at 224-3730.                                                       

 

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