County supervisors air their concerns about confinement operation applications

Winneshiek County Supervisors found much to dislike about two applications for a permit for animal confinement operations in western Winneshiek County.

The application by KG4 Dairy would expand a 750-head dairy confinement operation to 1,760 milking cows.  An increase in hogs and in immature cows at the property would place over 5,000 animals on the operation.  Supervisor John Beard said he was concerned about the handling of manure that all those animals would produce.  Beard said such an operation--which would be the largest in Winneshiek County--would have "a greater chance of catastrophic failure" than other facilities.  Beard said he worries about "all the things that could go wrong with a project of this magnitude."

Supervisor Mark Kuhn was less worried, saying the existing farm was "a pretty solid operation."  But Kuhn worried about an application filed by Goldbrook LLC for a hog confinement operation.  He noted that the manure management plan for the facility called for manure to be hauled over bridges that had weight load restrictions and for manure to be spread on a field next to the Ridgeway community limits.  The plan, said Kuhn, had "an awful lot of flaws."

The public will get a chance to speak about the applications next Monday.  A public hearing will be held at 10:30 a.m. next Monday on the KG4 application, with a public hearing held at noon on the Goldbrook application.