Posted: 03.05.2010

State agriculture and water quality officials urge Wisconsin livestock farmers to avoid spreading manure in coming days in those areas where forecasted rain and snowmelt are expected to increase the risk of runoff.

 Manure spread on fields can be carried into lakes, rivers and groundwater by rain or melting snow.  Farmers lose the manure as a valuable feritilizer and the manure can cause water quality problems that can include killing fish and conataminateing drinking water wllls

County Land Conservation Departments are a valuable source of manure managemetn information and can help find alternatives if you are running out of storage capacity but want to avoid spreading during high risk conditions.

If manure must be applied,do not spread manure on fields where their location and slope presents a high risk of manure running off. Monitor weather forecasts and avoid spreading if rain or snowmelt conditions are predicted. Apply manure on fields with little or no snow cover if possible.  Contact with soil reduces the risk of runoff as does incorporation into the soil if conditions allow.Avoid fields that are near drinking water wells or that have sinkholes or exposed bedrock to reduce the risk of groundwater contamination.

 Even if these precautions are followed, runoff events may still occur.  Minimize the impact by immediately reporting the runoff to the 24-hour spill hotline: 1-800-943-0003.

Manure spills and runoff are required to be reported immediately. More information can be found online on the How to Prevent Manure Runoff web pages.

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