Keeping Track of What All Those Cows Do to the Water
 There has been a proliferation of big livestock farms, mostly dairy operations, in Wisconsin the past few years. The most notorious is Rosendale Farms, in Fond du Lac County, which the Dept. of Natural Resources just granted a pollution discharge permit for 8, 000 – that’s right, eight thousand – cows.
 The concentration of that many animals raises a lot of questions about how all that manure is consumed by crops and does not end up polluting the water. Typically, manure from so-called confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is temporarily stored in pits or lagoons before being spread on the land as fertilizer. In Wisconsin, many people have asked River Alliance how they monitor rivers and streams flowing near CAFOs.
If you are interested in monitoring a CAFO near you, we refer you to the fine work of the Michigan Chapter of Sierra Club. It has organized a program for monitoring CAFO impacts on water quality. You can find information about their program here:
http://michigan.sierraclub.org/issues/greatlakes/articles/waterwebinars.html
Note that written materials and contact information for the program are available on their website as well.
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