A cattle feedlot in Alberta is working with a provincial agency to reduce a foul odour that has sparked as many as 250 complaints in a nearby town.
“If you live in High River, you’ve experienced the smell,” said Mayor Craig Snodgrass, who likened its maximum intensity to the pungency of manure from pig farms.
“And you know, people have described it that you can almost chew it.”
The Rimrock Feeders feedlot is trying to solve the problem, said manager Shylo Penrod.
“We want to be good neighbours within the community that we are a part of, so if we can improve the conditions, then that’s definitely one of our goals.”
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Although the provincial Natural Resources Conservation Board has the power to close feedlots, “we’re not really in the business of shutting operations down,” said compliance manager Kevin Seward. “Our first tool is to work with the community, work with the operator, get everybody into compliance and look for solutions first.”
As a commercial finishing feedlot containing about 35,000 head of cattle, Rimrock generates about 80,000 tonnes of manure per year, said Penrod. It is located about six kilometres west of High River, south of Calgary.
Although it was previously owned by Western Feedlots Ltd., it closed in 2016 after having been in operation since the 1980s, he said. It remained inactive until it was purchased by Rimrock Cattle Co. in 2019, said Seward.
The feedlot returned to its full capacity this year, which is when the board began getting complaints about the smell starting in July, he said. He estimated the board has received roughly 250 complaints.
“What people are telling me is that it’s in the evening when we get that temperature inversion and you get to cooler weather… the wind kind of dies down and then they’re getting this odour.”
Snodgrass said although residents were used to experiencing the “standard feedlot smell” during the spring and fall when manure was spread on farmland during the operation’s days under Western Feedlots, the intensity and timing were different this year.
An update posted Sept. 16 on the board’s website said, “Rimrock does not appear to be operating any differently than the previous feedlot owner and operates similarly to other feedlots in southern Alberta.”
Penrod said part of the perception about the smell may be due to the increasing unfamiliarity of many people with agriculture and where their food comes from. The town has also expanded toward the feedlot, where the prevailing winds are toward High River, he said.
“We basically operated the same for the last three years. We just saw more moisture in the spring than we’ve seen in the last two years, and then followed by more hot, dry weather after that, so I think it just produced conditions that contributed to some of what the smell was doing.”
Seward said the source of the odour is likely the catch basins or holding ponds at Rimrock. Feedlots are required to create such basins to prevent manure runoff from contaminating nearby properties or surface water, he said.
Rimrock also upgraded the floors of its cattle pens from hard-packed clay to roller-compacted concrete, he added.
“And then that could be a factor in that now you have a non-porous kind of pen floor, so you might get more runoff during high rainfall events into the catch basins.”
NRCB officials have stayed overnight in High River to assess the smell, said Seward.
“And when we detect the odour in town, we go to the feedlot and tour around and see where it’s coming from.”
About 150 people concerned about the smell attended a recent town council meeting, “which as the mayor for nine years is about 136 more than we normally get,” said Snodgrass.
As someone who once worked for feedlots, including Rimrock when it was owned by Western Feedlots, Snodgrass said council recognizes the importance of the beef industry to High River. He pointed to what he called the town’s great relationship with the nearby Cargill meat packing plant, something he wanted to extend to Rimrock.
Besides employing about 40 people, the feedlot is a “big economic driver from a lot of different angles” to the community of about 15,000 people, he said. “But at the same time, we’ve got to be able to respectfully work together, and your industry cannot start to destroy the quality of life of your community.”
Seward said now that the crops are off, the plan is to clean the catch basins after pumping out the contents and fertilizing farmland. Board officials will then see if more solids end up in the basins as they monitor how they’re being managed, he said.
Rimrock is also seeking provincial approval to construct a digester that will remove manure each day to produce renewable natural gas for use in communities such as High River, said Penrod.
“And so, if we remove the source of the odour, then logically, we would assume that there would be a reduction of the odour.”
Anyone with concerns about the smell can call a 24-hour response line at 866-383-6722, or get updates at nrcb.ca, said Seward.
