LETHBRIDGE – Size does not matter when it comes to livestock operations and manure.
“Even if you have two horses on an acreage, you have to manage the manure,” said the man who oversees approvals and inspections for Alberta’s livestock industry.
Andy Cummings, director of approvals for the Natural Resources Conservation Board, said the relatively new approval process is still being interpreted and application reviews often take longer than expected because farmers make mistakes and omissions.
A common error, he said, is farmers neglecting to get a licence to permit them to withdraw an appropriate amount of water for their operations. Alberta Environment grants the licences and may refuse if a watershed is overallocated.
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Soil analysis reports are needed, as well as descriptions of manure storage requirements and spreading plans. The NRCB wants assurances the applicant has enough land to handle the manure. Spreading plans include letters from neighbours willing to accept the manure.
Alberta Environment has a code of practice for composting facilities. Cummings said producers are adopting new technology,which is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
“A lot of new technology is coming forward and we’ve seen some adoption,” Cummings said in an interview at a farmer meeting in Lethbridge.
It was one of several workshops the NRCB is holding across Alberta to explain the new legislation.
In the last 15 months, the NRCB has received mainly hog operation applications in the Red Deer office serving the area north of the Bow River to Westaskiwin.
There are several types of permission required from the NRCB, said Orrin Kenzie, approval officer in the Lethbridge office.
New or expanding confined feeding operations are required to obtain permission from the NRCB before construction.
Small operations of less than 150 animal units do not need an application, but must meet technical standards outlined in the agricultural practices act. Some municipalities demand a development permit for operations of less than150 animals.
Medium-sized operations must register with the NRCB and large operations require its approval with detailed technical descriptions.
Developers must inform neighbours of their intention to build. People who are directly affected may ask for a review and participate in hearings.
Municipalities automatically have standing at a hearing as concerned parties. Municipalities can also prohibit developments from areas too close to public waterways or recreation areas. Receiving a municipal response may take longer than expected if the applicant misses a council meeting deadline.
Another contentious issue is determining an acceptable distance between neighbours and a farm.
Sandy Roberts told the farmers “if you do not meet the minimum distance separation, we are required to deny your application.”
The distance is calculated from the outside perimeter of the operation to the outside walls of the nearest residence. The act provides tables of numbers to calculate how far away an operation must be from its closest neighbour.
If the neighbours have a confined feeding operation, the buffer zone may be waived. A non-feeding operation cannot waive the buffer even if the two parties agree.
Minimum distance separation for farms with more than one species is calculated according to the number of animal units rather than the livestock types.
The act also describes acceptable manure storage and spreading practices. Manure must be incorporated into cultivated land within 48 hours. It may remain on the surface of forage or direct-seeded fields.
Also included in the act are descriptions of acceptable types and thickness of storage facility liners to protect the water table, location of wells to monitor ground water quality and standards to protect floodplains and surface water.
Lagoons must be fenced off and warning signs must be posted.
Older farms with municipal development permits continue to operate under the conditions of those previous approvals, said inspector Karl Ivarson.
The NRCB has jurisdiction only over operations it has approved. It cannot amend municipal permits but it can intervene if there is an environmental risk.
Seasonal feeding and wintering sites come under regulation as of Jan. 1, 2005. Farmer records of manure handling will also become law then. The NRCB suggests people start keeping manure records now. These include amount, type of manure, legal land description and soil test results.
Anyone who generates more than 300 tonnes of manure requires records that include the legal land description, time of spreading, and soil tests as of Jan. 1, 2005. That amount of manure is equal to 100 cow-calf pairs or 215 feeders.
