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Farms NOT Factory Farms
EDUCATION

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Town of Trade lake 2030 comprehensive plan

How Drug-Resistant Bacteria Travel from the Farm to Your Table

DID YOU KNOW?
  • A company called Cumberland, llc has submitted a preliminary application to build a HOG factory farm in Trade Lake Wisconsin.
  • The location of the proposed HOG factory farm is approximately 1-1/2 miles east of Highway 87 on Highway 48. (Behind the large Microwave telephone tower).
  • Cumberland, llc actually represents a much larger IOWA based company called Suidae Health and Production.
  • The proposed facility will be a hog farrowing operation housing 7,500 sows with a goal of producing 225,000 piglets per year.
  • The proposed facility will consist of 3 buildings with a projected population of over 26,000 hogs at any given time.
  • Typically a hog farm of this size moves weened piglets to another location within a few miles called a "Finishing Barn" due to the fact that they don't want to move the young pigs too far for health reasons.
  • According to Cumberland, llc they are currently seeking a second location to build the finishing barns.
  • Within a 2-mile radius of the Highway 48 location, are 125 homes occupied full-time in addition there are cabins or vacation homes.
  • There are 7 lakes: Big Wood Lake; Trade Lake (Big & Little); Bass Lake; Spook Lake; Peterson Lake and Isaac Lake. There are also many streams, rivers and ponds within this area as well.
  • Also lying within the 2-mile radius is Grettum Flowage and Fish Lake Wildlife Refuge Area.
  • All of these waters eventually flow to the St. Croix River.
  • According to the preliminary application, the Highway 48 hog facility will have manure containment capacity of 6.8 million gallons, to be distributed on local area farmland.
  • According to Wisconsin D.N.R. these large factory farms are are required to have only 180 days of manure storage capacity. This means the potential manure out put will be closer to 14 million gallons annually.



Crash Course on CAFOs


What is a CAFO (Factory Farm)?

  • “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation” = CAFO (Industrial Producers)
  • Houses hundreds to multiple thousands of animals in confined warehouse style buildings – no little red barns and few (if any) pastures on these industrial agriculture properties
  • There are nearly 300 CAFOs in Wisconsin alone
  • Wisconsin currently has 14 hog CAFOs statewide
Why are CAFOs a Concern?
  • Barns emit toxic gases/odors – risks to workers and neighboring residences
  • Huge problems with animal wastes (volume) and farm field spreading creates issues with ground and surface water pollution (algae-green lakes, fish kills, undrinkable water in private homes)
  • Infiltration of bacteria into wetlands, lakes, rivers and streams
  • Private well contamination issues (nitrates and bacteria such as e. coli, salmonella, etc.)
  • Overuse of antibiotics due to close proximity of animals to each other (residual medications in meat, milk, & cheese inked to antibiotic resistance in humans)
  • Creates monopolies in the meat industry (751 family farms went out of business since April 2018)
  • Decreased property values for surrounding rural residents within 3 miles of the facility
  • Self-reporting by industrial producers of violations (spills) is not working; DNR staff only cited 4% of violations committed by industrial producers per the Legislative Audit Report in June 2016
What about proposed Burnett/Polk County CAFO (Suidae Health & Production are the industrial ag owners)?
  • Close proximity to St. Croix River – located in the St. Croix River watershed
  • Close proximity to Fish Lake Wildlife Area
  • Proposal for 26,350 hogs in this one location
  • 6.8 million gallons of manure produced annually and spread on area fields where run off into groundwater, rivers, and streams is very likely
  • Potential expansion to include slaughterhouse (along with its contaminants)
  • Out-of-state company with no roots in Wisconsin – not a local family farmer to approach with concerns



    • Water shed example, of property that surrounds the proposed Hog C.A.F.O. location

    How Big will the Hog Factory Farm be?
    Here is some information that compares the size of the Proposed Factory Farm in Trade Lake to the existing Dairy CAFO in Burnett and other Hog CAFOs in Wisconsin.