Caledonia Argus

Feedlot expansion approved by county planning commission

Posted: 3/30/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

The Houston County Planning Commission voted unanimously on March 25 to grant a conditional use permit to Charlie Wiegrefe for an animal feedlot expansion.

The permit was necessary because Wiegrefe will have more than 300 animals.

The feedlot is just south of Caledonia on Highway 44. It is 1,100 to 1,200 feet away from the closest house in the Green Acres housing development on the east side of Highway 44, county zoning administrator Bob Scanlon told the seven commissioners.

That raised odor concerns from Green Acres resident Richard Beyer. He said that spreading the manure that is stored from the feedlot will cause odors.

Scanlon said the Wiegrefes are registered at 290 animal units now, and this would increase to a maximum of 350. One unit equals 1,000 pounds of animal. A typical dairy cow equals 1.4 units.

The Wiegrefes own 400 acres of cropland to spread the manure on, which exceeds the recommendation of having one acre per animal, Scanlon said. ìTheyíve got plenty of acres to go up to where they need to be.î

Wiegrefeís have a manure basin that can hold 4-5 months worth of manure, Scanlon added. It has a good crust on it, so should be 97 percent odor free, according to a model that he ran on it.

Scanlon also noted that when the property was re-zoned for a housing development, the owners were told to take Wiegrefeís farm and his plans to expand into account.

Commissioner Dave Corcoran said that the odors might be even less noticeable once a 130-stall free-stall barn is built, which is part of Wiegrefeís plans.

Planning commission members are David Alstad, Dave Corcoran, Glenn Kruse, Bruce Lee, Garland Moe, Terry Rosendahl, and Charlie Wieser.

The Houston County Board of Commissioners will vote on whether to give final approval to the permit on April 6.

Earlier on march 25, the Houston County Board of Adjustment unanimously approved a variance for Wiegrefe of 1,590 feet to meet the required 2,640-foot setback requirement to expand a feedlot within a 1/2-mile of a sub-division. There was no public objection to it.

The board of adjustment members who voted for it were Garland Moe, Glenn Meiners (alternate member, filling in for Norm Oseth), and Tim Orr.

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