Cow Shit Sprinkling

You know from our #wish4waterWI campaign and Susan Connor’s story of her and her neighbors’ struggles living with avalanches of manure in Kewaunee County.

Their greatest fear is that the state of Wisconsin could allow what is euphemistically called “manure irrigation” — that is, the spraying of liquid manure through irrigation devices. We prefer to call this practice “irrigating with cow shit sprinklers.” For people living nearby, the nasty odor is one thing; they really fear how pathogens might get sprayed around their neighborhood.

Local governments still have the ability to regulate or ban this practice in their jurisdictions. Residents of these communities have reason to fear the loss of this regulatory tool. When pressured by their cash constituents, legislators are famous for pre-empting local regulations with weaker regulations that apply statewide.

Click Here to download a list of communities with cow shit sprinkling bans in place. (Source: Wisc. Dept.of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, news media)