Environmental Protection

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Water Management

Flooding

Pens, manure stockpiles, effluent irrigation areas, sedimentation basins and holding ponds should not be located in flood-prone areas unless adequate safeguards are incorporated. In some cases, levee banks may provide the necessary protection; however, permission to construct levee banks may be required from DERM and/or local authorities. Also consider vehicle access to the site during periods of prolonged flooding.

Protection of Surface Water Quality

The feedlot should be sited, designed and managed so that the quality of surface waters in the vicinity of the feedlot is not degraded by runoff, leaching or seepage from the feedlot yards, ponds or water utilisation areas. To achieve this, a reasonable buffer should be provided between the feedlot complex (including waste utilisation areas) and streams, rivers and other watercourses. The separation distance chosen should be a function of the intervening topography, vegetation, natural gradient, management practices employed by the feedlot operation and other site-specific factors. Effluent utilisation areas should be sited so that irrigation spray drift or direct runoff of applied effluent does not enter a watercourse.

Protection of Groundwater Quality

A feedlot should be sited, designed and managed so that the quality of groundwater is not degraded by the movement of pollutants or pathogens into the water resource. To achieve this, a feedlot should not be sited above groundwater recharge areas or above groundwater resources that are deemed to be vulnerable, unless those resources can be demonstrably protected. Such protection may be provided by one or more impervious geological strata and/or because the water is at considerable depth. Clay or synthetic lining may also provide protection.

Sites to be avoided include those where there are:

• Existing shallow or rising water tables.
• Shallow perched water tables.
• Useable underground water resources which are already partially degraded.
• Major faults that might provide pollutants easy entry to the groundwater resource.

Waste utilisation areas should be sited away from bores and wells. Effluent r manure should not be applied within 25m of a bore or well which is used for domestic consumption.

Odour Management

Feedlots must be designed and operated so as not to produce any odour which gives rise to the material detriment to any person (i.e. so as not to interfere with the normal use and enjoyment of life and property to an extent which is more than of a trivial or minor nature). Potential nuisance from odour is a function of several factors including:

• Distance of receptor from the odour source
• Sensitivity of receptor to odour
• Cattle numbers
• Climatic conditions
• Feedlot operation; and
• Frequency, intensity, duration and offensiveness of odour. Odour is produced from the biological activity which occurs in the decomposition of manure, spilt feed and other organic matter.

Overall, a combination of design, management and regular cleaning and maintenance will reduce or virtually eliminate the risk of offensive odours.

The design will assist in the reduction in odour potential by eliminating opportunities for odour generation. For example, having fully enclosed feed and water trough bases prevents a build-up of spilt feed and manure in a difficult to clean location.

Where intensive animal industries are not sufficiently separated from sensitive land uses, amenity and quality of life in the adjacent area may be reduced due to odour, dust or noise, creation of a potential hazard, or aesthetically unpleasant due to physical aspects. Because it is not always possible to eliminate impacts on adjacent areas, it is unwise to permit land uses which would be sensitive to such reduced amenity to be located within the affected area.

While management and design reduce odour generation, buffer distances are a necessary means of reducing the effects of emissions. People who use land in particular ways have expectations of amenity that relate to that use. Residents, for example, expect higher standards of amenity than people at work in an industrial area.

If buffer distances are to be implemented effectively, the points between which the distance is to be measured must be clearly defined. At the "emitting" end, it will be the closest boundary of all facilities living rise to air emissions. At the "receptor" end, it will be the boundary of any sensitive land use nearest the emission source.

Manure Management

Besides the production of premium beef and lamb for the public, feedlots produce a valuable by-product, manure. Feedlots produce large quantities of liquid and solid by-products through runoff from the feedlot area and manure from the cattle. These by-products must be disposed of and used in a manner that will not cause contamination of land and surface or underground water supplies nor cause offence to people. They can most beneficially be used in a manner that obtains the maximum benefit from the nutrients they contain.

The waste system should be designed to be simple and require minimal maintenance input. It shall be an integral part of the feedlot complex.

Factors to be considered in the design and operation of the waste management system include:

• Land slopes
• Pen and laneway layout
• Vehicle and stock movements
• Drainage systems
• Location of settling and storage ponds
• Availability of areas with suitable soils for waste usage.

If not properly designed and maintained the waste system can be a major source of complaint and lead to enforcement proceedings.

The manure management plan for the feedlots includes:

• Daily collection of manure.
• Composting of the manure.
• Distribution of the compost to local grain and alfalfa-grass hay growers.

Cattle manure is a low-cost organic fertilizer that will provide plant nutrients, improve soil microbes and improve organic soil structure, but can cause environmental problems if not properly stored or applied to the crop fields.

Because of the low average rainfall in our country and the dandy soils, feedlot runoff will not be a problem when manure is manually removed on a daily basis. However, the manure storage area (two-compartment composting centre) will have a concrete floor and wood or concrete slides to retain any runoff.

The processed compost could be delivered and sold to local grain growers at planting time and to alfalfa-grass hay growers for topdressing the hayfields after harvest. This service could be provided by the feedlot owner or a private contractor with a manure spreader and tractor. The manure management plan would work well with alfalfa-grass hay and feed grain projects located near the feedlots. This will be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate an environmentally friendly nutrition management cycle between plants and animals.

Keep the following in mind:

• Manure should be removed each day manually with shovels and carts to the composting bins.
• The largest amount of manure droppings will occur near the grain bunk, hay rack and water supply therefore a concrete pad is needed in those areas.
• The two-part storage bins are needed to properly mix and age the compost.
• The aged manure compost could be loaded by hand onto a manure spreader and delivered to the fields at planting time or top-dressed on hay fields after harvest.
• Soil testing will be done in advance of delivery to determine the amount of compost needed.
• Soil testing is also required to make sure that over-application of compost does not occur.

The following statistics should be kept:

The steer and lamb manure production varies based on the size of the animals, water supply and feed quality and amount. Properly fed animals produce high nutrient value manure. These statistics are projections based on animals receiving proper nutrition and care:

• Average daily production of manure per steer – 10 kg.
• Production per day for 400 steers – 4 tons.
• Average daily production of manure per lamb – 3 kg.
• Production per day for 400 lambs – 1.2 tons.
• Projected manure production from steer feedlot per year – 1320 tons.
• Projected manure production from lamb feedlot per year – 396 tons
• Each ton of manure on average will provide 10 kg nitrogen, 11 kg phosphorous and 15 kg potassium.
• Compost storage area needed for steer feedlot – 2 storage areas for 480 tons each.
• Compost storage area needed for lamb feedlot – 2 storage areas for 144 tons each.

Community Amenity

Even with the best design and operational practices presently available, it’s not possible to prevent the generation of odour, dust and noise entirely. Therefore, to protect community amenity, feedlots should be established at an appropriate separation distance from sensitive community receptors. Following the development of the feedlot, local authority planning provisions and decisions should seek to discourage the establishment of new receptors within the previously determined separation zone, wherever possible.

The desirable separation distance between the point of generation of the odour and each sensitive receptor is a function of the:

• Source and intensity of the odour.
• Prevailing meteorological conditions at the site.
• Nature of the intervening terrain and vegetation.

Odour intensity is a function of the:

• Climatic conditions
• Feedlot capacity
• Stocking density
• Design, construction and management practices.

The separation distance should be sufficient to protect sensitive receptors from odour impacts. If it does this, it will usually protect them from dust and noise as well.

Wherever possible, use existing topography and vegetation to screen and provide a buffer against odour, dust and noise (and as wildlife habitats) from roads, towns and nearby residences.

Click here to learn more about manure management at Smithfield farm.