Ariel Hughes, Land Use Specialist with Pope County, has been assigned the responsibility of administering the county feedlot program. She is stepping into the role of longtime feedlot officer Barry Bouwman who has retired. Our goal is to make this transition as seamless as possible for our producers. Achieving that goal will require a team approach with Director David Green and Land Use Specialist Jessica Hill being involved. Together they work collaboratively with Pope County producers to ensure compliance with both the local zoning ordinance and the MPCA’s feedlot rules. 

Some of our local producers are already familiar with Jessica Hill, a Pope County Land Use Specialist for over five years. She has worked with Bouwman on feedlot data management as well as the complex integration of local zoning standards with the MPCA 7020 Administrative Rules. Ariel Bring to Pope County an education and interest in environmental science, with a background in data collection as well as water and soil testing and analysis. She has already performed several on-site inspections and has begun the rigorous MPCA Feedlot Training Program. She is looking forward to working with our local farmers and ranchers in managing livestock, including location, design, construction, operation, and management of feedlots and manure-handling facilities.  

The primary goal of the MPCA Feedlot Program is to protect and improve water quality for the citizens of Minnesota. This is accomplished by regulating the collection, transportation, storage, processing, and land application of animal manure and other livestock operation wastes. Ariel will work to ensure that manure from a feedlot or manure storage area does not run into surface water, and that manure is applied at agronomic rates to prevent nutrients and contaminants from entering either surface waters or groundwater. 

The feedlot program is a cooperative arrangement between Pope County and the MPCA, with the county being delegated the responsibility for implementation of the MPCA Feedlot rules and regulations for all facilities with less than one thousand (1000) animal units. As a “Delegated County”, Pope is responsible for feedlot permitting, inspections and registrations. Pope County has 120 registered feedlots of less than 1000 animal units as of the most recent registration period. The MPCA handles permitting for feedlots that have one thousand (1000) animal units or more. There are nine (9) such sites in Pope County. 

Regarding registration, Minnesota law requires most feedlot owners to register their feedlot with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Owners must register feedlots with 50 or more animal units (AU), or 10 or more AUs in a shoreland area (conditional use permit must be obtained first for new feedlots in a shoreland area) and update their registration every four years. The MPCA has a new online registration system, https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/feedlot-registration, for new and existing feedlots. An account will need to be created to input animal numbers, holding areas, manure storage and other information about your feedlot. Information on animal units and a helpful guide to the new system can be found using the link above. 

Maintaining good lines of communication is paramount in keeping our local producers productive and compliant. So, if you have any questions about registration, expansion or closure of a feedlot, please contact Ariel Hughes at (320) 634-7793