DNR Approves Dairy Expansion for S&S Jerseyland

Christine Reid, of the Friends of the Forestville Dam, points to an airborne electromagnetic map during a Jan. 10 informational meeting at the Forestville Public Library about S&S Jerseyland Dairy’s proposed expansion. The map showed that much of southern Door County has a shallow soil depth above the bedrock. File photo by Kevin Boneske.

Fewer cows allowed, and groundwater monitoring required

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is allowing S&S Jerseyland Dairy to expand as part of the renewal of the dairy’s permit, but the DNR is capping that expansion to fewer animal units than S&S had projected.

The dairy – which the Schmidt family owns and operates at 7900 Old Elm Road in Forestville – had 4,302 milking and dry cows; 1,883 small heifers; and 1,113 calves (7,654 animal units) as of January 2022, according to the DNR’s Notice of Final Determination to Reissue a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit. S&S Jerseyland Dairy projected an expansion by 2028 of up to 9,200 milking and dry cows; 560 large heifers; 1,500 small heifers; and 1,575 calves (14,711 animal units).

In the final determination, the DNR capped the expansion at 10,231 animal units and is requiring S&S to install groundwater-monitoring wells at the main production site and to submit a groundwater-monitoring plan. 

The expansion as originally proposed would increase the amount of manure and process wastewater generated annually from 46,872,599 gallons, plus 1,216 tons of solid manure, to 95,267,281 gallons, plus 1,504 tons of solid manure. The final determination did not indicate how much manure the capped expansion would generate, but it indicated that “as of April 2022, S&S Jerseyland Dairy has greater than the required minimum of 180 days of storage.”

That document also indicated that S&S has 9,256 acres in its approved nutrient-management plan, of which 7,808 acres are rented or in contract agreements, and 1,548 acres are owned. 

“WPDES permits require that operations have adequate land base to land-apply their manure and process wastewater,” the DNR wrote in its final determination. “Failure to do so will result in permit noncompliance. The permittee [S&S Jerseyland Dairy] has shown it has adequate acreage for the animal units for the first year of the permit term.”

The DNR had conducted a two-hour public hearing in February as part of the process of renewing the permit. The opposition, which dominated that hearing, included several Door and Kewaunee county residents who expressed concerns about the expansion’s potential to negatively affect water quality, given the shallow soil depth above bedrock in many areas of southern Door County.

In its 10-page final determination, the DNR summarized and answered 44 of those comments. 

Under Wisconsin statutes, the large-scale dairy is classified as a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), given that it has more than 1,000 animal units. At the current time, it’s the only active CAFO in Door County, though another dairy in Nasewaupee is intending to expand.

The effective date of the renewed S&S Jerseyland Dairy WPDES permit was pushed back to July 1, 2023 (instead of June 1, 2023) and expires in 2028.