EQIP Helps Iowan Meet Future Feedlot Regulations

Kevin Carstensen says his neighbors wondered what he was doing when he started hauling gravel onto one of his Sac County fields.

‘‘I think they thought I was crazy,’’ he says. ‘‘You’re supposed to take rocks out of the field, not bring them in.’’

The loads of gravel are part of Carstensen’s vegetative filter channel system he started building last summer. The strip of oats, brome, and perennial rye is designed to remove solids from his feedlot before the water finds its way to a stream.

Half the cost for the filter channel came through Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding. With the help of Lane Collins, local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) agent, and Charlie Slocum, an NRCS engineer from Sioux City, Carstensen has devised a system he believes will put him in compliance with future feedlot regulations.

‘‘We would get a little discharge into a ditch on our own property, and the county was always very good to work with,’’ he says. ‘‘But, we thought we should do something, and when the EQIP funding became available, we decided to do it.’’

Carstensen’s feedlot has a one-time capacity of 750 to 800 head. Effluent moves through the feedlot pens at a gradual rate before moving through a culvert and into the filter strip.

‘‘This only falls 3 inches over the first 120 feet, so you can see how gradual it is,’’ Carstensen says. ‘‘Having the feedlot on a relatively flat area allows us to do something like this.’’

Water from the first two pens goes under a gate into a third pen, where solids are allowed to settle. The liquid then moves into a fourth pen and over a graded section of concrete that helps stop solids.

‘‘In the final pen, there is another graded section, and then what’s left drains into the culvert under the road,’’ Carstensen says. ‘‘We clean the bottom of the pens to take care of any solids that are left.’’

The filter channel is 680 feet long, with six gravel spreaders along it. Carstensen seeded an additional 1,200 feet beyond the NRCS requirement.

‘‘While I was seeding, I figured, ‘Why not take it as far as I could?’ ” he says. ‘‘It stops about 2,000 feet from a creek. There have been buffer strips along the creek for several years as well.’’

Carstensen is allowed to mow the filter channel, always keeping the height at 8 inches. The strips are 40 feet wide with a 3-foot slope on each edge. Two-by-eights were staked across the strips to hold the gravel. The gravel spreaders are on level areas.

While Carstensen is not required to have a feedlot permit with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), feedlots with at least 1,000 head are, says John Lawrence, director of the Iowa Beef Center in Ames.

Lawrence says an agreement signed in 2001 gives the larger feedlots five years to comply.

He says the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contracted with DNR to establish the Federal regulations and any State laws, adding, ‘‘When they came to visit, EPA was not happy with the number of permits for open feedlots in Iowa.’’

‘‘About the same time, EPA revised some of the rules. So, DNR, Iowa State University, and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) worked together to find a way to bring these feedlots into compliance over a time period. That time period expires in 2006.’’

Feedlots with more than 1,000 head are required to contact the DNR with specifics of their operation. The DNR then does an off-site assessment, looking at slope and other criteria, then ranks the feedlots according to potential problems.

‘‘Once that is done, they follow up with on-site assessments to see what the producer is doing and what they should be doing,’’ Lawrence says.

He says approximately 180 feedlots in the state were required to register with the DNR. Many are looking at a total-containment basin that can be irrigated, Lawrence says. Others are looking at alternative systems that might be similar to Carstensen’s.

Lawrence says smaller feedlots which signed up are not required to have a permit. But, they must follow regulations involving solid settling and other issues.

‘‘We had over 1,600 farms sign up, and eventually DNR will inspect them,’’ he says. ‘‘That shows these producers are wanting to know what they need to do.’’

Feedlot operators looking to expand are advised to contact the DNR before getting started.

‘‘If you are going over 1,000 head, you will have to become a regulated feedlot, so you need to contact the regulators before you start the expansion,’’ Lawrence says.

Carstensen says all cattle feeders should take environmental stewardship seriously. He serves on the private lands and environmental management committee for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

‘‘We started grid sampling in 1989, and we realized we needed to start managing manure better,’’ he says. ‘‘All the science and the research I found told me we needed to fix the problem.’’

The new grass is just starting to fill in on Carstensen’s West Central Iowa farm. By the end of the summer, he hopes to complete the project.

‘‘I really don’t think there was any problem before, especially with the buffer strips along the stream. But, now we know we should be in compliance with any future regulations,’’ Carstensen says.

‘‘We didn’t have to do it but it was really something we needed to do to make sure we were doing what we could for the environment.’

Story by Jeff DeYoung and image courtesy of Iowa Farmer Today.