CAFO Stench Alerts – 2012
Dec 12 – A neighbor near Bleich CAFO reports “unbearable” stench and manure spill at US-127 and Stewart Rd: “Driving north on 127 … the stench becomes unbearable as I notice a spill of manure, a trail that goes from 127 onto Stewart Road that continues down to Bleich Dairy driveway. I must cover my face with a scarf to get to the front door.”
Dec 7 – Tonight, Hartland Farms dump box for liquid manure is gone from the road right-of-way on Dowling Hwy. But stench hangs in the air over neighbors, serious emissions in this RAIN. Rain+ liquid manure = contamination of streams through field tiles. This is why Michigan’s Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices (GAAMPs) say NOT to apply manure before rainfall.
Dec 6 – Major stench alert tonight on Dowling Hwy. Email from Hillsdale Co resident to ECCSCM notes that Hartland Farms “is drag-lining (I think, it was almost dark) on the field near 34. It appears that the railroad car-box [dump box for liquid manure] is in the road right of way. And the manure hauler blocked the road to oncoming traffic forcing me to try to get around it on an incline, blind hill, no way to tell if there was any oncoming traffic…had to turn off the car heater as it was sucking in very foul air….it must be going to rain because yes, once again, they are pouring raw manure-sewage on land.”
Dec 1, 2012 – dump box for liquid manure on Dowling Hwy road right-of-way, before pump/hoses attached.
Nov 15 – Terrehaven applying manure slurry/sludge, Emery Rd., Adrian Twp. Also, a neighbor writes, “Sickening smell southeast of Terrehaven barns… Didn’t make me immediately gag, moderately bad just driving by, I’d say 5 on my scale of 1 to 10. (One is “can’t smell anything but clean air and green grass”. Ten is my own personal “made me throw up right there, and made tears run from my eyes”.) Too much to be able to carry on normal activities, though.”
Nov 10 – The first 10 days of November have been some of the worst in a while for neighbors of CAFOs. The air is foul. More than ever before, we’re seeing the practice of stockpiling – the dumping of load after load of waste in heaps in fields. Neighbors report burning eyes, trouble breathing. Emissions can be fierce. These stockpiles are the more viscous manure, semi-solid slurry, often from the bottoms of lagoons. This goop grabs your nose, makes you gasp; it’s the foulest oxygen-deprived waste, sickening. Stockpiles sometimes stay in the field for days before the CAFOs bring in bobcats, front-end loaders or spreaders to haul it across the field.
Nov 9 – A neighbor reports, “The stench from Bleich Dairy has been awful the last two days. Tonight the smell was gagging when I opened the vehicle door in the rain when I arrived home from work, could not wait to get inside the house to take a deep breath of air.”
Nov 7-8 – And more stockpiling. Bakerlads Farms is stockpiling slurry/sludge on a field along Beecher Rd, east of Henning Hwy. How many violations of the CAFO NPDES permit? The field is not listed for stockpiling on CNMP maps; stockpiling is within 800 ft of water well, and within 150 ft of a tile riser at the road ditch. A field tile outlets to a tributary of the South Branch of the River Raisin. Emissions are affecting neighbors, including a 4 year old child who has missed two days of school with irritated lungs and is receiving breathing treatments.
11-7-12 Bakerlads stockpiling, Beecher Rd. Field tiles drain to a tributary, South Branch of the River Raisin.
Nov 6-8 – More stockpiling. Terrehaven Farms northwest of Adrian is stockpiling in field along Wolf Creek Hwy. A neighbor reports manure “has been spread close to the drain…it will just sit there, and it won’t be fully ‘incorporated’ until someone gets around to it. This could be days, weeks, or months… In the meantime, it will rain, and it will drain. The wind will blow, what is left on top will dry out and float around in the air, and it will stink.”
11-6-12 Terrehaven stockpiling on Wolf Creek Hwy field 
11-8-12 more Terrehaven stockpiling
Nov 1 – Hartland Farms is stockpiling waste, slurry, black goo, sliding heaps on a damp field on Forrister Rd east of Hawkins Hwy, Rome Twp. For how long? 
11-1-2012 Hartland Farms stockpiling, Forrister Rd
Oct 8 – Stench from Hartland Farms draglining north of the facility on Hughes Hwy, also north of Plank Rd. Hoffland Farms is using a pivot gun to spray manure west of Wheeler, at the head of Rice Lake Drain. Pivot guns are one of the worst application practices, shooting liquid manure into the air, aerosolizing fecal material, ammonia, and other pollutants, putting people and waterways downwind at risk.
Sept 27 – Bakerlads AGAIN draglining over sub-irrigation system.
Sept 18 – Bakerlads draglining over sub-irrigation system. Field is ponding, up to gate valve boxes.
Sept 11 – Terrehaven CAFO near Adrian is applying manure on field at corner of Lenawee Hills Hwy and Hunt Rd. Awful emissions for many neighbors.
July 27 – SMD is (again – see July 6) applying liquid manure across from Kecy Industries on Munson Hwy in Hudson.
July 26 – Radar shows rain approaching from the west at 9:00 a.m. Hartland Farms is hauling manure in tankers to the same field as yesterday on M-34.
July 25 – Hot day again, in the 90s, still 83 at 10:30 p.m. and humid. How many neighbors had to shut windows? This morning, “awful stink in the house” reported, from Hartland Farms manure application along M-34 west of Posey Lake Hwy. SMD 1 has dragline stretched from lagoon to east side of Dillon through a wooded wetland (dry in the drought, but a sensitive ecosystem) and on south. Early evening, Hartland Farms still spreading along M-34, also north and south of the facility, west side of Hughes. A neighbor reports that Bleich CAFO, was “firing up the poop wagons yesterday so I did know the stench was going to arrive soon and here it is, putrid stench.”
July 24 – Neighbor writes, “It smells rancid outside today on the Packard rd area,” south of SMD 2 along US-127. Gag.
July 18 – more draglining from Hartland Farms, immediately before storms and rain, north of facility, west of Hughes Hwy. Neighbor says, “Emissions are horrendous in this heat.”
July 17 – 100º heat today. Oppressive air, humidity, stench. Hartland Farms draglining field along Plank Rd west of Henning Hwy.
July 11 – Neighbor of SMD 2 writes, “smelling bad at 127, and Packard Rd all night into this morning…”
July 6 – On the hottest day of the year (temp to reach 102 this afternoon), SMD 2 is draglining within Hudson City limits, across from Kecy Industries on Munson Hwy, tankers running through town, draglining on the field.
July 5 – Hoffland manure spill next to lagoon, pooling at tile riser leading to Rice Lake Drain. Hoffland is also applying liquid manure along M-156, field beside Road Commission barns. SMD 1 is draglining west side of Bothwell south of Canandaigua road 1/2 mile; once again dragline hoses have been placed in culvert of a waterway, Covell Drain at the Canandaigua Rd crossing.
7-5-12 – Hoffland manure spill (first 2 photos); SMD dragline placed in Covell Drain culvert.
July 1 – SMD hauling liquid manure with 5 tankers to field at Tuttle Rd in Wright Twp, spraying on the field until storms moved in – with flash flooding.
June 21 – SMD 1 has all manure irrigators running; South Medina Drain has flow in this drought; SMD 1 hose runs to far east field at Canandaigua Rd. SMD 2 is irrigating manure both west and east of the facility on US-127.
June 20 – Hartland Farms is pivot-gunning liquid manure AGAIN (see June 8) south of the facility along Beecher Rd.
June 15 – Concern from more neighbors about emissions from Bleich CAFO: “I’m not sure if it poses a significant health risk but the odors have been bad off and on for a week. Worse at night.”
June 14 – Drought, heat, manure emissions continue. Neighbor of Bleich CAFO writes, “Have had to exist with manure stench for a week…the stench interrupts daily living inside and outside, morning, noon, and night at home. Now a family member is experiencing a head ache that will not go away.”
June 11 – SMD 2 has been spray-irrigating liquid manure west of the facility on hay ground, stench and aerosolized emissions for neighbors along Elm Rd. SMD 1 has the north irrigator/liquid manure on a field draining to Medina Drain, and another irrigator on the west side of Dillon. Hartland Farms is pivot-irrigating south of the facility; Hoffland CAFO is pivot-irrigating liquid manure north of Haley, east of Wheeler.
June 9 – These are beautiful, hot June days. But neighbors of CAFOs are suffering. A neighbor of Bleich Dairy reports: “i was awakened this morning at approx. 2 AM to a horrible stench of manure … I had to cover my mouth and nose so I could breathe and now again tonight the stench is horrendous.”
June 8 – “Absolutely horrendous” stench for neighbors of Hartland Farms, with the pivot-gunning of liquid manure south of the facility along Beecher Rd.
June 7 – Stench today at Marvin Farms, Kohl’s corner and M-34, and west on Beecher; also stench reported at Bleich Dairy, US-127 and Stewart Road.
May 24 – Manure applications all around: Bakerlads draglining east of the facility; Marvins pivot-irrigating southwest of their facility on Beecher; SMD 2 still hauling from the lagoons on US-127, this time west on Prattville Rd.
May 22 – “Heavy dumping again” by SMD on the corner of M-34 and Elm Rd west of Hudson. “How many times are they allowed to dump on the same field?” (Good question – see May 10)
May 21 – heavy draglining at Squawfield and Pittsford Rds again today, still hauling from SMD lagoons.
May 19 – SMD 2 still emptying huge lagoons – tanker after tanker hauling liquid manure to field near Squawfield and Pittsford Rds.
May 12 – SMD 2 on US-127 still emptying lagoons. Neighbor reports, “Heavy hauling on Packard Rd, south of Hudson starting Friday at 5pm. Still running loaded poo trucks all day sat. Heavy stench along with it…..” Intense emissions also reported a mile away on Lime Creek Rd.
May 10 – A beautiful spring day, which means – sad to say for neighbors here– liquid manure tankers are hauling, manure stench is in the air, draglines are dragging through fields. Southern Michigan Dairies 2 is draglining a field at Elm and M-34, just 1 mi. west of Hudson. Tankers are hauling manure to a field container; liquid manure is pumped from there. New Flevo has multiple applications going on in front of the facility: a dump box behind the tractor, and liquid manure application too.
May 3 – SMD STILL DRAGLINING; LINE STILL IN THE WATER ON ACKER HWY. Application is along Munson Hwy. The dragline has been moved from Bean and its tributary on Medina Rd around the corner to the same tributary on Acker Hwy. Dragline is still in water; also on the Acker roadway itself; also in the stormwater culvert, in water, at the US-127 facility.
5-3-12 – Dragline in water of tributary to Bean Creek, Acker Hwy (west side culvert; east side with fold)
5-3-12 – SMD’s dragline on the road surface of Acker Hwy (left); and in the water at the stormwater culvert, US-127 (right)
May 2 – DRAGLINE BREAKS along Donnely Rd.
May 1, 2012 – SMD is draglining again, the dragline placed across Bean Creek. The manure-inflated dragline is lying in the water of a tributary of Bean Creek, see photo below, and somewhere out of sight, also crossing Bean Creek itself, a natural stream, with the Michigan Nature Association Powell Sanctuary just 1 1/2 mi. downstream. In 12 years here, we have NEVER seen draglines in streams. DEQ says this is not their “jurisdiction.” Think of the risks – to fish, freshwater mussels (several threatened species), drinking water sources downstream. How can this be legal? Could you stretch a pipe with septic waste across a stream, even temporarily? Given the extreme risk, should this be an “acceptable” agricultural practice?
5-1-12 – At the tributary culvert, the drag line hose has a kink (left). Some liquid must be getting through or the hose would blow up; on the other side of the culvert (middle) the line is fully inflated, lying in the water, and pumping on towards Bean Creek. (On right) applicator pumps liquid manure on the field through those tentacles.
April 29 – Sunday: discharge of black water to Toad Creek continues: at 7p.m., the water looks bad and has manure odor. SMD continued draglining all day on Ridgeville, shifting to south side of the road. DEQ has not responded.
Photos of Toad Creek/Blanchard Joint County Drain at Mulberry Rd, 7 p.m. Sunday, April 29:
Water samples are from tile riser of Van Auken Drain on Ridgeville (left), and from Toad Creek/Blanchard Joint County Drain, Mulberry Rd (right).
Draglining means liquid manure is pumped from a lagoon through large hoses sometimes stretching miles to distant fields. Here are photos taken around noon on 4-29-12 of the SMD dragline. The large hose is filled with liquid manure from SMD-3 lagoon, we could hear the pumping). Photos show the dragline: 1) stretching south from the lagoon and under US-127 through a culvert at Ridgeville Rd, and 2) on and on parallel to Ridgeville Rd to 3) the field applicator. No one was present at the lagoon pumping station or monitoring anywhere along this line on Sunday at noon. 
April 28 – Manure discharging to Van Auken Drain and Toad Creek – It’s the weekend, with DEQ not immediately responding. SMD 3 (formerly Waldron Dairy) is draglining liquid manure out of sight, field east of the facility. Black water is visible in a catch basin approx. 1/4 east on Ridgeville Rd, which discharges through the Van Auken Drain into Toad Creek, visible at culvert on Mulberry Rd. DEQ notified.
4-28-12 – Toad Creek, 1 mile downstream from SMD manure field; catch basin on Ridgeville, closer to the manure field, with black water flowing.
April 27 – Resident near Lake Hudson Recreation Area contacted ECCSCM about concerns for manure entering the lake from an adjacent field where liquid manure was recently sprayed. The Michigan DNR rents the fields to Hoffland Farms CAFO. ECCSCM observation of the manure area: “…it looks dried but so heavily applied if you know it is manure, you can see where it ponded and dried. It slopes to the water. You can see how close Lake Hudson is…If it rains it will find its way into the lake one way or the other if it hasn’t already from tiles.” The resident said that the algae last year was very thick on this side of Lake Hudson and it smelled bad. He noted that Lake Hudson is 40 years old this year and it was never like this before the manure. It used to be clear.
See how close the manure field (red pointer) is to Lake Hudson – and to the Recreation Area’s public campground (blue pointer, left) and public beach (blue pointer, right):
April 25 – Hartland Farms surface applying slurry waste during rainfall, a violation of their CAFO NPDES permit. Several residents near SMD (formerly Vreba-Hoff) notified ECCSCM with concerns about SMD hauling from manure lagoons at night; also preparing to dragline “on land that flows into drain tile that runs under Packard rd directly into the creek…This is going to have a direct effect on the water in the creek as it is all downhill of where they are about to dragline.”
April 24 – Intense stench from Hartland Farms draglining, no incorporation, south of facility on north side of Beecher. New Flevo applying solids in front of the facility on Forrister.
April 16 – in high winds, 27 mph sustained, emissions are in the air, reaching far from fields. Hoffland is surface-applying on south side of Tomer west of M-156, upslope of Lake Hudson State Recreation Area; New Flevo is draglining on Townline south of Woerner, with 3 semis hauling the liquid manure. Emissions are still intense from Hartland manure application, never incorporated, along Beecher Rd east of Hughes.
April 15 – terrible emissions from Hoffland manure application, reaching as far as Schoonover Waterfowl area on Medina Rd.
April 13 – Emissions at many locations, very intense, horrible for neighbors. Marvin Farms is still spraying across from the facility on Beecher. Stench is still bad further west on Beecher fromHartland Farms application fields. Extreme stench from New Flevo application of liquid waste along Hawkins Hwy north of Burton. White Farms spreading on west end of Lime Lake, where a neighbor reports, “Strong odor. Can’t roll up the windows on a Jeep.” On M-34, west of Hudson past Nye Rd, a manure sprayfield smelled horrible even though it had been disked. Is this manure being hauled from SMD lagoons?
April 12 – Marvin Farms, Beecher Rd – Unbearable Stench of the Year Award. Report from a driver: “Horrible, sickening stink. What IS it? Putrefaction of rotted guts? manure? silage acids? moldy, liquid rotted cheesy whey? chemical additives? A slurry of all of the above?”
Bad evening in many locations: on Beecher Rd from the M-34 split on west: not long after Marvin Farms, Bakerlads and Hartland Farms also spraying, spreading, draglining. Bleich hauling 3 semi-tankers of manure north on US-127 past Rome Rd. South of Hudson at Lime Lake, strong emissions reported this morning from White Farms CAFO.
April 11 – Hoffland Farms Easter weekend manure along Tomer Rd (see below) – still no incorporation
April 10 – Hartland Farms draglined north of Plank Road east of Hughes, no incorporation.
April 7-8 – Easter weekend, beautiful weather. Except in some places in stinks. Hoffland Farms has draglined manure along Tomer Rd, the whole way from M-156 to Wheeler Hwy. Note GAAMPs # 20: Avoid spreading on weekends/holidays when people are likely to be engaged in nearby outdoor and recreational activities.
March 28 – “It makes me sick. Just makes me sick,” a neighbor says. On a clear spring morning, stench is terrible on Dowling Hwy, winds from the south. Hartland Farms is spraying liquid manure in the same field as March 19. 
March 28 – Hartland Farms sprayer loading up via liquid manure umbilical to semi manure-hauler.
March 23 – New Flevo (Waterland) Dairy is applying manure in heavy rain on Plank Road east of Bates Hwy, “all afternoon and still applying at 7:49pm this evening and it is still raining.” Hartland Farms is applying manure at the corner of Henning Hwy and Beecher Road. Application in rain or within 24 hrs of predicted rain of 1/2″ is prohibited in CAFO NPDES permits.
March 19 – As fields dry and CAFOs haul, all the manure drag-lining, spreading, spraying means “horrible stench” and bad air for neighbors. Bleich Dairy is drag-lining at US-127 & Stewart, with ponding in the field. Neighbor writes this morning: “..horrible stench… will only get worse later.” Hartland Farms is hauling solids to the back end of a field on Dowling Hwy between Beecher and Cadmus. New Flevo has 4 semis, a dump box, and dragline spraying a filed near Devil’s Lake, corner of Manitou Beach Rd and Townley.
3-19-12 – Bleich drag-lining liquid manure at Stewart and US-127
March 14 – Temperatures in the mid-70’s today. A neighbor of Bleich Dairy CAFO emails: “it is a beautiful day today…why do I have to smell manure when I come home from work? Why?”
Jan 24 – Bakerlads manure stinks to high heaven in Clayton today.
Jan 19 – Bakerlads CAFO is “stockpiling like mad,” truckloads of manure heaped along east side of Morey Hwy, just south of Beecher Rd.
Jan 17 – Heavy rains overnight has led to ponding in many manure fields – Bleich manure fields north of Hudson, Bakerlads manure fields along Plank Rd west of Skiinner, where manure runoff is flowing down a road to a ditch in the South Branch of the River Raisin watershed.
Jan 16 – Bleich CAFO “odor this morning was like that of sulfur as the manure semi’s run waste … we lost a goose in the road, a couple weeks ago a duck, i guess these semi’s are on a time schedule, ‘no time to stop for domestic or wild life’.”
Jan 5 – Bleich CAFO semi-tankers hauling liquid manure, application on Raymond Rd. Solids applied north of Forrester on east side of US-127.
Jan 4 – Hartland Farms applying, black manure field along Beecher Rd between Hughes and Posey Lake Hwy.