Dairy Pathogen Drift

 A conundrum is something confusing or mysterious. Here’s where there is no mystery. The dairy farmers in the State of Idaho are hurting…big time. Prices are low, we’ve already done stories about how the government wants to pay dairy farmers  what they think is a good price and buy dairy for some of the less fortunate among us. And now the dairy industry is being hit with rulemaking that could regulate the practice of running livestock wastewater through irrigation sprinklers because of the potential for something called pathogen drift.

 OK, let’s think about this. Dairies often use lagoon water to irrigate. What’s lagoon water?...Washdown from barns, pens etc. that the dairymen see as nutrient rich…like using manure to fertilize crops. Here’s the conundrum. Some people think that irrigating with waste water can introduce pathogens…airborne germs and bugs…into the environment. Both sides have good arguments depending on what you believe scientifically.

 Bob Naerbout, Executive Director of the IDA: “Studies even from the DEQ show that within 9/10ths of one second 90% of the pathogens are killed when aeriated. The biggest problem we have with currently doing rule making is that the information the Idaho Rural Council is looking at is derived from studies on human waste.”

ISDA Chief of Staff Pamm Juker confirmed that her agency plans to set dates for rulemaking but I could not get anyone from that agency to comment.