Using Animal Density Standards for Nutrient Management Policy on Wisconsin Dairy Farms

As demands for more controlled manure management heighten, policy makers seek indicators to assess the environmental impacts of livestock production and to subsequently direct manure management policy. Farm size indicators, based on number of animals per farm, are currently used to target federal manure management policy (USDA-USEPA, 1999). In this way, federal policy is directed toward the nations’ largest livestock facilities. However, as it is becoming increasingly evident that all farms, regardless of size, have an important role to play in protecting the environment from nutrient pollution, state and local policy makers have begun to cast the nutrient management policy net more broadly.