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Kingston,Mi | Clicker, the short answer is: enviorment protection. Most of the feeders that have built barns and displayed pictures on here are in what is called the "humid" portion of the United States. Water and manure floowing down a slo[pe and entering a wetland, creek or river is considered extremely bad form and will be rewarded by fines up to but not to exceed $25,000 per day of impairment of a natural or concrtucted watercourse that is connected to waters of the state and nation. On my farm that is a wetland 500 feet from my cattle lot. On some farms that I assisted in designing animal waste management systems, they were situated closer as in 50 feet from county drains that networked together and either emptied as a county drain directly into the Great Lakes or into a natrual stream or river that discharged to the Great Lakes. All our runoff water travels to the Great lakes eventually and the flow lenght is from acouple of hundred feet to 100 miles.
Combined with the geology that has much of the Thumb region of Michigan underlain with a restrictive layer of compressed clay bearing soils from glacial activity from the last glacier that pulled back about 14,000 years ago, water tends to stay where it falls unless man made or improved water courses carry it away.
Would you please post a location, your immediate site conditions may be more favorable to open lots, ours isn't and the regulators will explain it to you. Small operators like myself slide on by, larger operators that feed a 1,000 head or so can't ignore the possiblity of a discharge to surface water.
Edited by BOGTROTTER 1/20/2013 08:30
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Small, efficient feeding barn
