The push to adopt a new ordinance governing livestock is on hold while the Douglas County zoning committee looks at options to exempt existing farmers from state regulations.
Douglas County officials are considering a model ordinance that would allow them to maintain a level of local control over the placement of high-density livestock operations.
A new state law requires livestock sites to be registered. Under the proposed county ordinance, operations having 500 or more animal units would need a license. An animal unit is determined by the breed of livestock. For example, a cow is equal to 1.5 animal units, but it takes 10 sheep to create an animal unit.
Existing farmers with large livestock populations will be exempt from the new state law unless they plan to expand their operations.
Gary Peterson of Lakeside, who runs the largest dairy operation in the county, said he anticipates having to adhere to the new regulations when he expands his operation to stay in farming.
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"I just want to be on a level playing field with everyone else in the state," Peterson said, arguing he shouldn't be exempt from existing rules.
And he doesn't see the logic -- beyond generating new fees -- for the county to adopt an ordinance when the state law already outlines what is expected of him.
"Why does the county have to get involved?" Peterson asked zoning committee members during a public hearing this morning.
"The county board is like puppets on a string, and the state's controlling the strings," said Wes Johnson, a supervisor in the town of Lakeside who gave up farming. He doesn't see the need for the county to maintain local control, because "if we're against everything, we're going to fail." Johnson said large-scale operations are the only way to profit from farming.
The county isn't required to adopt the ordinance, said Zoning Administrator Stephen Rannenberg. He said if the county had adopted an ordinance regulating livestock sites before May, it had the option for more restrictive regulation than the state law provides. Now, the only option is to adopt what state law allows.
However, the county will only lose the option to regulate large-scale livestock operations if the ordinance is not adopted by Nov. 1.
Livestock includes cattle and other bovine animals, swine, poultry, sheep and goats. It does not include horses, bison, farm-raised deer, birds, camelids like llama, ratites like emus and fish, according to a draft of the proposed county ordinance.
"I think on this particular ordinance ... I recommend going to the county board for adoption," said Larry Loustari, Cloverland town chairman and a farmer. "We don't know the future or the size of the herds. Do we want that in our community? I'm not certain there would be room for a herd of 10,000 in Douglas County."
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Shelley Nelson covers city/county government. E-mail snelson@superiortelegram.com or call (715) 394-4411, ext. 134.
