UPDATE. Wood County Wisconsin residents are rightly concerned about population growth (more than 5000 cows) and the stench and pollution that goes with it

I'll let these Kewaunee County residents tell them what's in store.

DNR weighing large dairy project.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/6/2016)

Citizens are fighting large farm applications for a dairy operation in Green County in the southwest and a pig farm in Bayfield County near Lake Superior. CAFO development has been a longstanding controversy in Kewaunee County in the northeast, where studies have found widespread well contamination. CAFO opponents say bad wells are linked to manure spreading, but experts say other factors, such as failing septic systems, also could contribute to the problem. 

The DNR has never rejected a CAFO application. But the agency has imposed conditions on some of the farms to address environmental concerns. [emphasis added]

Conditions?  Well, let's have Kenny Rogers explain it to us.

Kenny Rogers, with the First Edition in tow, entered our musical consciousness in the full flower of psychedelia with this Mickey Newbury-penned song, which made its debut at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending February 10, 1968.  It peaked for 2 weeks at #5, spending 4 of its 10 weeks on the chart in the top 10.

Original 10/23/2014 post, "Kewaunee County's CAFO Concentration", starts here.

Sources for column graph

U.S. Census State & County QuickFacts 

Wisconsin 2013 Agricultural Statistics  (page 53)

Environmental groups ask EPA to study drinking water pollution from Kewaunee County dairies. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,10/23/2014)

And the air is....

The petitioners chose Kewaunee County [notice what is emphasized pictorially on the county's homepage] because “the issue is ripe” there, Wheeler said. The county is one of several in northeastern Wisconsin where thin soils and cracked karst bedrock make groundwater vulnerable, and there is a lot of data on the well issues.

While the number of CAFOs — the largest farms, with at least 700 dairy cows — has skyrocketed statewide, Kewaunee is one of just four Wisconsin counties where the number of dairy cows rose in the past three decades, according to DNR records cited in the petition.

The county has about 200 dairy farms, including 15 classified as CAFOs, which are under stricter manure-handling regulations.

On average, that's 1 dairy farm every 1.7 square miles.

At 342 square miles, Kewaunee County ranks 66th in size in land area among Wisconsin's 72 counties.

Related posts:
In the news:  Concentrated animal feeding operations.  (9/17/2014)
Missouri voters enshrine ALEC's "Right to Farm" idea within its state constitution.  (8/6/2014)