Catching the scent of the country
My wife and I went for a walk on Janesville's east side last Wednesday evening, while the smell of manure filled the air. I smelled it again Saturday morning.
A caller in Sunday’s Gazette Sound Off caught a whiff of Wednesday’s odor, too. The caller, who lives near the corner of Lexington Drive and Milwaukee Street, said the household had the windows open to catch an east breeze, “But that isn’t all we caught. The stench was so bad, we closed everything up and turned on the air. How often do we have to put up with that awful smell?”
The caller blamed it on that big new dairy east of Janesville. I took out that reference.
You might recall that last Wednesday’s Sound Off had a comment from someone complaining about the horrible odor coming from that farm, Rock Prairie Dairy, which has thousands of cows on highways 11/14. “I went by there to pick up my daughter-in-law at UW-Whitewater, and the smell was so bad my eyes started tearing. I started coughing and gagging. It’s terrible.”
The caller also pointed out that the farm was supposed to have equipment to reduce odors.
I happened to drive by that big farm, owned by the Tuls family, twice on Sunday, at about midmorning and again in late afternoon. I cracked open the window, but the smell was negligible, about what you’d expect when passing a typical dairy farm. The new dairy's plans called for covered manure pits, and those coverings were obviously doing a reasonable job that day.
Why did I omit the reference to the big dairy in the Sound Off that ran Sunday? Well, because I’m not sure it’s accurate to blame that odor passing through Janesville on the Tuls farm, which is about seven miles from the city limits. My wife and I have lived in our home more than 15 years, and long before the Tuls family built that dairy in the Town of Bradford, you could from time to time smell farm odors around here. I’m sure it occurs whenever a farmer is spreading manure on the outskirts of the city. Sure, it’s offensive, particularly for anyone who never lived or worked on a farm, but the smell soon dissipates.
Realize that Janesville is near the Rock Prairie, which holds some of the best soil in the world. Sometimes, farmers will spread manure to fertilize their land. I can live with that, and I won’t jump to conclusions that the Tuls farm is to blame.
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or gpeck@gazettextra.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook
Aug 22, 2012 at 4:52 p.m.
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AAAAHHHHH, The fresh country smell. I have never been a farmer, nor have I lived on a farm short of visiting my Uncles farm in the summer when I was a child. But, the occasional smell of the farm is kind of a pleasant aroma once in a while and I don't mind it a bit. I don't think I could handle the stomach cramping version of it very long but to drive by and almost vomit in the car once in a while is just a reminder of where our countries backbone is. Some family is out there giving their all to provide food and dairy products to the nation in their small way. And they have to live with that smell 24/7. They have to put up with the strange looks when they come to town for something after working out their in the barn all day and they carry a little bit of the perfume with them. I am only thankful it is not me who has to live in that cloud of fresh methane all the time. I more than appreciate the men and women who work their tales off for us to complain about the fresh country air. Have you ever smelled the South Side of Chicago? Or how about Buffalo NY? I would rather smell a farmer any day. Thank you all, you local farmers who send out the daily unseen but not un-noticed reminders that you are out there from sun up to sun down providing for our country.
Aug 22, 2012 at 3:17 p.m.
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Doesn't meat and milk and eggs come from the store? There's getting to be a larger and larger disconnect from where our food actually comes from. Farmers work 24/7/365. The smell is actually the smell of hard work, integrity, and passion. I'll take the smell of a farm over the smell of car and truck exhaust any day.
Aug 22, 2012 at 1:34 p.m.
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We are on the north side off Newville. We though it was from a farm nearby. We had to close the house too, especially when we were eating. The smell is disgusting. How do people live in it?
Aug 22, 2012 at 7:29 a.m.
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I suspect that most residents of our county have little, or no experience with farms. So many of us are no longer connected to the world of out doors!
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As such the complainer may not be able to tell from hog sludge, dairy, or as pointed out by others in this strand, product from our Waste Water Treatment Plant.
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Like "Pastafarian", my belief is that it smells like prosperity! :~D
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Give me that wonderful reminder of our county's roots; the reminder that we ALL [we need italics!] benefit from agribusiness. Any day of the week give me all of that instead of the rude, selfish noise of Harleys crapping up air waves.
Aug 21, 2012 at 9:40 p.m.
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I drive by the big dairy nearly every day and have noticed an odor a half a dozen times in ten months. I live on the far east side and the frequency and intensity have not changed in 27 years.
Aug 21, 2012 at 4:59 p.m.
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I believe that you probably know your S----tuff. I noticed that the warm winds were from the Southwest that day (usual prevailing winds). The farm referenced here is east of town. Therefore it is unlikely to be solely responsible for the odor. Many citizens voiced concerns long ago when the farm was first proposed. How long is our collective memory? If it is good for business the people here can put up with almost any manure can't they?
Aug 21, 2012 at 4:42 p.m.
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janesvillean - I remember walking around Rockport park on the ski trail in the late 1970s and the sludge fields that were there. Some fresh, some older, and some had trucks pumping while we watched. I don't remember an odor though. It was interesting.
Aug 21, 2012 at 3:22 p.m.
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AAHHH... Smells like... "Money" ;~)
Aug 21, 2012 at 2:53 p.m.
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Many people may be unaware that the Janesville Wastewater Utility processes its sludge into a "biosolid" (looks and smells a lot like compost), which is then offered to the agriculture market as fertilizer. From the 70s to the 90s this was the end point for all the solid waste; from the 90s until the recent stimulus-funded upgrades, the utility sent most of the material to the landfill, but it's now spreading it on farmfields again. This could be the source of the odor, and it could be coming from any given ag operation, not just the large ones that get in the paper.
http://gazettextra.com/news/2008/aug/09/...
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I grew up here, and while it can get a little strong at times, it's not an offensive odor the way the landfill off-gas can be.
Aug 21, 2012 at 1:07 p.m.
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I guess it's because I grew up in the country, but I find that smell soothing.
Aug 21, 2012 at 1 p.m.
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Welcome to Wisconsin and our fresh dairyair
Aug 21, 2012 at 12:21 p.m.
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I believe what you smelled last Wednesday was the pig farm on the South side of town.
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