Madison, Wis. - Extension agents and regulators from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan are sponsoring a webcast seminar that focuses on the documentation necessary for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to report their emissions under the Dec. 18, 2008 Federal Register notice.

In December 2008, the EPA determined in a final rule that all large CAFOs, including operations with 1,000 animal units, must notify state and local emergency response officials about ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions from their operations if they emit 100 pounds or more of these substances during any 24 hour period. Telephone notifications were to have been made no later than January 20, 2009, and a written
report must be submitted within 30 days thereafter, to avoid severe penalties. Smaller AFOs and ranching operations are not required to submit notifications.

The focus of the Feb. 6 webinar will be on how to calculate emissions from various sized livestock operations. Presentations will also focus on how to meet the reporting requirements.

The Feb. 6 webinar will be presented from 1-2:30 p.m. Topics and speakers include:
-- Why Livestock? Kevin Erb, UW-Extension
-- Background on CERCLA and EPCRA and This Reporting Requirement-What's Required for Wisconsin. Bill Clare, Wisconsin Emergency Government; Roxanne Chronert, Wisconsin DNR; Kevin Erb, UW-Extension
-- Introduction to the Unified (IL-WI) Reporting Form. Brian Holmes, UW-Madison/Extension; Ted Funk, University of Illinois; Bill Clare, Wisconsin Emergency Government; Kathy Allen, Illinois Emergency Government
-- Calculating Emissions, Farm Case Study/Sample Farm. Brian Holmes, UW-Madison/Extension; Ted Funk, University of Illinois
-- Questions and Review

Extension offices throughout Wisconsin will host the webinar. Please contact your local Extension agent to find the nearest site. There is a registration fee of $10 per person, if registering in advance. The walk-in registration is $15 per person.

Good Morning,

The December 2008 issue of Cowscope is now available for viewing on the Jefferson County webpage at: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/jefferson/ag/Cowscope08.html

If you have any questions, please contact Ken Bolton, Dairy and Livestock Agent at kenneth.bolton@ces.uwex.edu or Kim Buchholz, Administrative Secretary at kimb@co.jefferson.wi.us .

 Thank you.

Many of you are probably aware of the upcoming NMC regional meeting that will be occurring in Green Bay on August 12-13.  The target audience for this meeitng is farmers and the professionals that are serving them and the meeting is focusing on managing for milk quality during summer heat and humidity.  If you would like more information about this meeting, check out the meeting website:  

  http://nmconline.org/regionalmeet/2008/ 

There is a unique aspect to this meeting that has never been offered before. The NMC is offering a half day Spanish only seminar for milkers.  We need to promote this aspect of the meeting and hopefully get good attendance for this unique opportunity.  The link to that portion of the meeting is:

  http://nmconline.org/regionalmeet/2008/SpanishRM08.htm 

Please work on promoting this meeting with your  clientele. 

The Weekly Hay Market Demand and Price Report for the Upper Midwest for July 18 is posted on the "Buying and Selling Hay and Straw" web site located at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/ag/haybuying.html.

For those interested in air quality, an interesting event tomorrow: 

Friday June 27, 2008, the Air Quality Education in Animal Agriculture project will sponsor the first in series of air quality webcasts in the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center series.

This inaugural air quality presentation will be on “Ammonia: The Air-Water Interface”. The presenters are Randy Martin, Utah State University; Jessica Davis, Colorado State University; and Pius Ndegwa, Washington State University. They will discuss why ammonia is such a concern, present a case study on the impacts of nitrogen deposition into a pristine ecosystem, and highlight strategies for reducing ammonia emission from animal agriculture. The presentation will begin at 2:30 pm (eastern); 1:30 pm (central); 12:30 pm (mountain) and 11:30 am (pacific). More information about this webcast is at http://pubwiki.extension.org/mediawiki/files/e/e1/08jun27flyer.pdf.

On the day of the webcast, you can access the virtual meeting room by visiting http://www.extension.org/pages/Live_Webcast_Information and following the links on that page.

First-time webcast viewers can visit the following page to ensure access to the webcast system. http://www.extension.org/pages/How_Do_I_Participate_in_a_Webcast%3F.