PRESTON, Minn. — The Fillmore County Board voted unanimously to double the size of allowable dairy herds to 4,000 animal units, which is the equivalent of 2,800 cows. The Board sided with farmers in the largely rural southeast Minnesota county, population 21,000, and against environmentalists and land stewards. The meeting was packed, although the Board took no testimony from the public. The Board members’ agenda packet included nearly 70 pages of compiled correspondence from the public, state agencies and other organizations on both sides. The Board also accepted a petition from citizens against larger farms and their manure-producing herds. There also was a recommendation to move further toward factory-scale farming from the county Planning Commission two weeks earlier.
A county divided
Fillmore County is one of 21 among Minnesota’87 counties with a maximum on herd size. The county’s 2,000-animal unit cap had been in effect since 1997. The debate over increasing the limit to 4,000 has divided citizens for two years – mostly with environmentalists and large farmers at odds. Traditional small family farmers, who consider themselves land stewards, generally sided with the environmentalists. Only one Fillmore County farm is at the 2,000-unit limit. Seven others are approaching the limit.