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Severe weather and intensive livestock operation in RM of Keys cause for concern

Our family has farmed land for 115 years in the Keys Municipality, and for the most part good agricultural and animal husbandry has been utilized by friends and neighbors for all of these years.

Our family has farmed land for 115 years in the Keys Municipality, and for the most part good agricultural and animal husbandry has been utilized by friends and neighbors for all of these years.

Our land is adjacent to some of the nine quarters designated for manure spreading by the proposed Hutterite intensive livestock operation on NE – N ½ 26 33 03 W2, and it also backs onto Stoney Creek, which empties into the Assiniboine River.

This past week between three to five inches of rain fell between Pelly and Kamsack in a matter of hours.

Our land did not receive that kind of rainfall this time. But if it had, and manure from the intensive livestock facility would have been spread on the land quarters designated under the proposed manure management plan filed with Saskatchewan Agriculture, the run off and drainage would have been extensive and our concerns expressed over creek and river contamination would have been realized.

Nature’s torrents of rain are always unexpected, however when they do occur, it does make clear to many of us that unforeseen events do and can bring unexpected consequences.