General Guidelines for Swine on Dry Lots - Revised November 5, 1997

1. Runoff control: Surface runoff from outside the dry lot must be diverted away from the dry lots. Efforts should be made to prevent runoff from leaving the dry lot from storms less severe than the 25-year, 24-hour storm event.

2. Buffer: Hogs must be located as far as practical from swamps and streams. A minimum of a 10 feet of buffer must be maintained between the dry lots and upslope streams, ponds, swamps and ditches. A minimum of a 100 feet of buffer must be maintained between the dry lots and down slope streams, ponds, swamps and ditches. Buffers must be vegetated and protected by a fence. Spreader diversions must be used to insure sheet flow. Where design and implementation of a 100-foot buffer is not physically practical, other water quality protection measures or combinations of measures may be installed if this measure(s) provide at least at a minimum the same nutrient and sediment protection as a 100-foot buffer (e.g. diversion to a filter strip area). For each inch of runoff which can be safely stored within the dry lot, the width of the buffer can be reduced by 20 feet. However, the buffer must never be less than 20 feet. Buffers will not be located where the ground surface is seasonally flooded.
   

1. Soils: Efforts must be made to avoid soils that have a high leaching potential and those that are highly erodible. Animals will not be located where the ground surface is seasonally flooded.
   
   
2. Rotation: Hogs must be rotated using a minimum of two lots. The maximum amount of time for hogs to be on a single lot is one year. The amount of time off the lot must be sufficient for vegetation to approach maturity to maximize nutrient uptake.
   
   
3. Crops: The vegetation grown on a site must be harvested or grazed. A uniform stand of vegetation must be established within 30 days from the time that animals are removed. Land smoothing may be required prior to seed bed preparation. The crop may be trees as long as the density of swine is low enough to prevent a greater than ten (10) percent reduction in tree canopy.  Wetland determinations are recommended to maintain compliance with the Federal Farm Bill.