North Dakota Cow Crap Will Harm Lake Winnipeg
The Manitoba Eco-Network is sounding the alarm over two massive dairy operations, which threaten Lake Winnipeg and the groundwater upon which people rely.
The Abercrombie Dairy received permits from North Dakota to start construction of a 12,500-head milking cow operation near Wahpeton, N.D. in January 2025. The Herberg Dairy is another proposed 25,000-head milking operation near Hillsboro, N.D. which is in the initial regulatory/permitting stage. Public comments are being accepted until June 2.
The size of these massive dairy operations is concerning. Just two new CAFOs will add 37,500 more cows.
To put the size of these operations in perspective, at present Manitoba has around 45,000 milk cows, supporting about 240 farms in the entire province. North Dakota currently has around 8,900 milk cows supporting about 24 dairy farms across the state. These two CAFOs will more than quadruple the number of milking cows in North Dakota, and add nearly as many milking cows in the Red River watershed as there are in all of Manitoba.
They will also produce massive amounts of animal excrement, comparable to a city with a population of 1.5 million people. To deal with all this manure, these CAFOs will store the manure and wastewater in lagoons the size of 62 American football fields (52 Canadian football fields). Once a year, they pour this manure slurry on agricultural fields as fertilizer.
These dairies are within 1.5 miles from the Red River or one of its tributaries. The Red River valley south of the border floods, just like here.
Too much manure on the same parcels of land year after year after year leads to the accumulation of nutrients and other contaminants (such as phosphorus, nitrogen, antibiotics, viruses, bacteria, hormones and heavy metals). In sandy to loamy soils, this waste escapes downward to the aquifer, contaminating the groundwater. In clayey soils — a good part of the Red River valley — the excess contaminants run off during wet periods contaminating waterways and contributing to algal blooms in Lake Winnipeg.
These huge dairy farms need to be stopped. Canada should refer the issue of these new CAFOs to the IJC to provide recommendations to resolve this transboundary water issue. Governments need to support regenerative agriculture, and phase out industrial factory farming production systems. Small farms that use straw rather than manure slurry pits are better for people, animals, and the planet.
Read the Manitoba Eco-Network’s April 23, 2025 submission to the The International Joint Commission (IJC) under The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909
