State fines cattle lot $31000 years ago
Staff reporter
Mike Beneke, owner of Double B Cattle Company of rural Lincolnville, has been fined $31,000 for having a confined cattle operation without a permit.
According to state statute, "any person discharging wastewater or having the potential to discharge wastewater to water of the state is required to obtain a KDHE-issued permit for such discharge."
The permit is required for operations of 1,000 or more head of cattle.
Beneke knows he should have had a permit.
"The real issue is whether I did or didn't know it was my responsibility to know," he said.
Now that he's seen and read regulations regarding feedlots, he understands what needs to be done and is willing to become compliant.
Besides turning cattle, he's turned a dollar or two. Last year alone, he spent $10 million on cattle and operation costs. A typical three-week period can cost him $88,000 in feed and supplies.
However, to maintain his business and meet debt obligations, Beneke needs to continue the operation of 2,800 head of cattle to see him through until February.
"I know KDHE probably isn't going to be happy with me for doing this but I have to do this to keep my operation going," he said.
Beneke said he has applied for a permit with KDHE and hopes the government agency can respect his time frame.
"They gave me deadlines so why can't they follow a deadline?" Beneke asked.
According to an administrative order, Beneke has until July 28 to "de-populate" two pens called east and west. The pens are to remain empty until an operating permit is issued and appropriate pollution controls are constructed and approved by KDHE.
Also within the same time period, Beneke is to dismantle a small pen area located near the bank of an unnamed tributary to Middle Creek, west of the west pen area, and file for a hearing.
Within 120 days, Beneke is to de-populate a confined animal feeding operation to 999 head of cattle or fewer, to meet current separation distance requirements and shall not repopulate or allow anyone else to repopulate the facility of more than 999 head of cattle.
By Jan. 1, 2007, and until appropriate pollution controls are in place and a permit is issued, Beneke must reduce his cattle population to 299 head or less.
The $31,000 penalty is to be paid by July 31.
The penalty will be placed in an account that will be used to assist Beneke with compliance issues.
Like an escrow account, as long as Beneke continues to progress with improvements, the money will be available for him to use for those compliance improvements. If Beneke does not follow through and fails to become compliant, he will lose the money.
"Most of the money will come back to the business when the project is completed," Beneke said.
Did the visit from KDHE in February come as a surprise?
"I knew there was a complaint and I knew they were coming," Beneke said. "Officials knew I was here before but without any complaints, nothing could be done."
Beneke's company began in the early 1990s when he dabbled in turning cattle. Six years ago, he had a small operation of a few hundred head and before long, with the support of a local bank, the business took off.
When KDHE visited Feb. 23, KDHE officials asked the number of cattle Beneke owned. He responded he owned 5,200.
"There weren't 5,200 head of cattle on my land but on paper I owned 5,200 head," he said. The next week he shipped 1,700 head of cattle.
On any given day, the total number of cattle located in pens west of his residence and a smaller pen near his residence is 3,000-to-3,500 head.
"There's always a 60-90 day window when I have larger numbers," he said.
Costs for an irrigation system and other necessary improvements could run as much as $250,000.
"I look at it as a 10-year investment," Beneke said.
Beneke said he runs a clean operation.
"At least 95 percent of solid wastes are physically removed from the pens," he said. "This leaves five percent that can get away" and travel to a local creek.
Proud of his efficient feeding operation, Beneke said he and his son, who works full time for him, spend six hours a day just feeding cattle.
"Every week I'm buying 100-to-200 acres of someone's crops," he said. "We're supporting other ag businesses."
He also considers his role as a taxpayer important. He said he contributes significantly to the county's tax base and needs to build more.
Is he mad at the person who turned him in to KDHE?
"Actually I'm grateful," Beneke said. "I called him and thanked him."
Beneke said it was forcing him to become compliant and make commitments.
He has a neighbor within a mile of the operation who probably won't give the necessary approval for a permit.
"It's her right to say 'no'," Beneke said. "She was here long before I was or this operation." But he has to take that risk.
He's ready to go — right now — to become compliant but the wheels of justice turn slower than he likes.
"I'll need some God-given patience to deal with this," Beneke said.
Beneke takes his responsibility of feeding cattle and providing food for others seriously.
"I'm just a very small part of putting meat on the shelf to feed Americans," he said.
The charges
According to Sharon Watson, communications director of Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Beneke was fined after officials investigated a complaint.
The company, located at 2876 280th Road, had been operating a confined animal feeding operation with about 5,200 head of cattle without a permit, operating without water pollution controls, and practicing improper collection, handling, and disposal of animal and other wastes.
"Beneke applied for a permit," after being cited, Watson said.
According to the administrative order submitted by KDHE, Greg Bland of KDHE and Ron Graber, watershed specialist, investigated the complaint on Feb. 23.
The report read that the cattle operation consisted of two main pens. The west pen has a capacity of approximately 2,000 head of cattle, and, according to Beneke, has been in operation for two years.
This pen is approximately 250 feet from an unnamed tributary to Middle Creek, the report continued, and Beneke recently built a pen area between the pen and the tributary, within 10 feet of the stream bed.
The east pen has a capacity of 3,000 head and been in operation since the early 1990s, said Beneke. The pen area drains into a small field that borders Middle Creek. The report indicated that Beneke had removed approximately one-half mile of the Middle Creek bank area.
As of June 8, the west pen area had 800-to-900 head of cattle and the east pen had approximately 200 head of cattle.
Beneke was ordered to remove the cattle from the west pen area and dismantle the small pen located near the water bank within 30 days.
On March 24, Bland collected a water sample from an unnamed tributary to Middle Creek, just south of the west pen area. The sample results for fecal coliform were 1,560,000 CFU/100ml. A typical acceptable Kansas in-stream concentration is 4,800 CFU/100 ml. for a secondary B contact stream.
What does this mean?
According to Watson, the concentration could become a health risk if located in a public waterway. In this case, the water is on private property and does not pose a public risk but remains a concern for KDHE.
