Grant County, WI Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

Chapter 191 of the Grant County Code defines a public health nuisance broadly, then writes agriculture out of two of its most common targets. Under § 191-5B, a noxious odor is a nuisance when it comes from negligent use of property, a substance or a device and is repulsive to ordinary persons or to the public, but the clause is exclusive of those odors common to ordinary and approved agricultural practices. Under § 191-5D, excessive accumulations of body wastes from any domestic animal or fowl are a nuisance when handled, stored or disposed of in a way that creates a public health hazard, but exclusive of those wastes common to ordinary and approved agricultural practices. Section 191-5J(1) adds that the 10-inch weed limit does not apply to any intentionally cultivated agricultural vegetation.

The protection has edges. It covers only what is common to ordinary and approved agricultural practices, so manure handled in a way that creates a public health hazard outside those practices is still a § 191-5D nuisance. The Grant County Health Department decides under § 191-6 whether a nuisance exists, and it administers the ordinance with the Grant County Board of Health. Manure storage is also governed by Chapter 90, the Animal Waste Storage and Nutrient Utilization Ordinance, which applies to the unincorporated areas of Grant County and covers all facilities on one operation that store a cumulative 7,000 cubic feet or more of animal waste. The Land and Water Conservation Committee enforces it. The protection comes from these exclusions inside the nuisance ordinance, not from a separate right-to-farm chapter. Platteville, Lancaster and other cities and villages enforce their own codes.