The Department of Natural Resources says it’s checking on a manure spill from a hog farrowing operation that occurred in Adams County, Thursday afternoon. Officials say at about 3:45 p.m., manure backed up and ran out a pipe at a New Fashion Pork facility near Nodaway. The spill occurred during a routine transfer of manure from a barn to a storage lagoon.

Staff immediately shut off flow, but estimate 15,000 gallons may have been released. The manure flowed under a county road and across a pasture with some reaching a ditch that flows to the Middle Nodaway River.

Farm staff built a temporary dam with hay bales and dirt, quickly stopping the manure flow at the edge of the pasture by 5:20 p.m. when DNR staff arrived. The DNR collected water samples Thursday evening. Field tests in the ditch and a tributary to the river showed slightly elevated levels of ammonia and no signs of dead fish.

A contractor was working Friday to excavate manure and saturated soil from the pasture, expecting to complete cleanup by early morning. The DNR will monitor cleanup and consider appropriate enforcement action.