A New Year's resolution to community members:

With less than one week into 2016, we’d like to offer one New Year’s resolution for everyone who lives, works and visits our communities from rural locales.
The pungent smell left by snowy, dirty boots has been considerably noticeable in several public establishments. It was obvious the wearer walked directly from a feedlot into a retail business. Not only were the boots covered in animal excrement, so were the wearers’ pants, which dragged on the ground.
We understand animal production is an important component of our local economy, but please, guys, just because it “smells like money” to you doesn’t mean all of us should have to appreciate it.
We would appreciate it if manure could stay where manure is produced — in the feedlots and confinement buildings, not in places and buildings intended for people.
Not only is spreading of manure a potential biohazard, it is just plain gross.
As people with dirty footwear stand in line at cash registers of local businesses, the melting snow leaves puddles of brownish goo on the floor … which gets tracked all over the place of business.
Then the brown goo is shared with others who are walking by. The goo ends up everywhere. It is better just to keep the farmyard materials in the farmyard.
While cleanup may only involve a mop and bucket of water, anyone who knows about cleaning up drying manure knows it can be stubborn and involve several changes of water.
And the smell still lingers, no matter how much disinfectant is used.
So please, dear livestock producers, beginning with the New Year, wash off your footwear before coming to town. And remember to roll up your pant legs or tuck them into your boots.
Better yet, keep an extra pair of shoes in the vehicle, and change into them before venturing into the public.
Remember, no one — even agriculture supporters — likes the unexpected, up-close experience of farm animals inside an enclosed building.
So, Happy New Year, and wipe your feet … please.