MONROE - The permits are free and will be available by February, but understanding which townships have what restrictions on weight limits for large agricultural vehicles has been a challenge.
The state's Implements of Husbandry law, also known as Act 377, updates weight limits for large agricultural vehicles, increasing the gross weight limit to 92,000 pounds, up from 80,000 pounds. The new weight limit must be in tandem with the updated single-axle weight limit that rose from 20,000 to 23,000 pounds per axle. This means a vehicle cannot exceed a weight-to-axle ratio of 23,000 pounds per axle, regardless of how many axles are on the vehicle.
The law has been in place since it was signed by Gov. Scott Walker in April, but it is up to individual counties and townships to determine how to employ the permitting process.
Green County Highway Commissioner Jeff Wunschel said any farmer with an implement of husbandry exceeding these weight limits will have to get a permit depending on what road they are using. So, a farmer hauling manure to spread to a field 10 miles away would need a permit if his vehicle was over the per-axle or gross weight limits. Wunschel said farmers should be able to apply for the permits by the end of the month at the earliest or by February through the Green County website, www.co.green.wi.gov.
Wunschel said all the townships in Green County chose to strictly abide the parameters of Act 377 except New Glarus Township. So a farmer that has to cross from Town of York into New Glarus Township would need two different permits in order to travel legally on the township, city and county roads. Incidental travel, half a mile or less, will not require a permit if the vehicle exceeds the gross or per-axle weight limits, Wunschel said.
"This is not an issue really until the frost comes out of the ground and we have more farmers driving around," he said.
Implements of husbandry are set up into three categories by the law: Category A, which includes tractors; Category B, which includes self-propelled implements of husbandry, such as harvesters or chemical fertilizer equipment (Category B vehicles have no axle-weight limit and are not regulated by Act 377, but New Glarus Township chose to have permits required for Category B vehicles); and Category C, which includes any type of equipment that is attached as a trailer to a self-propelled implement of husbandry, such as a farm wagon, farm trailer or manure trailer.
Bridges supersede all weight restrictions, and the posted weight on the bridge cannot be exceeded.
Confusion about the law is why the highway department, the county sheriff's office and the UW-Extension office have set a Feb. 9 meeting to help farmers interpret the law and how it affects them. Officials from the different departments will meet at 7 p.m. at the UW-Extension office beneath the Green County Justice Center, and they have invited other county highway departments and ag agents to participate and answer questions.
Custom operators - those who provide custom farming services by renting out their large implements of husbandry - and larger farms are the largest portion that will be affected by these new rules. Green County Sheriff's Deputy Randall Teutschmann has received hours of training to identify overweight implements of husbandry and has been the resident expert in enforcement of weight laws for the past 20 years. Teutschmann said that even though the change in weight limits will mostly affect larger farms, everyone should be wary of having overweight vehicles.
"A lot of people were under the assumption that they were exempt from the weight law, but that couldn't be more false," Teutschmann said.
As far as enforcement, Teutschmann said he and the other deputies will not be waiting and trying to "hide in the weeds," waiting to nab offenders.
"I'm not going to load up the squad and go head-hunting for farmers," he said.
He said each circumstance will be different, but for the first year education will be the most important.
"If it were me, I would be asking around everywhere, how could I get legal," he said. "We look for flagrant signs. ... Like if a manure truck has some running off the top or they're going a half a mile an hour, sometimes you can even see the road flex if it's gravel with a sealcoating."
The Green County Sheriff's Office does not have a set of portable scales to accurately measure if a vehicle is overweight, but Teutschmann said they can request a Wisconsin State Trooper to bring by a set of scales, or they can take the implement of husbandry to the county highway department to weigh it.
If an implement of husbandry is overweight without a permit, the operator could face a fine that starts at 5 cents per pound up to 1,000 pounds and then increase to 10 cents per pound over the first 1,000 pounds.
UW-Extension Green County Agriculture Agent Mark Mayer said the change in law will have a steep learning curve, but he hopes that farmers attend the February meeting to learn as much as they can about Act 377.
"The premise is to preserve our rural roads," Mayer said. Mayer said some of the equipment comes off the factory line over the 92,000-pound gross weight limit.
"Some of these large four-wheel drive vehicles just keep getting larger and larger so people need to be aware of what they're getting into," Mayer said. "You've got these large grain carts and manure carts that can't be full and go down the road."
He said that any farmer with questions about permits or staying under the weight limits should contact him or Wunschel or Teutschmann. Teutschmann also recommended the Wisconsin Department of Transportation website as a tool to learn about the law and weight tables for per-axle and axle distance. The website is www.dot.state.wi.us/business/ag/index.htm.
The state's Implements of Husbandry law, also known as Act 377, updates weight limits for large agricultural vehicles, increasing the gross weight limit to 92,000 pounds, up from 80,000 pounds. The new weight limit must be in tandem with the updated single-axle weight limit that rose from 20,000 to 23,000 pounds per axle. This means a vehicle cannot exceed a weight-to-axle ratio of 23,000 pounds per axle, regardless of how many axles are on the vehicle.
The law has been in place since it was signed by Gov. Scott Walker in April, but it is up to individual counties and townships to determine how to employ the permitting process.
Green County Highway Commissioner Jeff Wunschel said any farmer with an implement of husbandry exceeding these weight limits will have to get a permit depending on what road they are using. So, a farmer hauling manure to spread to a field 10 miles away would need a permit if his vehicle was over the per-axle or gross weight limits. Wunschel said farmers should be able to apply for the permits by the end of the month at the earliest or by February through the Green County website, www.co.green.wi.gov.
Wunschel said all the townships in Green County chose to strictly abide the parameters of Act 377 except New Glarus Township. So a farmer that has to cross from Town of York into New Glarus Township would need two different permits in order to travel legally on the township, city and county roads. Incidental travel, half a mile or less, will not require a permit if the vehicle exceeds the gross or per-axle weight limits, Wunschel said.
"This is not an issue really until the frost comes out of the ground and we have more farmers driving around," he said.
Implements of husbandry are set up into three categories by the law: Category A, which includes tractors; Category B, which includes self-propelled implements of husbandry, such as harvesters or chemical fertilizer equipment (Category B vehicles have no axle-weight limit and are not regulated by Act 377, but New Glarus Township chose to have permits required for Category B vehicles); and Category C, which includes any type of equipment that is attached as a trailer to a self-propelled implement of husbandry, such as a farm wagon, farm trailer or manure trailer.
Bridges supersede all weight restrictions, and the posted weight on the bridge cannot be exceeded.
Confusion about the law is why the highway department, the county sheriff's office and the UW-Extension office have set a Feb. 9 meeting to help farmers interpret the law and how it affects them. Officials from the different departments will meet at 7 p.m. at the UW-Extension office beneath the Green County Justice Center, and they have invited other county highway departments and ag agents to participate and answer questions.
Custom operators - those who provide custom farming services by renting out their large implements of husbandry - and larger farms are the largest portion that will be affected by these new rules. Green County Sheriff's Deputy Randall Teutschmann has received hours of training to identify overweight implements of husbandry and has been the resident expert in enforcement of weight laws for the past 20 years. Teutschmann said that even though the change in weight limits will mostly affect larger farms, everyone should be wary of having overweight vehicles.
"A lot of people were under the assumption that they were exempt from the weight law, but that couldn't be more false," Teutschmann said.
As far as enforcement, Teutschmann said he and the other deputies will not be waiting and trying to "hide in the weeds," waiting to nab offenders.
"I'm not going to load up the squad and go head-hunting for farmers," he said.
He said each circumstance will be different, but for the first year education will be the most important.
"If it were me, I would be asking around everywhere, how could I get legal," he said. "We look for flagrant signs. ... Like if a manure truck has some running off the top or they're going a half a mile an hour, sometimes you can even see the road flex if it's gravel with a sealcoating."
The Green County Sheriff's Office does not have a set of portable scales to accurately measure if a vehicle is overweight, but Teutschmann said they can request a Wisconsin State Trooper to bring by a set of scales, or they can take the implement of husbandry to the county highway department to weigh it.
If an implement of husbandry is overweight without a permit, the operator could face a fine that starts at 5 cents per pound up to 1,000 pounds and then increase to 10 cents per pound over the first 1,000 pounds.
UW-Extension Green County Agriculture Agent Mark Mayer said the change in law will have a steep learning curve, but he hopes that farmers attend the February meeting to learn as much as they can about Act 377.
"The premise is to preserve our rural roads," Mayer said. Mayer said some of the equipment comes off the factory line over the 92,000-pound gross weight limit.
"Some of these large four-wheel drive vehicles just keep getting larger and larger so people need to be aware of what they're getting into," Mayer said. "You've got these large grain carts and manure carts that can't be full and go down the road."
He said that any farmer with questions about permits or staying under the weight limits should contact him or Wunschel or Teutschmann. Teutschmann also recommended the Wisconsin Department of Transportation website as a tool to learn about the law and weight tables for per-axle and axle distance. The website is www.dot.state.wi.us/business/ag/index.htm.