GRAFTON — A Northern Iowa turkey operation housing more than 55,000 birds has been hit with a $5,000 Iowa Department of Natural Resources penalty after regulators said the business repeatedly failed to meet state manure-management filing requirements despite years of warnings and an earlier fine.
Dalluge Turkey Farm, LLP operates an animal feeding operation at 301 4th Street in Grafton in Worth County.
The enforcement action comes as Worth County continues to see significant development and government activity. NorthIowaToday.com recently reported that Worth County supervisors are moving toward TIF funding for a new county administration building and RV park project.
According to a newly issued DNR administrative order, the Dalluge facility consists of five confinement buildings capable of holding 55,300 turkeys, representing nearly 720 animal units.
The operation is required to submit an updated manure management plan and annual compliance fee to the DNR by May 1 each year.
The 2026 fee was $107.99.
State regulators said Dalluge failed to submit the required 2026 update and fee by the May 1 deadline.
The DNR issued a Notice of Violation on May 11 warning that the failure could be referred for additional enforcement.
The required paperwork and fee were not submitted until early June.
But regulators said this was far from the first time the Grafton operation missed the deadline.
According to the DNR, Dalluge also submitted its manure management update and compliance fee late in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020 and 2019.
Notice of Violation letters were issued for each of those late filings.
The problem became serious enough in 2024 that the DNR issued an administrative order carrying a $3,000 penalty.
Even that apparently did not end the pattern.
“The MMP submittal is a crucial aspect of the DNR’s animal feeding operation program,” regulators said in the new order.
The agency said repeated delays threaten the integrity of Iowa’s animal feeding regulations and require state employees to spend additional time and resources getting the operation back into compliance.
Iowa regulators have taken tougher action in other manure-related cases when actual environmental damage occurred. NorthIowaToday.com reported last year that manure runoff was blamed for dead fish stretching for several miles in a Northern Iowa creek.
In determining the new $5,000 penalty against Dalluge, the DNR assessed $100 for the economic benefit the company received by delaying compliance, $2,400 based on the gravity of the violation and another $2,500 for culpability.
The agency said Dalluge has a responsibility to remain familiar with state requirements and pointed specifically to its history of late filings, repeated violation notices and the previous administrative order.
The case does not allege that Dalluge caused a manure spill, illegal discharge or other pollution event.
Instead, the enforcement action centers on the repeated failure to timely submit the manure management plan update and annual compliance fee required for the confinement operation.
That distinction separates this case from more serious environmental enforcement matters previously covered by NIT, including a Northern Iowa hog farm case that resulted in a $4,000 penalty after manure application caused a fish kill.
State law authorizes considerably larger penalties in some environmental cases, including civil penalties of up to $5,000 per day for certain water-quality violations.
The DNR said it determined a $5,000 administrative penalty was the most effective and efficient way to address the violations in this case.
Dalluge has 60 days to appeal the order or pay the penalty.
Failure to comply could lead to additional administrative penalties or referral to the Iowa Attorney General for further legal action.