La Grange Residents Increasingly Asking: What’s That Smell?

A foul air blew into La Grange from the southeast last week.

The stench was evident to folks in the Cozy Corner area about two weeks ago.

But last week, the odor blossomed in nostrils throughout La Grange. It was especially noticeable at the La Grange Homecoming Pep Rally at Leopard Stadium Wednesday night.

Some folks on social media wondered whether the smell came from the La Grange sewer system. La Grange water and wastewater supervisor Andy Blaha said the sewer was not the culprit. Rather, Blaha said the smell likely came from someone fertilizing a field with manure.

Indeed, the Record spotted a manure spreader and what looked to be several 18-wheeler loads of manure in a large hay field in Mullins Prairie last week. Fayette County AgriLife Extension Agent Scott Willey said he hadn’t heard of anyone spreading manure.

“But if it was in Mullins Prairie, and we got a southeast wind, it might be pushing it into La Grange,” Willey said.

The economy could have something to do with it. Synthetic fertilizer prices spiked in 2022. Although prices have eased somewhat since then, they’re still well above longterm averages, leading some farmers to seek alternatives like manure.

“Anytime an input goes up in price, people start looking at their other options,” Willey said.

A good shower should soak the manure into the soil and stop the smell. That’s just one more reason for everyone to pray for rain.