LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan regulators are proposing new restrictions on farmers’ practice of spreading livestock manure on farmland as a fertilizer.

The proposal would include a suggested ban on applying animal waste on farm fields during three winter months.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy or EGLE released its recommended controls in late October that would be part of a revamped process of assessing the environmental hazards of spreading livestock waste.

MLive.com reports that the department is holding public hearings this week and next on its amended pollution discharge permit for concentrated animal feeding operations, which are commonly known as CAFOs.