WAUNAKEE, Wis. -- Dane County has talked about getting a manure digester for years, and now it's just months away from generating clean energy from cows.

Officials said the digester project will help clean Dane County air and lakes and will generate clean energy.

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Wednesday at the Ripp farm just north of Waunakee, but the project will really connect three farms of the Endres, Ripp and Maier families.

The three farms will send their manure to the county's first digester, where it will have phosphorus removed to help clean up the lakes and also produce enough energy from methane gas to power 2,500 area homes.

"It's good for the environment. We're also kind of environmentalists in our own way," said Chuck Ripp, one of the farmers involved. "A lot of people don't like to look at us that way but what is important to all of you is important to all of us."

The Ripp family has farmed the Waunakee land for more than 60 years, and the Maier and Endres family have farmed in the area for decades as well.

In all, the three farms raise about 2,000 head of cows, which is about the right amount for a manure digester to make sense, officials said.

The state and Dane County are helping the three farms to create the first community digester in the state.

"It doesn't get any better than this. We add value to farm families, we create cheap and affordable electricity that is renewable and we help to clean up the lakes of this region," said Gov. Jim Doyle.

County leaders are also lauding the difference the phosphorus removal could make in the health of the lakes.

"We get these tremendous water quality impacts from a cow power digester," said Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.

It has the families excited about the future, WISC-TV reported.

"Just like we try to produce the highest quality milk we can, to make the best cheese for Wisconsin in general, we're going to get better at producing gasses," Ripp said.

"Do you think somebody said 50 years ago we could make energy out of something that's coming out of the back end of a cow? No," said Jerry Maier, another family farmer. "Nowadays you can; you can capture that gas, turn it into electricity and that's a good thing."

County officials said they hope to have the digester, which will be built and run by Clear Horizons out of Milwaukee, constructed by the end of the year and producing power by March.

The county said it's looking for the next group of farmers to do the same kind of project and said it'd put it in the same area because it's the start of the Yahara River watershed.