Dairy farmer may house 5,428 cows
US - Former Procter land in Madison County would become home to state's largest dairy operation.
5 January 2007
1 minute read
A Dutch family, the van Bakels, wants to build a $35 million dairy farm capable of housing 5,428 cows on the farm. Annual payroll for 35 employees would be $1.3 million, said the project's environmental consultant, Tom Menke of Menke Consulting in Greenville.
The Procter family of Procter & Gamble fame formerly owned the farm, Menke said. The farm once housed thousands of beef cattle and one of the state's largest swine farms, he said.
The van Bakels' Orleton Farms, LLC purchased the 5,290-acre farm in 2001 for $12.8 million, or $2,470 an acre.
Orleton Farms will submit permit applications to state officials in a few weeks, Menke said. But when it does, the Nature Conservancy wants the state to stiffen regulations, given the proposed dairy's location in the Big Darby Creek watershed, home to 38 endangered species of fish and mussels.
An Ohio Environmental Protection Agency study last year found an 80 percent reduction of phosphorus was needed in the watershed, said Anthony Sasson, freshwater conservation coordinator for the Nature Conservancy's Ohio chapter. "It's unlikely that a large dairy farm would help meet that goal," Sasson said.
Source: Dayton Daily News
