State bars dairy with history of manure spills from operating
HUNTINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A dairy farm with a history of manure releases that threatened a nearby reservoir will be sold to an Ohio-based company as part of an order barring the farm’s current owner from operating livestock farms in Indiana through 2048.
The agreement resolves several legal proceedings that had been pending against DeGroot Dairy and its owner, Johannes DeGroot, because of several manure discharges that had spilled into tributaries of northeastern Indiana’s Salamonie Reservoir.

Under the agreed order recently issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), DeGroot will sell his dairy farm to Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development LLC, which takes immediate responsibility for its daily operations.

Don Lindsey, a neighbor and longtime opponent of the dairy, called DeGroot “not a trustworthy farmer.” He said he’s unhappy with the overall agreement because the Wauseon, Ohio-based Vreba-Hoff wants to expand the herd size from 1,400 to 2,500.
“IDEM has been a real disappointment for us. We thought they were here to help us as citizens,” he said. “Why would they allow an increase in the herd size when they could not maintain the facility at the size that it is now? It just makes no common sense at all.”

Barry Sneed, an IDEM spokesman, said the application for the farm’s expansion is under technical review and there will be an opportunity for the public to comment in coming weeks. Vreba-Hoff spokeswoman Cecilia Conway said the additional 1,100 cows are needed to finance improvements planned for the farm, including a new anaerobic manure treatment process.

“We are trying to calm the concerns of the locals and put the farm under better management,” she said.

Conway said Vreba-Hoff will operate the farm and eventually own it, though the transfer has not been fully executed.

In the past decade, Vreba-Hoff has helped nearly 50 Dutch families set up dairy farms in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. But the company has had regulatory skirmishes in other states because of an overpowering stench and pollution from its concentrated animal feeding operations. Those farms generally hold thousands of cows and produce hundreds of thousands of gallons of manure each day.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has been in a legal tug-of-war with Vreba-Hoff for several years, filing a lawsuit in 2003 that resulted in a 2004 consent decree in which the company agreed to build an on-site waste treatment facility. Last year, the agency asked a judge to hold the company in contempt of court for violating the decree, asserting that Vreba-Hoff was still failing to correctly dispose of manure.

But Sneed said Vreba-Hoff, which owns two facilities in the state and is associated with 24 others, is in good standing in Indiana.
“We haven’t had problems with the new owner, and the new owner will fix problems that are there,” he said.

Michigan fines Bay County dairy farm over runoff

GARFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The state Department of Environmental Quality has fined a large Bay County dairy farm.
The Bay City Times reports the state said Weber Dairy in Garfield Township sent polluted runoff for years to a drain that leads to Saginaw Bay. A recently signed administrative consent order includes a $4,000 penalty and requires the owners to install a new, larger manure storage lagoon.

Co-owner Allen Weber contends there haven’t been any discharges to the drain at the farm, which has about 350 cows. Weber said it will cost $100,000 or more to construct a new, larger lagoon.
State: Dutch family at center of farm dispute can expand dairy
JAMESTOWN, Ohio (AP) — A Dutch family at the heart of a community dispute over plans for a large dairy farm has been granted final permits to expand a smaller dairy farm.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture issued the permits to Martien and Gees DeHaan last week, allowing them to expand Meerland Dairy in southwestern Ohio from 690 to 1,884 cows. The DeHaan family’s plans to build a 2,100-cow dairy nearby in Greene County’s Ross Township raised concerns over pollution and odor and prompted the township to enact a zoning ordinance requiring local farming permits.

DeHaan tried to have the zoning requirement declared illegal in court, but the effort failed last year. The family went ahead with plans to build a smaller dairy nearby – across the county line in Fayette County. That farm will benefit from the state permits just issued.

Court rejects complaints over proposed Iowa hog facility

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday rejected the complaints of neighbors of a proposed hog confinement operation, saying they failed to prove it would be a nuisance.

The case revolved around the proposed construction of a confinement facility in Kossuth County in northern Iowa. General Development LLC received an application from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in 2003 to build a confinement that would house nearly 11,000 pigs.

Sixteen neighbors filed a complaint seeking an injunction to stop the construction of the confinement, citing potential odors, water contamination, health effects and reduction in property values. The district court rejected the request, saying the neighbors failed to prove anticipatory nuisance. The neighbors appealed, and the Supreme Court upheld the district court’s ruling.

“While the neighbors raised legitimate concerns, our role in this case is not akin to a zoning board,” the court wrote in its ruling. “An injunction based on an anticipatory nuisance is an extraordinary remedy and requires proof a nuisance will necessarily result from the developers’ proposal.”

The court also ruled that expert witnesses for General Development were credible and cast doubt and whether the confinement would create a nuisance and that there is no proof beforehand that the neighbors’ concerns would be realized.

Second person charged for 70 malnourished horses
NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A second person has been charged with animal cruelty after 74 malnourished horses were found on a Jessamine County farm.

Authorities said Argo Clagett has been charged with second-degree animal cruelty. Clagett’s wife, Sharon, was charged with the same misdemeanor on March 26.

Authorities say the Tennessee walking horses were in poor condition because of the lack of grass in the field. The Jessamine County Humane Society said the horses have been taken to undisclosed locations in Jessamine and Garrard counties to receive treatment.

The Humane Society and county government are paying for the horses’ care until the case goes to trial or the Clagetts surrender ownership of the animals.