Continental dairy farm plans expansion
CONTINENTAL — A Continental area dairy farm could soon be nearly tripling the number of dairy cows they have producing milk.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture has received a draft Permit to Install and a draft Permit to Operate a dairy farm from Continental Dairy, LLC at 7089 Road 22, Continental, the same location as the Van Ham Dairy, which in the past, was cited by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for allowing discharges of manure and wastewater into a Blanchard River tributary. Van Ham Dairy Leasing LLC, the company that owned the farm’s real estate, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2010.
The operation currently has the capacity to house 2,426 mature dairy cows in four barns. The owners want to remodel one barn and construct two new barns to increase the facility’s maximum capacity to 6,999 mature dairy cows.
Operators also have plans to deal with the increased manure, both liquid and solid that would result from the expansion.
The draft PTI, which would be good for two years if approved, the draft Permit to Operate would be good for five years.
The permit would include a complete manure management plan which outlines inspections and monitoring that must be completed by the facility. At capacity, the facility would generate an estimated 64.11 million gallons of liquid manure and stormwater annually in addition to 4,000 tons of manure solids.
A public virtual meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 3 to give people a chance to hear more about the proposed expansion of the dairy.
Instructions to participate in the virtual public meeting can be found at https://bit.ly/3dYX7gh
People wishing to make oral comments must register with the Ohio Department of Agriculture by 5 p.m. on June 3. The registration link is https://bit.ly/32TfXPn
Completed registration forms should be submitted via email to [email protected].
People can also submit oral or written comments concerning the permits to: Ohio Department of Agriculture, Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting, 8995 East Main St., Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068; 614-387-0470 or [email protected].
Comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 10.
A copy of the draft permits can be obtained by submitting a public records request at this link: https://bit.ly/3gJLewg.
A plan to expand Continental Dairy, LLC will increase the capacity of the operation by 4,564 dairy cows.
Continental Dairy, LLC plans to renovate an existing barn and add two more under a proposal submitted to the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Reach Sam Shriver at 567-242-0409.
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