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The Cleveland Plain Dealer
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Large livestock farms worry rural neighbors
160-acre dairy being planned with 675 cows

By JAMES HANNAH
Monday, August 07, 2000

A northwest Ohio couple’s first hint that they were getting new neighbors came in mid-May when a few wells popped up on property a half-mile from their brick, ranch-style rural home.

"I didn’t really think much of it," David Burkhart recalled. "I thought somebody was going to build a house there."

A few days later at a graduation party, they found out their neighbors will be cows - lots of them. Construction is expected to begin in September on a 160-acre dairy farm with 675 cows.

"Our mouths kind of dropped open," Kathy Burkhart said.

Although regulation of large-scale livestock farms has been among the hottest political issues in Ohio in recent years, neighbors do not have to be notified and no public hearing is required to establish a dairy farm with fewer than 700 cows.

Ohio has more than a hundred livestock farms larger than the one planned near the Burkharts’ 2.4-acre pine-, oak- and hickory-shaded lot in Putnam County. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency requires permits for farms with the most animals but gets involved with farms with fewer than 700 cows only if there are pollution complaints.

Manure from the dairy farm could leach into the water and cause illness, said David Burkhart. His parents are in their 80s, have a shallow well and could be especially vulnerable, he said.

"There will be a manure lagoon that is designed to hold a year’s supply of manure," he said. "My biggest fear is we would not know we had a problem until we got sick from it."

The Burkharts got their property in 1980 as a wedding present from his parents, who carved it out of a farm where they grew corn, wheat and soybeans and raised a few cows, pigs and chickens. The Burkharts have raised three teenage boys and treasure the natural setting and solitude the lot provides.

The nearby town, Miller City, is a cluster of homes about 50 miles southwest of Toledo.

Although used to rural life, Kathy Burkhart fears the dairy farm would produce more odor than they could handle.

"When you’ve lived here this many years and you’ve worked so hard to make your home a very comfortable, relaxing place to live in, a place to come home to, it’s just so frustrating," she said. "We feel it’s just not right."

The couple called a township trustee and learned that the operator of the dairy farm was going to be Jeroen Van Wezel, who works at a similar operation in Hudson, Mich. Van Wezel invited them to tour the Michigan farm.

The Burkharts took neighbors and local officials along. David Burkhart said he was haunted by a remark a man connected to the dairy operation made.

"He said: The country is for agriculture. Build your homes in town,’" Burkhart said. "That was real enlightening."

Van Wezel said he does not believe there will be any danger of manure leaching into the groundwater and that he plans to do everything he can to keep the flies and odor down.

"I know the concerns," said Van Wezel. "We have two little children. We want to be accepted by our neighbors."

He said some Putnam County farmers welcome his operation so they can use his cows’ manure to help grow alfalfa and corn silage.

Developer John VanderHoff, who helped Van Wezel and his wife find the Ohio property, said that the land is "quite remote" and that the Van Wezels were attracted to the area for the same reasons as current residents.

"As long as the Van Wezels manage it the way they know how, those concerns will be taken care of," said VanderHoff. "Any area you go into, there are going to be some people who are not going to like it. You just try to be neighborly and manage it responsibly."

The Burkhalts don’t want to wait and see how the farm turns out. They have collected more than 100 signatures from neighbors on a letter raising concerns about the farm and saying it would not be in the best interests of the community.

They also joined a group of citizens in six northwest Ohio counties who plan to ask Gov. Bob Taft to place a moratorium on building large-scale livestock farms until there is more study of their effects on health and property values. Similar moratoriums have been established in North Carolina and parts of Maryland, Kansas and Idaho.

"It’s going to take a public outcry," said Kathy Burkhart.

The governor is working with the legislature to tighten regulations on large livestock farms, said Scott Milburn, Taft’s press secretary.

"We’re past the idea of doing a study. We’re in the middle of acting right now," said Milburn.

There is nearly no way to know when a dairy farm under 700 cows is going to locate in an area unless residents carefully follow local real estate transactions, said attorney Rick Sahli, who has represented citizens opposed to megafarms. Applying to the Department of Natural Resources for a manure-handling permit is voluntary.

Residents can try to sue if their property values decline, but by that time the farm is already in place, Sahli said. The only options are to pressure the legislature to change the law or to collect signatures for a ballot initiative, he said.