Mount Vernon News

NEWCASTLE — Herb Miller’s broiler chicken farm stands on a rolling hill less than a mile south of the hamlet of Newcastle in Coshocton County. The farm was the site of a tour held Thursday by Case Farms to give a glimpse of a broiler-raising facility to Knox County officials and concerned neighbors of a similar operation planned for Monroe Township. The Monroe Township facility will be part of the farm of Jim McDonald, and will be located atop the hill directly northeast of the intersection of Paige and Wooster roads. Neighbors and other citizens have expressed concern about the possible impact of the chicken farm on health, environment and property values.

Neighbors Lauren McKenzie and Roy Wilson joined County Commissioners Allen Stockberger, Bob Wise and Tom McLarnan, Knox Soil and Water Conservation District officials Rob Clendening and Nelson Shuff, and Monroe Township Trustee Debbie McIlvoy for the tour, which was led by Case Farms’ housing manager Mike Keefer, with technical backup from Case Farms’ broiler manager, Sean Wise.

McKenzie and Wilson were there to get more information about the chicken operations and see first-hand what they were like.

“We’re very concerned about the proximity to neighbors,” McKenzie said, adding that concerns of soil, water and air pollution were important, too.

“My concern is what it’s going to do to my neighborhood,” Wilson said. “Where’s my health at? Where’s the water go? Where’s the excess runoff go? What’s it going to do to my water table? I want to find out and we will.”

After a question and answer session, the tour proper began with a walk around the two chicken barns on the Miller farm, located a few hundred yards back from the farmhouse. One end of the barns was covered with air conditioning units which cool the air during the hottest days of summer. In Miller’s barns, the exhaust fans were placed at the far end of the barns, away from the house. Keefer said that in most barns, the fans are toward the center of the structure.

Behind, and slightly uphill of the barns, was a large concrete pad where chicken waste and litter (sawdust bedding that has soaked up feces and urine) are composted. The Miller manure pile was open to the elements, though they can be made with a top covering, which Miller is planning on adding to his this year, according to Keefer.

McKenzie noted that the manure appeared to be leaching off the edge of the concrete pad on one side.

“It probably is leaching a little,” Keefer said, “But where’s it going to go?” He pointed out that the pile had been located so that any runoff would run downhill into a trough by the barns. Drainage troughs beside the barns direct runoff into pipes running under and around the barns into an earthen water retention basin built into the hillside during construction of the facility. Keefer says that farmers are not required to keep the water retention ponds after construction, but that most do, because it costs money to have it removed, and because it still keeps working, trapping, diluting and absorbing runoff.

To prevent contamination of the birds, visitors donned paper jumpsuits, hair nets and plastic booties before entering the office of the barn. The small office contained breaker boxes, computer readout panels and other monitoring equipment. There is a manual override backup system that can keep the electronic systems running as long as generators provide power during a general power outage. A water pressure controller monitors water so that the chickens are not watered too much, which can increase the amount of odor from ammonia.

Inside the barn, tens of thousands of chickens shared floor space, less than a square foot for each bird. Cold cathode bulbs filled the long barn with dim light, while a slight amount of sunlight spilled in through ventilation slots on the sides. Negative pressure ventilation is used, with fans pulling air through exhaust vents, and pulling fresh air in through the ventilation slots. During hot weather, the fans pull air through the tunnel doors which cover air conditioning units. According to Keefer, the units can keep the barns at 70 degrees on a 100-degree summer day.

Pipes drop down to just a little above the chickens’ height to provide water. The height is set so that the birds have to get under the pipe’s outlets, thus swallowing all the water and not letting much fall on the ground. Parallel pipes also deliver food to round troughs for the chickens. The water and feed pipes run the full length of the building.

The ammonia smell was definitely noticeable inside the barn, stronger toward the edge, more diffuse toward the center. While McKenzie found the odor very unpleasant, Shuff, who farms hogs, said he found it very light and not at all bad. Broiler manager Sean Wise estimated the ammonia level in the barn to be at about 15 parts per million. The birds suffer health problems if the level raises to 50 parts per million.

The chickens are brought to the farm as chicks and grow for about 50 days before they are trucked to the Case Farms processing plant in Winesburg. The computer panel in the office showed a death rate of 1.4 percent in the current week, which was about a week before market, with an additional 0.6 percent being culled in anticipation of failing health.

In the end, the officials seemed satisfied that the operation showed evidence of genuine attempts being made to do the right thing and set up an efficient, non-polluting facility.

But Roy Wilson was not impressed.

“It’s a shame that farmers can put their value before neighbors and friends,” Wilson said. “I’m very upset. I’m not going to stop here. I have a Realtor coming over today to give me a value right now. We will deal with it. He will suffer the consequences. I will sue. I have every intention of suing. It’s just wrong, it’s just wrong, it’s just wrong.”

McKenzie demurred from commenting directly.

“I’d like to get to a higher elevation with some fresher air,” she said. “I don’t think it can be found here.”

During the drive back to Knox County, McKenzie said that after visiting a broiler farm, she is certain that she wouldn’t want one 385 feet from her home. Shuff said that he’d gladly have one within 100 feet of his home, as long as it was placed downwind of the house. Clendening said that it was difficult to see how larger, more concentrated animal operations like this could be avoided with the current massing of populations in cities.

“Everyone wants the food,” Shuff said, “But it’s always: Not in my back yard.”