Farmer details dairy plans
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A Nebraska farmer says the dairy operation he's proposing along Highway 14 east of Janesville will create jobs and invest $35 million in Rock County. Todd Tuls presented his plans to the Bradford Town Board Tuesday night. Kyle Geissler reports. You can read more in Wednesday's Janesville Gazette.
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Todd Tuls
BRADFORD TOWNSHIP — A Nebraska farmer hopes to add 50 jobs and invest $35 million at a new dairy on the Rock Prairie east of Janesville that would milk 4,600 cows by the end of 2011.
More than 50 people packed the stuffy town hall to hear Todd Tuls present his plans to the Bradford Town Board and residents Tuesday night.
"As a future member of the community, I am looking forward to working with local farmers (and) local people," he said.
Tuls told the Gazette he could be applying for a town permit in four to six weeks.
The farm, called Rock Prairie Dairy, would have a total of 5,300 animals and milk 4,600 of them three times a day, he said. The site is a 160-acre parcel owned by Tom and Sue Metcalf on the northeast corner of Highway 14 and Scharine Road in far eastern Rock County.
Rock Prairie Dairy would be nearly twice the size of Larson Acres, the largest dairy in Rock County. Larson Acres is expanding and plans to have 2,300 milking cows and 600 dry cows.
Residents quizzed Tuls about the effect the dairy would have on the area, including on groundwater, roads and property values.
Margaret Pulera, who lives on McFarland Road about three miles from the proposed dairy, researched Tuls and his farms and asked pointed questions about manure spills, groundwater and what the neighbors of his current farms would say about him.
Tuls said his farms had two minor, recorded manure spills that they cleaned up. He said his farms have improved the safety measures and monitoring and hired more staff since the last spill.
"I'm coming to Wisconsin with that knowledge behind me," Tuls said, noting he's already been testing area wells.
Tuls and other state agriculture staff members in attendance responded to residents' concerns about groundwater and other issues by pointing to what they described as the state Department of Natural Resources' highly regulated permitting process. Tuls said he already is working with the DNR and state Department of Transportation.
Tuls said he's secured more than 5,000 acres for manure management. Stored manure would be covered, and the latest technologies would be used in handling and spreading manure, he said. The farm would have a 14-month storage capacity.
One resident wondered if the farm would ever expand.
Rock Prairie Dairy would be built for 5,300 animals, "and that's all it's ever going to have," he said. If he saw success at Rock Prairie Dairy, Tuls said he would look to building another dairy, possibly in Rock County.
Why Wisconsin?
Tuls said he is a fourth-generation dairy farmer, born and raised in Southern California.
"I had a passion for cows ever since I was real little, and (I) loved the dairy business," he said.
He farmed for years with his dad and brother until moving to Nebraska in 2000 to start his own farm. He's expanded ever since, now milking about 10,000 cows on two farms in Shelby, Neb., making him the state's largest dairy farmer.
A relationship with Grande Cheese, which has a plant in Juda in Green County, helped attract Tuls to the area. He sold milk to the plant for about five years and started discussions about possibly building a farm here to reduce freight costs, he said. He said he fell in love with the state, which he said is probably the best dairy state in the country because of its great environment for cows.
Milk plants in southern Wisconsin need more milk because the number of cows has dropped, he said. Bradford Township also provides big, open fields to spread manure and a lot of corn is grown in the area, he said.
The Rock Prairie Dairy would bring a $35 million investment into the county, Tuls said, between cattle, facilities and equipment. The farm would not raise young stock, but who would and where is yet to be decided, he said.
Tuls said he would not be moving to Wisconsin, but his son, who is a freshman in college, wants to continue in the business and might move to the Rock Prairie Dairy.
Aug 27, 2010 at 3:23 p.m.
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There is a great deal of research showing large CAFOs actually decrease employment opportunities, growth rates, and other economic activities in rural communities. More often than not, they receive numerous tax write-offs, are designed to use out-of-area suppliers (i.e. other members of their organization similar to the Walmart model), are designed to minimize the number of workers, and in the end, they create social, health and traffic costs that the local government usually must finance. Economic loss, environmental degredation (air, inefficient use of the land and water resources, water pollution, etc.) and danger to consumers (i.e., meat products from animals kept healthy through over-abundant use of drugs) is inevitably suffered by the neighbors and communities near a CAFO and these hidden costs are always significant in spite of all the promises. http://www.sraproject.org/factoryfarms/i...
Aug 27, 2010 at 2:17 p.m.
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Setinmyways, there is a HUGE difference between a CAFO and a family farm with 50-300 cows.
You don't need to preach, I LIVE in the country. Dairy farmers are my neighbors. I love where I live. I have visited CAFOS, hog, beef, and dairy, and the heavy, lingering smell is nothing like a smaller farm. I would never purchase land near a CAFO for groundwater, spillage, and odor concerns.
Aug 27, 2010 at 12:49 p.m.
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Sentinmyways, AND IF YOU BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ THAT THIS GUY SAYS HE IS GOING TO DO---THEN I HAVE SOME FLORIDA SWAMPLAND THAT IS HIGH AND DRY TO SELL YOU!!
Aug 27, 2010 at 9:20 a.m.
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Its kind of funny, I was talking about this with a small family farmer friend, he said he would be glad to sell him his cows. You cannot make it on a small farm anymore, this is the wave of the future. We see it in buisness every day, mergers, single entities getting bigger, Wal-Mart type stores. But the farm is supposed to be the little one it was 50 years ago.
Housewife, what do you mean values going down because of stench, I doubt the farm next door will lose value. Oh you mean the house built IN THE COUNTRY WHERE FARMS ARE. Ground water concerns are valid, but did the big farm in Evansville cause the problem? Waste is managed and regulated. Its been said he will use a setup that generates power from the methane and a filter that cleans the water cleaner than most streams around. I am all for it, he will buy feed from other farmers and local mills, buys services local, buy most things local. It will be good for the county.
Aug 27, 2010 at 7:43 a.m.
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rnakr- Could you post some resources as to the subsidies this farm will receive?
Aug 26, 2010 at 6:25 p.m.
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It is for the love of money that a agribusiness such as this CAFO dairy is looking to move to Wisconsin. They are running out of potable water in California and other western states. If these large operations internalized the true costs of their operations in terms of habitat destruction and environmental damage they could not exist.
How many small dairy operations will close as the result of this highly subsidized operation?
Aug 26, 2010 at 2:09 p.m.
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2dognight- That's fine, but what about the people whose property value will plummet due to the stench?
It's up to the people of Bradford to push for what they want with their township.
It sounds like Margaret Pulera is on the right track.
Aug 26, 2010 at 2:01 p.m.
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Get a reverse osmosis filter for your water so you will be safe for drinking and washing.
Aug 26, 2010 at 1:44 p.m.
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Sign up for a job working for a college freshman?
Aug 26, 2010 at 11:42 a.m.
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sign me up for one of the jobs
Aug 26, 2010 at 9:11 a.m.
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I get so tired of people looking for ways for something NOT to work.
Aug 26, 2010 at 8:48 a.m.
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Manure is "black gold" for the farmers. It it too valuable to use in a methane digester to produce heat and electricity. At some point in the future that will all change and the methane will be captured to power the farm.
Any new farm being built today should consider methane capture or methane digestion as a way to save or make money. Check out farmer's like the Crave Brothers. They have the right idea.
Aug 25, 2010 at 9:27 p.m.
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Tell ya what, you come up with a better idea to get rid of this waste and we'll go with that. Until then, Rock County needs JOBS. Remember work? People would like to do that. Perhaps you can whip up a methane-burning plant for them, and that would add more jobs!
Aug 25, 2010 at 8:35 p.m.
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160 acres for 5,300 animals?
Take the time to watch the film "Poisoned Waters" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/...
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Peter Lane Taylor, a writer and TV producer, stated in his article "Florida Dairy Farms and Springs Protection: Got Solutions?," published on www.floridasprings.org (accessed June 17, 2008):
"Cows are prolific producers of manure and urine. In an average day of grazing, milking, and just mooing about, one dairy cow can generate over 100 pounds of manure and urine...
In areas and facilities where cows are milked, fed, and staged between the various phases of the milking process, wastes are removed through pressure-washing, and in some cases, even bulldozing. Once flushed from these facilities, the wastes - now a semi-solid sludge - are directed into holding ponds to await their final disposal through one of two techniques.
In the first of these techniques, the mixture is spread in a thin layer over a large field by truck so that the nutrients can be absorbed as fertilizer by a variety of nitrogen absorbing plants like alfalfa and other grasses. In the second, cow manure mixture is further diluted with water and sprayed over a large area by a center-pivot irrigation system. In reality, neither of the techniques is full proof; a percentage of the nutrients bypasses the root system and enters the underground aquifer."
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