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Applications filed for Bradford dairy

BRADFORD TOWNSHIP — A Nebraska dairy farmer has filed for the necessary state permits to operate a 4,600-cow dairy east of Janesville in Bradford Township.

Todd Tuls of Shelby, Neb., last week turned in a nearly complete application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said wastewater engineer Mark Cain. Tuls also has filed his application with the town of Bradford for a permit to operate under the state’s livestock-siting law, said Clerk Sandra Clark.

Cain expects the application to be completed within a few weeks, he said. That will officially start the clock on a number of permits needed for the dairy, Cain said from his office in the city of Fitchburg.

Clark said the town has 45 days to deem Tuls’ application complete. The town’s attorney is reviewing the documents, and the town will have to decide whether to hire an engineer or work with the Rock County Land Conservation Department to review the application.

Tuls wants to build a dairy farm at the corner of Highway 14 and Scharine Road that would milk 4,600 cows and would have a total of 5,300 animals.

The new facility would be a $35 million investment in Rock County, Tuls has said. Tuls will contract between 6,000 and 7,000 acres for manure disposal and crop production to feed the herd, Cain said.

Tuls hopes to have the operation up and running by the end of 2011.

If it is built, the farm will have the most cows in the county. Currently, Rock County has about 12,500 cows, UW Extension dairy and livestock agent Randy Thompson has said.

The collection of state, local and county permits that Tuls needs will be intended to regulate manure and feed storage and transfer, wastewater disposal, waste disposal and many other aspects of the operation.

The wastewater permit and other DNR permits are separate from the state’s livestock-siting law, Cain said. However, both permits consider much of the same information, he said.

Tuls operates Double Dutch Dairy, a 10,000-cow operation about 80 miles west of Omaha.