A large dairy with farms in Columbia and Dane counties is proposing to grow its herd by more than 60 percent in the next five years as part of plans to consolidate its two facilities into one location.
Blue Star Dairy runs farms in the Columbia County town of Arlington and the Dane County town of Vienna. The two farms combined currently house 3,915 animals, including 1,200 cows in Arlington.Blue Star Dairy is exploring whether to relocate animals from its DeForest farm in the town of Vienna to its Arlington site as part of the farm’s long-term plan, said Brian Meinholz, one of the farm’s owners and main operators. He said consolidating will make the farm more efficient and allow it to expand to roughly 6,300 cows.“Both our Arlington and DeForest locations are currently operating under the required state and local permits,” Meinholz said in a statement. “We are now asking for an increase in the number of animals we can house at our Arlington farm.”
Under the proposed expansion, the concentrated animal feeding operation is projected to produce at least 45 million gallons of liquid waste each year.
Blue Star Dairy is seeking local approval prior to seeking changes to its state permit. The town board in Arlington is set to vote on whether to approve the farm’s proposed expansion, as well as a setback waiver to accommodate the expansion.
Nate Moll, town board chair for Arlington, noted the proposal comes as Virginia-based developer QTS Data Centers is looking to build the first phase of a $3 billion data center campus in the town of Vienna, near where the farm’s DeForest site is located.
Local media reports say QTS Data Centers requested an amendment to the town of Vienna’s comprehensive plan to allow development of its data center campus north of Highway V at Patton Road. The farm’s DeForest site is located north of Highway V on Patton Road, but it’s unclear whether the data center development would overlap with the farm.
Meinholz didn’t respond to a request to confirm whether its plans are driven by the proposed data center development.In its May application to the town, Blue Star Dairy said the first phase of its expansion would include 3,800 cows, calves and heifers. A June permit renewal application filed with the state indicates the first phase would be complete by the end of 2028. Subsequent phases would wrap up by 2030. The farm is proposing to purchase about 161 acres for the expansion.
The project would require 14 barns along with two additional waste storage facilities and a manure stacking area. The expansion would also require a total of four wells that are expected to use more than 274,000 gallons daily after the expansion is complete. A maximum of seven trucks daily would come and go from the site. The farm owns or rents more than 10,700 acres of land for manure spreading.
“We have people who are for it and think it’s great that we are continuing to grow the ag industry here in the town,” Moll said. “We also have people who are against it, thinking that it’s too big and will actually hurt the town.”
Randy Krause, who lives about 2 miles from the Arlington farm, said he’s concerned about the effects of the expansion on the town’s groundwater quantity and quality.
“We’ve already got very high nitrate levels in the water,” Krause said.
About 57 percent of 166 wells sampled in the town have nitrate levels higher than the state and federal health standard of 10 parts per million in drinking water. That’s according to data from the Center for Watershed Science and Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The data might not be representative of groundwater quality for the entire area.
Nitrates are the state’s most widespread contaminant and have been associated with blue baby syndrome, thyroid disease and colon cancer. About 90 percent of nitrate contamination in Wisconsin’s groundwater is linked to agriculture.
The farm has more than the required 180 days of manure storage. In its application, Blue Star Dairy said most stormwater runoff would be routed to a proposed stormwater pond, and peak flows would withstand a 100-year, 24-hour rainfall event. An environmental response plan also covers injuries, fire emergencies, carcass disposal, odor management and manure spills or failures.
The farm would need multiple town, county and state permits for the project. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will combine the farm’s two CAFO permits under one as Blue Star Dairy seeks to renew its permit and move forward with the expansion. The DNR is waiting for additional plans and details from the farm before the agency moves forward with its process for reissuing a permit.
This story is republished with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin State Farmer: Dairy CAFO Blue Star Farms seeks to consolidate, grow herd by thousands in southern Wisconsin
Reporting by Danielle Kaeding / Wisconsin State Farmer
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