Maple Leaf Dairy Reduces Proposed Expansion Plan

CLEVELAND — Maple Leaf Dairy, on County Highway XX and adjacent to Interstate 43, is not expanding to a 9,400-animal operation. The dairy, which has been the center of contention in the past year or so, had applied in December 2001 for a new Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge System permit from the Department of Natural resources for the expanded operation. That plan has significantly changed, according to John Roach, general manager of Ag Environmental Solutions. "The plan to expand to 9,400 animals is off the table," Roach told a crowd of about 70 area residents and farmers at Lakeshore Technical College during a joint meeting of Centerville Cares and Pro Ag/Pro Environment of Manitowoc County. "The new permit will be (for an operation) slightly above current levels," said Roach, who is helping with the new permit application. "They have about 3,500 animals now and will go to about 4,000 animals." Roach's company installed phase one of a new manure handling system on the dairy about a month ago. With the new system, about half of the liquid is removed from the manure leaving it virtually odorless and the consistency and appearance of peat. The solid manure is being piled in an above-ground storage area and will be spread on the ground, Roach said. "The piles do not attract files or seagulls," Roach said. Phase two of the system, which should be installed in about a month, will filter the removed liquid so that it can be recycled for use on the farm, Roach said. By the time the second phase is in place, Tod Leiteritz, president of the dairy operation, the dairy will have invested more than $500,000 in the manure handling system, Roach said. Roach acknowledges that his system is still very new and that they are still conducting research on the system and what it can do. "I hope we never stop experimenting," Roach said. Also part of the meeting was an update on the two Discovery Farms that are being planned for Manitowoc County. The Discovery Farm project, created by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, enables experts to understand the source and of non-point pollution; how to reduce the amount of phosphorus and E Coli that leaches into rivers and lakes as well as what manure and fertilizing systems work best given an area's soil type and the type of farm operation, according to Russ Tooley, president of Centerville Cares, a citizen's group in the Cleveland area. The two Manitowoc farms selected for the project are Soaring Eagle Dairy, on county Highway F in the Town of Newton, and Saxon Homestead Farm, off county Highway XX near county Highway LS. Soaring Eagle is a confined animal feeding operation and Saxon is a grazing operation, Tooley said. The two farms are the first Discovery Farms in this part of the state, Tooley said. Typically, it costs about $100,000 to start one Discovery Farm and about $25,000 to operate each year, Tooley said.