REYNOLDSBURG – The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) will hold an open house and public meeting on Aug. 8, 2017, on the draft Permit to Operate (PTO) and draft Permit to Install (PTI) for MVP Dairy. The open house will be held from 6:30 to 7 p.m. followed by the public meeting at the Mercer County Central Services Building, first floor conference room at 220 W. Livingston St., Celina.
The department will provide an opportunity for recording public comments concerning the draft permits. Oral comments can be made in person and on the record at the public meeting. Written comments must be received by ODA no later than 5:00 p.m. on August 15th. Comments must be delivered or mailed to ODA Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting (DLEP), 8995 East Main Street, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068. Comments received after August 15th will not be considered by the Director before making a determination on the permit.
The draft permits can be reviewed and/or copies made at the Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting (DLEP) office at: A.B. Graham Building, 8995 E. Main St., Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 or the Mercer County Soil and Water Conservation District office at 220 W. Livingston St., Suite 1, Celina, OH 45822.
MVP Dairy proposes a dairy farm that would be located at 7124 U.S. 33, Celina. It would be owned and operated by MVP Dairy, LLC, and situated in the St. Marys River Watershed.
The draft PTI proposes to construct six new freestall barns to house 750 mature dairy cows each, which would be a proposed overall design capacity of 4,500 mature dairy cows. The draft PTI also proposes to construct a series of storage and treatment components for the manure that will be generated at the facility. Specifics on the treatment components and manure estimates can be found in the attached fact sheet.
All of the manure generated at the facility would initially be land applied under the control of MVP Dairy. Within the plan, a little over 600 acres will be under center pivot irrigation systems that will utilize the manure nutrients from the irrigation pond during the growing season, as well as any necessary slurry manure that would be needed for the planned double crop rotation of corn silage and rye grass silage. The rye will be planted following the corn silage harvest and then harvested as ryelage in the spring. The facility also has approximately another 3,150 acres available for the majority of the slurry manure and separated solids. These non-irrigated acres would have corn grown for either silage or grain. The dairy also anticipates working with other surrounding crop farmers that may wish to utilize the manure nutrients as a supplement to commercial fertilizers when it becomes fully operational.
The draft PTO includes plans to manage manure nutrients, prevent and control insect and rodent problems, handle emergency situations, and properly dispose of mortality losses. The PTO also includes an Operating Record that provides the forms and information that must be maintained by the facility to comply with ODA rules and the permit.
The Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting maintains an “interested parties” list for each Ohio County and well as a statewide list for notification of all draft permits. If you would like to be added to either or both of these lists, send a request to [email protected] or call 614-387-0470
