041013 Hog Confinement Facility Hopes to Expand

Arnold, NB - A proposed hog confinement operation between Arnold and Callaway will put Custer County's new zoning regulations to the test.

Thomas Livestock plans to expand its operation with construction of a building and lagoon 13 miles west of Callaway on Highway 40. The site will then be one mile north of the highway, said Thomas Livestock owner R.J. Thomas.

The building will actually be owned by Carl Norden's Tvilling Farms in Broken Bow. Thomas Livestock will then lease the building and fill it with pigs, Thomas said.

The current plans call for a 100x540 foot building and one plastic-lined lagoon. The building will hold 2,500 animal units, equivelant to 6,249 finished swine. If the animals are smaller or if the building houses a combination of smaller and finished swine, the actual number of animals could be more.

The swine will be moved into the building at 10 pounds and finished for market, Thomas said.

Thomas Livestock began in 1966 and has focused more on hogs since 1985, when it began contracting the animals.

"We've been expanding slightly since then," Thomas said.

The company builds its facilities in areas of high corn production in order to use the nitrogen produced. The proposed facility will consume corn from four pivots and produce enough nitrogen to fertilize one pivot at 160 pounds of nitrogen per acre, Thomas explained.

Feed for the new confinement operation will be milled at the home site north of Oconto and hauled to the new building.

Permits to begin construction will not be issued until at least November. Weather will be the main factor in when construction begins if the permits are issued, Thomas said. If there is a mild winter, the project could begin right away, with pigs in the building around February. However, Thomas believes it's more likely that construction will not begin until spring, with pigs scheduled to arrive in June.

The new confinement facility must meet all Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and Custer County zoning standards.

In a public notice published in the Sept. 30 issue of the Arnold Sentinel, the DEQ notified the public that it "has the intent to issue a construction approval" for the facility and will either issue or deny construction after a review of written comments submitted to the DEQ.

The facility will also have to go through a public hearing process to pass Custer County's zoning regulations.

While an application has been picked up from Zoning Administrator Larry Gibbens, it has not been turned it yet.

The regulations require that confinement operations and the associated lagoons and compost sites, such as this, be located one-quarter of a mile away from existing residences, schools, churches or any other public use area, that are to the east, west and south of the operation. The regulations also state that operations of this type need to be one-half mile from existing homes, schools, churches and other public use areas to the north of the facility.

Thomas said the nearest house is one mile from the proposed site. "We're four times the zoning regulations," he stated. Carl Norden chose not to comment on the proposed confinement operation.

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