Ohio project could eventually house 6 million layers

Hi-Q Egg Products, LLC, West Mansfield, Ohio, submits an application with the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

The project would be built in two phases on 473 acres near West Mansfield. The first phase would be for 4 million layers, and if sufficient demand is there, the operation could be expanded to 6 million layers, Tom Lohr, a Hi-Q spokesman, says in the Columbus Dispatch.

The company says on its Web site that in phase one, a state-of-the-art farm would be built with 10 environmentally-controlled houses for hen care, separate buildings for organic nutrient containment/storage/distribution, and on-site facility for feeding processing and grain purchasing, and a high-tech plant for the production of liquid egg products.

Construction of the first phase is targeted to commence April 2008, with start-to-finish of this phase estimated to be about 2.5 years.

Hi-Q says the new company established will produce egg products with priorities on food safety, environmental stewardship, employee care, and animal husbandry.

The egg farm is not without opposition, however. A newly-formed citizens group has formed to oppose Hi-Q, according to Feb. 3 article in the Dispatch. “Our major concern is that we already have a large population of chickens here. Nobody can tell us what the tipping point is,” says Pam Williams, president of the Northwest Neighborhood Alliance. A spokesman for Ohio’s Livestock Environmental Permitting Program says there is no time frame for the review process.

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