ST. PAUL — State regulators on Monday, Feb. 10, began accepting comments on a proposed expansion that would triple the capacity of a pig farm in Otter Tail County.
As envisioned, the expansion would provide Otter Wings LLP with space for approximately 7,500 hogs. The farm, located near Sebeka, was originally permitted to accommodate only 2,500.
Comments on the environmental assessment completed for the project and the draft feedlot permit related to it can be submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency through March 11. The farm's operators plan to begin housing animals this month, according to the MPCA.
The expansion project calls for the modification of two existing barns and the construction of four new ones. The newer barns, according to the MPCA, will have slatted floors through which manure can pass to a storage area.
The confined feeding operation, according to the MPCA, would reduce the potential for air and odor emissions. Otter Wings plans to hire a contractor to spread manure on up to 886 acres nearby the farm in a process known as land application, further reducing odor.
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The company would be given fewer than 10 days a year to spread the manure, according to the MPCA, and would primarily do so in spring before the planting season, in summer after the first hay cutting and in fall after harvest.
The MPCA estimates the expanded farm would produce approximately 910 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
