By KEVIN LILLY, Pharos-Tribune staff writer
The name of the latest economic development in Cass County suits its location.
Far Hills Dairy is a Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development project that will be situated at 1000N and 1000W in the northwestern corner of Cass County, near the White and Pulaski county lines some 5 miles from Royal Center.
Vreba-Hoff, along with the Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation, announced the creation of the 3,200 head dairy operation on approximately 90 acres this morning. It is being touted as a generator of economic opportunities for the county.
“Dairy operations have become incredible economic engines for rural locations in Indiana, LEDF President Skip Kuker said. “This facility will have a positive financial impact on our farming community.”
The dairy operation will employ approximately 32 employees. Payroll is expected to exceed $800,000 annually. The facility will operate 23 and half hours per day, seven days a week and produce more than 25,000 gallons of raw milk per day. The initial estimated investment into the project is more than $18 million.
The milk from the farm will be transported throughout the state for production of other dairy products such as cheese, butter and ice cream.
Other benefits include the need to purchase more than $5 million of goods and services annually to support the farm’s operation, according to LEDF. These include local repair services, trucking firms and veterinarian services. It also will purchase more than 2,000 acres of corn and alfalfa locally.
“That means more money for the local farmers,” Kuker said.
Area farmers also will have a large supply of fertilizer from waste products.
Brian Daggy, a consultant with Agricultural Environmental Consulting, LLC, works on permitting at the federal, state and local levels and environmental compliance issues. He discussed why Cass County was chosen after a year of searching.
“The reasons did not come down to looking at a county per say as much as a local farmer or two that wanted to cooperate with the dairy and have adequate land base because this dairy will not raise corn, alfalfa for their own use. They will contract with neighboring farmers to supply silage from corn and alfalfa haylage raised within a few miles of the site. Those farmers in turn will also take manure produced at the dairy and land apply it as a fertilizer.”
Kuker said LEDF started working on the project in April. Land was recently secured and no incentives such as tax abatement are going to the dairy farm. When the project surfaced, the dairy farm was going to be 2,000 head of cattle so it has already increased in size. No more increases are anticipated.
Construction is to begin late in the fall or early spring and normally takes eight to 10 months. Cattle will begin arriving as soon as construction is completed, but not all at once. Typically, the cattle are brought in 200 or so at a time and built up over a period of months until capacity is reached.
Cattle will come from various locations throughout the country. The dairy will also will create an incentive for local farmers to raise cattle, Daggy said.
Anton and Ineke Verwayen will be the owners and operators of the family-run business.
“They want to be remote enough where they feel they can do their business and not have impact on others to any great extent, but they also want to be close enough to some cities and towns where they can get services,” Daggy said. “They look at a balance of things when they look at sites.”
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