The Trigg County Fiscal Court is tabling an ordinance to regulate poultry farms after mixed public reaction.
The fiscal court made the decision to postpone the second reading of an ordinance during Monday’s regular meeting.
Judge Executive Hollis Alexander said the ordinance began with residents complaining about the smell and noise coming from nearby farms where free-range chicken coups are in use.
Alexander said the ordinance would set restrictions on farms larger than 40 acres requiring free-range chicken barns be located at least 500 feet away from non-poultry producers, houses and county roadways.
“That stand point was trying to distance a little bit from city limits, property owners, people that did not want to be affected by the smell or by the runoff and the litter of the chickens," said Alexander.
University of Kentucky Extension Agent Tony Pescatore said these ordinances are coming in counties with large chicken broiler operations such as Cumberland County, which Trigg's is based off of.
"If a farmer well-manages his houses, keeps the poultry bedding dry, there's minimum odors, we do have problems like that, we do have increased moisture in the manure and that could cause ammonia release," said Pescatore. "But it's not much to cause a problem, per say, in a good situated house, but good management prevents the problem."
However, Alexander said that over the course of discussion he and other magistrates became aware that there are already state laws and EPA provisions on liming chicken farm sizes and to pass another one would be redundant.
“We didn’t know it to be a fact and once we gotten deeper into this and realized that there are things that are governing all those operations already, we may have had a different approach to this whole thing from the get-go," said Alexander. "Maybe I take responsibility for that and not doing my homework before the first reading.”
Alexander says the ordinance was precautionary as there are currently no Trigg County chicken farms over 40 acres in size, but a few variety farmers have started to use free-range chicken coups.
The ordinance will be discussed again at the fiscal court's next scheduled meeting Nov. 2.
