Boyanup farmer Alan Garstone hits back at feedlot critics

Boyanup farmer Alan Garstone has hit back at critics of his contentious $7 million sheep feedlot, saying the facility — which received works approval this month — will be “the cleanest you could imagine”. Chief among neighbouring landowners’ concerns is that the Kingston Rest feedlot will cause an unbearable stink that will devalue their properties and ruin the amenity of The Plains. Mr Garstone dismissed this, saying odour management plans complied with Meat and Livestock Australia’s National Procedures and Guidelines for Intensive Sheep and Lamb Feeding Systems. “I’m really quite sure that odour has been well taken care of, and I don’t think we’ve got a concern there,” he said. “We’ve got separation distances that work from Australian experience with feedlots. “We’ve gone along with those guidelines that are there for the industry and farming districts. They are calculated as though it was an open feedlot, which is way different to a covered feedlot — a covered feedlot is much milder.” Planning approval for the feedlot — which will be contained in three roofed, open-walled sheds — was granted on the condition that Kingston Rest conduct a post-development odour impact assessment. When asked what would be done if the assessment failed, Mr Garstone said he did not have a “definite answer”. “But the general idea is that if there’s a problem, we remedy it,” he said. The upgraded feedlot has an approved holding capacity of 27,750 head of sheep at any one time, which will be housed in an induction shed and two feed sheds. According to planning documents, those sheep will generate 12,600 tonnes of manure per year, which will collect on a 30mm thick hotmix hardstand pad beneath the sheds’ raised steel mesh floors. The manure will be removed once a year during autumn, and about 25 per cent spread over paddocks on the premises at a rate of 13.36 dry tonnes per hectare, with the rest to be taken off-site and sold. The sheer volume of manure has led to environmental concerns from neighbours, who are worried it will become wet and run off into the already polluted Capel River catchment. But Mr Garstone said the plans had been approved by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation and there was “zero problem”. “All the manure is underneath the roof . . . and there is virtually zero runoff that isn’t controlled,” he said. “It’ll be the cleanest feedlot that you could imagine.” Capel Land Conservation District Committee founding member Michael Tichbon said the feedlot’s location —in a high water-table, low-lying waterlogged area — was unsuitable because it was “too wet”. Mr Garstone dismissed this argument too. “Everything we’re doing is well above the water table; all our manure is under the sheds on a hotmix base, so there is no seepage through to the water table,” he said. “This is state of the art and way better than any other sheep feedlot; the others don’t have sealed floors. “As far as the environment goes … this feedlot is certainly built to a standard that’s way beyond anything else that’s been considered, probably in WA as far as I know, and definitely in this district.” Another major concern for neighbouring farmers — including sheep stud operators and cattle producers — is the risk of Johne’s disease. Mr Garstone said the feedlot would only cater to lambs under 15 months old, adding sheep did not shed or show any signs of JD until they were three to five years old. According to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s website, sheep infected by JD “may take three to five years to show signs”. However, lambs and weaners are “most at risk of picking up infection” and “the time between infection and the sheep shedding bacteria in faeces is generally nine months to two years”, it says. Cattle are usually infected early in life but incapable of spreading the disease to other animals until they start to shed the bacteria in their faeces — usually after three to five years of age, according to DPIRD. “Young (cattle) under 12 months are most susceptible to becoming infected, usually through suckling udders contaminated with infected faeces,” DPIRD’s website states. “They can also be infected by drinking infected or contaminated colostrum or milk and grazing contaminated pasture or feed.” Sheep can also become infected by consuming pasture or water contaminated by infected faeces.