SALEM, Ohio — Construction of one of the largest manure storage facilities in the area began late last month on Scott Lindsay’s Pine Hill Jersey Farm near New Waterford, Ohio.
The monstrous above-ground concrete storage pit is 170 feet in diameter and 16 feet deep, and will hold approximately 2.5 million gallons of manure, according to Mitch Cattrell, a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service conservationist stationed in Columbiana County.
USDA and local soil and water conservation district employees worked with Lindsay to secure some $230,000 in federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, funds to cost-share the project, according to Cattrell. The project is one of the top two dollar-wise for the fiscal year in this part of the state, he said.
Local work
The project, described by Cattrell as “quite a large undertaking,” is not only notable for its size, but for the manpower behind it.
Instead of contracting work to firms outside the area — two of the closest builders for structures of this kind are in Wooster, Ohio, and Lancaster, Pa. — Lindsay opted to keep those federal dollars, and the portion of the costs he’ll kick in on his own, in the local area.
Surveying and engineering is done by Howells and Baird out of Salem; crews from Evans Excavating from East Palestine will move ground; and Tim Yarian Concrete from New Waterford will build the structure with materials from D.W. Dickey and Son in Lisbon, according to Cattrell.
“We’ve got a really good package that will keep all the money in the county,” Cattrell said.
Lindsay was unavailable for comment.
Sharing cost
The EQIP program is administered through the USDA’s National Resources Conservation Service.
The program provides financial payments and technical help to assist eligible participants in installing or implementing practices for conservation.
