ADAIR COUNTY, MO. -- Adair County residents have been asking a lot of questions about the new chicken farm being built on Apache Way near Route T. To get some answers, KTVO went straight to the source and interviewed the owner, John Mark Miller. Miller said the farm will house around 9,000 chickens.
"It's the right size I feel like for me. 9,000, or somewhere in that area, " said Miller. "It's big enough to be profitable and still not huge."
We asked him what he had to say to his concerned neighbors.
"I would be open to people talking. I was hoping to possibly, depending on how things go, have an open house before we fill," said Miller. "I've had poultry before. In fact, the poultry unit that I had before was a lot closer to population than what this is. It was right next to a town with lots of people and we got along fine with neighbors there."
Miller said he has been working with poultry since 1978. He said his last egg farm was located near Kalona, Iowa back in 2006.
In terms of the new farm, Miller plans to have the facility built and filled with chickens sometime between February and March. He said the chickens will be laying hens and they will produce brown eggs. He plans to let them run loose on the floor of the building.
"It'll be all natural, egg produced from there. They'll be fed a vegetarian diet. No hormones or antibiotics, at all in the feed."
When asked why chickens and eggs, he said the natural and organic egg market is growing rapidly. At first, Miller expects the chickens to produce smaller eggs but eventually, he hopes that 90-95% of the flock will lay eggs once a day. Miller plans to sell the eggs to Farmer's Hen House in Kalona, Iowa.
KTVO asked Miller what he would do with all of the waste that the chickens produce.
"That'll be applied to the land with a spreader. It'll be spread on the ground and incorporated into the ground."
Miller said he owns 400 acres of land in Adair County and said the manure produced by the chickens will not be enough to cover his own land.
KTVO also wanted to know what will happen to the chickens that die.
"We compost those. That's a very acceptable practice in the industry...to have a compost bin and composting."
Neighbors living in the area are concerned about the air quality deteriorating. Miller said he would closely monitor the situation.
"Poultry usually isn't a problem but it will be monitored. There are filters. I'll probably plant some more right around the building. More growth also helps. "
Miller also said his facilities are tested every three months to make sure they're Salmonella free.
John Miller said his fourth son, Leland Miller, will oversee the new farm and hand-gather the eggs. Miller said he doesn't expect to hire anyone else to work there.
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