REGION — The end of operations at Hillandale Farm in Turner could have long-lasting effects on dairy farmers and consumers locally.

The egg farm’s closure was reported by the Sun Journal on Monday, Jan. 6. “It’s horrible because it’s gonna affect all farming in the state of Maine because there was an awful lot of dairy farmers around the state who used the chicken manure from Hillandale to spread on their cornfields to grow corn,” the article quoted Sen. Jeff Timberlake of Turner.

On Wednesday The Franklin Journal spoke with several local farmers on what the closure will mean for their operations.

Henry Hardy of Farmington, who doesn’t raise corn, said the loss of hen manure definitely affects farmers’ choice of nutrients for grass production. “It has lots of calcium and nitrogen in it that we are not going to get,” he said. “We have been using wood ash but the nutrient content is nowhere near the hen manure. It doesn’t have the punch.”

More wood ash is also needed per acre, Hardy said. “It just doesn’t cut it. We get by with what we’ve got but you have to cover more acres to get the same amount,” he noted. “It will affect milk production indirectly. It affects our bottom line that’s for sure.”

The cost of wood ash is about the same as hen manure, Hardy said, and it enhances clover production. “It is a replacement for lime [which makes soil less acidic], he noted. “Two tons of wood ash equal a ton of lime,” he said. “It just doesn’t have the nitrogen you need to grow more grass per acre.”

Randy Hall of East Dixfield has used hen manure for corn silage grown on his organic dairy farm. “Organic fertilizer cost is phenomenal, so that’ll make a huge impact on our productivity,” he said. Hall Farm’s manure is spread on its fields, with some sold to local gardeners in the spring, he said. “We probably won’t sell any, will keep it for ourselves,” he said. “Unfortunately, cow manure doesn’t have as much nitrogen as hen manure does. The organic matter is there, and we do a lot of composting as well.”

Hall said his farm has been doing more crop rotation [growing a different crop on a specific field] in an effort to retain more nutrients in the soil. Clovers and alfalfa are able to incorporate nitrogen into the soil, so rotating those with corn helps, he said. “It’s not going to give us all the bang for the buck that we need, but that’s kind of what we have to do is to do that row crop rotation to incorporate that nitrogen with organic matter and make do the best we can,” he stated.

Hall sees other effects of the egg farm ceasing operations. “This is a huge step, because at one time, Turner, or the DeCoster egg farm was the largest brown egg producer in the world, with over seven million chickens down there,” he said. “So eggs were very readily available to consumers. Here in the state of Maine, there were so many eggs available, they were shipped out of state. They were shipped out of the country. And without that supply here, with this bird flu issue and whatnot there could be an egg shortage. Maine is on the end of the transportation line. Grain has to be trucked in, and so does much of our food. That’s something that is in the back of my mind.”

Farmers in Maine, and especially organic dairy farms, will be affected by the closure of Hillandale egg farm in Turner. Farmers have used hen manure to fertilize their crops as a good source of calcium, nitrogen and organic matter. Hay harvests could be reduced unless other fertilizers are used. Franklin Journal file photo

John Donald of New Sharon, who doesn’t grow corn for his cattle, used to use hen manure from Hillandale but hasn’t been able to get it for a while. “It makes it a pain in the ass,” he said. “If I have to go with chemical fertilizer it will affect me quite a lot.”

Randall Bates of New Vineyard has been unable to obtain the hen manure. “It definitely does hurt, I can tell you that,” he said. Past laws can have unintended consequences elsewhere, he said. It will affect a lot of people beyond the egg farm workers, he added.

Jim Davis of New Sharon said it would be harder to grow corn for silage. “In organic we can only use manure or organic fertilizer, which is not cost-effective as it is outrageously priced,” he said. “We had some hen manure stockpiled. We lost our stockpile. Because the flood, it took off with it.”

Farmers across Franklin County experienced widespread flooding in 2023.

“We really aren’t sure what we’re going to do for nitrogen, corn silage, if we’re even going to have corn silage going forward,” Davis said. If corn isn’t grown that will mean buying in more corn or another organic grain to feed his milking cows, he said. “That will be more expensive,” he added.

When Mark Turner of Jay could get hen manure, he used it on the grass fields he hays in Farmington. “There is not much else besides wood ash,” he said. “In a few years the fields are going to run out [of nutrients] if you don’t bring them back.”

Russell Black, a conventional beef producer in Wilton, said he uses commercial fertilizer because in a day he can spread 100 acres with commercial fertilizer, compared to five acres with hen or cow manure. He thinks the loss of hen manure will be an economic hardship for organic farmers. “They are trying to use wood ash, which is available,” he said. “Any commercial organic fertilizer is too cost-prohibitive to allow them to use. I think it will be tough on the dairy farmers.”