Seward County Commissioners on Aug. 26 outlined two conditions that – when they are met – will enable Tom and Trenah Bader to build an eight-barn, 224,000-bird poultry farm near 378th and Agnew roads.
The conditions are that within 60 days, the Baders complete a signed road agreement with the Seward County Highway Department on acceptable roads for truck traffic to and from the barns, and that the conditional permit stays with the current ownership of Pine Creek Poultry, LLC, and cannot be transferred should their business be sold.
Even with those conditions, commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the application, with Darrell Zabrocki, Ken Schmieding and Scott Pekarek voting in favor. Raegan Hain and Misty Ahmic voted against the conditional permit.
Hain said she is concerned about county roads and the impact increased truck traffic has on them. Ahmic said she had concerns about the proximity of the setbacks, even though they comply with the regulations.
The Baders told commissioners they hope to provide opportunities for a fourth generation of Baders to farm in Seward County. The land designated in the application is a few miles away from the farmstead on which the Baders live, but they said they could not find a suitable location on the farm place or other parcels for the barns.
The Pine Creek farm is the fourth poultry operation approved during 2025 and will be the last this year. The commissioners recently placed a temporary moratorium until February on conditional use permits for livestock facilities so they could review and possibly update the county’s regulations.
But the two issues Hain and Ahmic cited – roads and setbacks – came up throughout the two-plus hours of comment and discussion in the packed commissioner’s meeting room.
Matt and Mallory Holman told commissioners Pine Creek’s required setback of 1,980 feet falls right in their front yard and about 50 feet from the front porch. They are concerned about increased exposure to histoplasmosis and other respiratory problems.
Trenah Bader presented data for nine of the 11 other chicken farms now operating or holding conditional use permits in the county, showing their setbacks to their closest neighbors ranging from 1,280 to 3,982 with an average of 2,440, which is above the currently required 1,980.
The Baders report their setback at 2,053.
Ahmic asked Zoning Administrator Marissa Pfile and Chief Deputy County Attorney Barbara Armstead to review how the setback was actually measured for the farm – whether it was from the barn to the nearest house or from the barn to the nearest neighbor’s property line.
The measurement is from the closest corner of the barn to the closest part of the neighbor’s house.
Ahmic also asked the Baders if they visited adjacent property owners to talk about their plans.
Trenah Bader said they visited with neighbors and committed to adding a tree line to their pasture and to take measures to control dust if it would make a meaningful impact.
The commissioners, who have been dealing with road repair and maintenance from weather, heavy traffic and a shortage of personnel to do some of the repairs in recent months, said they would like to create an agreement with the owners of livestock operations related to use of recommended routes between the farm and the chicken processing company to minimize road damage beyond normal maintenance.
Hain, whose county district includes Pine Creek Poultry, said roads in her area are challenging.
Wes Niemann of Settje Ag Services, who has worked with the Baders on their plan, told commissioners the barn-to-paved-highway path would involve 2.5 miles of gravel roads.
Travis Caspersen, also from Settje, said most poultry operations run on a 10-week cycle with four trucks coming in and out in the first week, two trucks in weeks two and three, three trucks in week four, and five in weeks five and six. Then, in week seven when the birds are taken for processing, there may be 48 trucks in and out of the farm, followed by three weeks when there is little or no truck traffic.
That is 68 trucks per cycle and they could complete five full cycles per year.
Knowing the truck schedule and the roads the Baders will use, Caspersen said, “the county could do some planning” to time their maintenance around that cycle as other livestock producers and feed lots do.
Zabrocki and Schmieding toured the area with Tom Bader prior to the public hearing and questioned whether the roads could sustain that level of traffic or allow two trucks or a truck and school bus traveling in opposite directions to pass safely.
“This is something we are going to have to address. A number of roads in the area are minimum maintenance roads,” Zabrocki said.
Chris Bousquet of the State Dairy Association encouraged the county to work with the chicken farms and noted he has spent time in Seward County related to DARI Processing LLC’s planned development of a shelf-stable dairy processing plant in the Seward Rail Campus.
He said he appreciates the county’s livestock-friendly designation and noted that his industry is looking to add more dairy farmers to supply milk to that processing plant, including within Seward County for proximity to DARI.
University of Nebraska Medical Center Professor Matthew Nonnenmann, an industrial hygienist in the College of Public Health who measures human exposure to hazardous agents like fungi, noise, dust and chemicals, also attended the hearing to answer questions about the histoplasma fungi and histoplasmosis.
Hain asked about the state’s tracking of illness, which she said does not include asking people diagnosed with histoplasmosis where they may have been exposed to the fungi.
Nonnenmann said it is hard to make that connection.
“If this were a problem, we would be seeing it in people who work in the farms. In my opinion we have not seen that,” he said. “I think the risk is incredibly low.”
Joe Schulz, who has chicken barns near Goehner, told commissioners he regularly wears a N95 mask around the farm because he has allergies, but most farmers do not wear protective gear. He said a visitor that is coming from or going to another livestock operation may put on protective booties or clothing to assure they are not moving anything from one farm to another.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Professor Amy Schmidt specializes in animal manure management and told commission most farmers have a system for managing chicken manure in the barns.
The Baders have a nutrient plan to spread the litter over some of their fields, but said at the Planning Commission hearing they are not going to spread it on the fields closest to the barns at their neighbors’ request.
Asked about the practice of disposing of deceased birds in the farm’s manure compost, Schmidt said farmers manage that compost to assure it reaches adequate temperatures for decomposition.
She said farmers have the option to have dead birds rendered, buried, composted or put in landfills, but they do have to maintain records on their birds and compost. Improper composting, she said, leads to odor issues.
Schmidt said she would worry more about backyard compost piles where heat is not often monitored or managed.
With more than 50 people in the commissioner’s room, comments were limited to two minutes and commissioners used a timer and sign-in sheet to get speakers’ names.
Other advocates for the farm included Jonathan Jank, CEO and president of the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership, Steve Martin of the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture and Adam Hladky, another poultry producer.
Additional opponents included Kimberly Cronin, Kevin Timoney, Jonathan S. Leo, an attorney and land use consultant with the Nebraska Farmers Union, Heidi Fleischman, Ken Maca, Amy Prochaska, Lindsey Schwan, Colby Schwan, Harriet Gould, a cattle producer and retired Raymond Central educator who spoke of the farm’s proximity to Our Redeemer School in Staplehurst, Rev. Helen L. Grier of Lincoln, Jane Egan of the Nebraska Communities United and Edison McDonald of GC Resolve.
