REGINA — The Saskatchewan government has decided to pay the owners of a Tisdale area dairy farm $20,000 to relocate.
But the owners say moving costs could be 20 times that much.
The decision is a result of a 14-year dispute between SaskPower president Jack Messer and his neighbors, Terry and Rose Anne Dierker.
Messer began complaining about flies and odor from the farm in 1980, shortly after the Dierkers purchased it. He launched a lawsuit against them about three years ago, and also named the Saskatchewan agriculture department for not enforcing the Livestock Pollution Control Act. The settlement was made public last week.
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May 1 deadline
Terry Dierker said Monday the dairy operation, which involves three families and between 50 and 60 cows, is moving 50 kilometres east of its current location. The cattle must be moved by May 1.
Dierker said anyone who thinks $20,000 is a lot of money for moving expenses should think again. He estimates the cost at between $350,000 and $400,000.
“They should get a few estimates of what it costs to move one household, never mind three, or to move a fluid dairy,” he said. “We have to build a new barn and get new barn equipment.”
Expensive purchases
Dierker said they had to purchase a complete milking parlor, including a tank.
“We have to build it, then milk here in the morning and there at night,” Dierker said. “The move all has to be done in one day.”
The matter has drawn the attention of the legislature because it was Messer, as agriculture minister, who approved the establishment of the dairy in 1974.
“Your government has no money to keep rats from biting people in Estevan, but you do have $20,000 to keep flies off of Jack Messer,” said Tory agriculture critic Bill Neudorf. “Mr. minister, do you think that $20,000 is a worthwhile expenditure of taxpayers’ money, just to ensure that Jack Messer won’t have to buy a bug zapper?”
Justice minister Bob Mitchell said the settlement had “nothing to do with Jack Messer” but with the problem of pollution and alleged nuisance.
The rats Neudorf was referring to have surfaced as spring runoff forced them from storm sewers. Several people have been bitten.
