Major egg farm plan approved

A PLAN for a massive egg farm capable of housing up to 840,000 birds in the western Toowoomba region has been approved by the council.

Applicant DHP Consolidated first proposed the egg farm back in March for a property called Avondale at 240 Turallin Rd in Turallin, just north of Millmerran.

The original plans broke the development into three stages, starting with an 11,000 sqm egg grading floor and shed. Stages two and three would include 10 layer sheds for 600,000 cage-free birds, two rearing sheds housing 240,000 birds, a manure pad, packing building and storage sheds — all totalling 46,000 sqm in gross floor area.

“The layer hens will initially be provided from other rearing facilities owned by the applicant and will arrive on site at 16 weeks of age and will remain until 84 weeks of age,” the report by Precinct Urban Planning said.

“On-site rearing will commence at stage three, where day old chicks will be received into the first rearing shed and transferred to the layer sheds at 16 weeks of age.

“Pullets will be produced on an 18-week production cycle, consisting of 16 weeks of rearing, followed by two weeks between batches for shed cleaning and preparation.

“Sheds will be ‘dry cleaned’ between batches by brushing and scraping accumulated manure.”

The project was subject to a public consultation period, but no submissions were received.

TRC planning officer Nadia McLeod recommended the project’s approval, attaching nearly 70 conditions to ensure it complied with the plan.

“The development has been assessed with regard to the applicable assessment benchmarks as identified within this report,” her report said.