PANTON/ADDISON — Two Addison County dairy farms have asked state officials to OK plans to grow their operations.

The Gosliga Farm on Sunset Lane in Addison and Vorsteveld Farm on Spaulding Road in Panton both submitted applications into the Vermont Department of Agriculture last month asking to amend their Large Farm Operation permits to allow adding or expanding barns, raising more cows and changing their waste handling.

Gosliga is proposing to increase the number of mature dairy cows it manages from 840 to 1,200, and its youngstock or heifers from 750 to 900. The farm projects 26,000 pounds of milk per year per mature cow.

That would raise their annual liquid waste (cow manure) from 14.1 million gallons to 18.2 million, according to the application.

The Addison farm wants to construct two calf barns across the road from their existing production area.

Meanwhile, Vorsteveld has proposed expanding its herd from 1,500 mature dairy cows (milkers and dry) and 1,500 youngstock or heifers to 2,000 adult cows and 1,580 youngstock. The Panton farm’s projections are for each cow to produce 26,500 pounds of milk per year.

According to the application, that would raise annual liquid waste produced on the Vorsteveld farm from 19.8 million gallons to around 26 million.

Vorsteveld is also proposing to expand existing barns at their Main Farm and Arnold Bay Farm.

While both farms would produce more manure waste, in addition to more milk, the Agency of Agriculture requires that each submits a plan for properly disposing of that waste, and it has an engineer calculate the waste storage volumes that need to be dealt with.

For context, the farm is required to demonstrate adequate land base to accept the estimated nutrients generated as well as have enough storage to hold onto 180 days of manure.

“Both Gosliga and Vorsteveld have submitted applications demonstrating they will have adequate land base and storage,” said Brittany Cole, the Agency of Ag Water Quality Division’s Permitting and Nutrient Management Specialist.

The Agency of Agriculture will hold information meetings to share information and gather feedback on these applications. The Gosliga Farm meeting will be held April 2 at 10 a.m. online through the Microsoft Teams platform. Participants can join by phone or video conference. The Vorsteveld meeting is scheduled for April 3 at 11 a.m. at the Panton Town Hall.