Lucasville horse farm following 'normal' practices, board says after neighbours complain of smell

A Halifax-area horse farm is following "normal" practices and can continue to operate despite neighbours' complaints about the smell and run-off from the farm's manure pile, a provincial agency has ruled.

The Memento Farm — also known as Goldring Stables — is a 4.2-hectare property located in Lucasville, N.S., and home to about 35 horses. 

Earlier this year, neighbours had complained about foul odours, run-off, dust and rodents to the Farm Practices Review Board, which held a hearing on the matter in July. 

But in a recently released decision, the board says Memento Farm has not contravened "normal farm practices."

The ruling says open manure storage is an acceptable method, although piling it on a concrete pad would be a better option. The review board also said the manure should be removed from the site three times a year: in early spring, mid-summer and fall.

"We're disappointed," said Iris Drummond, one of the complainants. "They don't consider 35 horses on 10 acres in a residential area as intensive agriculture."

According to Drummond, the last time the manure on the farm was trucked off the property was just before review board members inspected Memento Farm for the hearing.

"The last couple of weeks of that heavy, muggy weather, the stink was unreal," said Drummond. "It just caught my breath." 

Defining 'intensive agriculture'

The Farm Practices Review Board was set up to prevent nuisance complaints about farm operations being taken to court. It has the power to modify or stop a farm practice.

Although the board's rulings can be appealed to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Drummond says the residents have decided that would be a waste of time and money.

Instead they'll concentrate on trying to get the province to better define "intensive agriculture" and have the municipality change its zoning rules so the number of animals can be capped based on the size of a property.

Memento Farm is zoned MU-1 — or Mixed Use Zone 1 — which allows for agriculture.

Local businessman Brian Murray represented the Lucasville residents at the review board hearing.   

"The concern now is that a whole bunch of these farms will be popping up," said Murray. "And right now it's horses, but it could be any type of livestock."

Murray also points out there are MU-1 zones in Hammond Plains and Beaver Bank, so the issue is not limited to the community of Lucasville.