South Woodstock owner wants $1.5M to stop slaughterhouse
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By GREGORY TROTTER VALLEY NEWS STAFF WRITER - Published: October 26, 2009
WOODSTOCK — Opponents of the proposed slaughterhouse in South Woodstock sat in the town's rustic country store and sipped their coffee contentedly.
"We're focused on buying it and that's what we're going to do," said Vince Galluccio, a retired Brooklyn, N.Y., native with a booming voice. "This could be such a point of pride for our South Woodstock community."
Though he's been a resident for only 18 months, Galluccio has been a lightning rod for the community movement to stop Canadian businessman Frank Abballe from turning his water buffalo farm on Church Hill Road into a lamb slaughterhouse. Galluccio and his companions had raised $605,000, as of late last week, toward Aballe's asking price of $1.55 million and say they'll have an offer for Abballe by the end of this week.
Their vision is a sustainable dairy farm with a dairy, creamery and educational facility. People could come learn how to make their own artisan cheese and also have the comfort of knowing exactly where their milk comes from, said Laurie Chester, an art director and supporter of Galluccio's plan.
"I know nothing about cheese-making," Chester said. "But that's the whole point — wouldn't I love to learn how."
Abballe's plan is to ship the remainder of his 240 water buffalo back to Quebec and convert his 18.5-acre farm into an abattoir for lambs — most of them from out-of-state — for the Boston and New York markets. The milking area would be the kill room; the creamery would be the cutting room and home to the kabob machine. He has given opponents of his plan until Oct. 31 to meet his selling price.
"I am not in any way against slaughterhouses. We desperately need slaughterhouses in Vermont," Galluccio said. "But this one would have virtually no positive impact on our community."
Abballe has said his slaughterhouse would employ at least 10 workers but they would be brought in from outside of Vermont. The majority of the livestock would also be imported from beyond state lines.
Kent Underwood, also at the country store table, agreed with Galluccio's assessment, calling the proposed slaughterhouse "a commercial feed lot."
A former manager at Abballe's Bufala Di Vermonta, Underwood would operate the proposed dairy farm. He said he was drawn to the possibility of using the facilities for raising dairy, his area of agricultural expertise.
"Dairy is lower risk and a consistent source of milk," Underwood said.
The farm would have 135 cows and about 50 percent of the milk would go to the creamery for cheese-making, he said. The rest of the milk would be processed and sold locally. Each component — dairy, creamery and education center — would be separate and self-sustaining under Galluccio and Underwood's plan, a dynamic approach to the daunting challenge of operating a dairy farm in Vermont these days.
The average price paid to farmers has dropped to $11.30 per hundred pounds of milk, down from $19.30 in July of 2008, while it costs farmers at least $18 per hundredweight to produce the milk.
Wednesday, the group met with officials from potential lenders — such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Vermont Economic Development Authority and Yankee Farm Credit — to pitch its business plan and hopes of partnerships with state agencies.
Under different ownership in 2002, the water buffalo farm borrowed about $1.25 million from VEDA. Now, the state money could benefit the proposed dairy farm, Galluccio said, but no loan applications have been made.
Rep. Allison Clarkson, a Woodstock Democrat, was at the meeting. "I really applaud the effort of the South Woodstock community to come up with a constructive and productive solution."
Vermont needs more slaughterhouses, Clarkson said. But she also foresees an impact from Abballe's plan. Noise, for instance. "Can you imagine all those baby lambs taken from their mothers?" she said.
Other slaughterhouse opponents, including Galluccio and Chester, have decried the potential environmental impact of putting a slaughterhouse on a hilltop with slopes leading down into the Kedron Valley Pond and Kedron Valley Brook.
"An accidental discharge could cause long-term damage to our kids and our community," Chester said.
But state agricultural regulations would prevent those sorts of accidents from happening, said Kelly Loftus, a spokeswoman for the Vermont Department of Agriculture.
Asked if any complaints of offensive odors or discharges from Vermont's existing eight abattoirs had been reported to the state agency, Loftus replied, "No, not that I know of."
The state could benefit from both of the proposed projects, she said. But given the increasing demand for local food, there is a need for more slaughterhouses in Vermont.
"There is definitely a shortage, especially in the southern part of the state," Loftus said. "A fire destroyed the facility in Rutland and there hasn't been anyone to pick up the lost capital."
As the sun descended behind the hills, Abballe walked between pens of water buffalos busily munching on grain. "Lambs are much smaller animals," he said. "They could all fit in here no problem."
The "state-of-the-art" ventilation of the barn and the short walk to the killing area would make the whole process "stress-free" for the animals, he said.
Abballe does not deny that he would bring in out-of-state workers for his slaughterhouse, saying capable and eager agricultural workers have become "a dying breed" in Vermont.
But he said he planned to slaughter Vermont lambs as well as those from out of state.
All told, his abattoir could slaughter up to about 30,000 lambs every year, about 40 percent of which could be Vermont livestock, he said.
He said without an offer to buy him out by the end of next week, the slaughterhouse will open as scheduled.
But he seemed resigned to the strong possibility of selling and moving on. "I am sad and happy at the same time," Abballe sighed. "I am sad because it would have been very efficient to run a slaughterhouse and there would have been no stress to the animals.
"I am happy because I don't know what kind of experience it would have been with my neighbors so against the slaughterhouse."
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