Twice a day, Waneva LaVelle brings her three miniature dairy goats into her barn for milking. The rest of the time they’re free to roam her 17-acre farm in Hubbard, in north Marion County.
LaVelle ends up with about two gallons of milk per day. She sells a quarter of that to regular customers who come to the farm, and uses the rest to make soaps and lotions, which she sells at nearby country stores.
“I am basically your small family farm,” LaVelle told the Statesman Journal.
But LaVelle fears a new interpretation of existing state rules may soon put her out of business.
Last year, the Oregon Department of Agriculture changed its definition of a confined animal feeding operation, or CAFO, to include small dairy operations like LaVelle’s. That means she and other small dairy operators soon will be subject to permitting regulations.
Even if animals spend most of their time outside, “all animals are technically confined during the milking process, whether in pens, lots or buildings,” ODA wrote in a January 2023 white paper on the issue.