The Oregon Department of Agriculture through Dec. 21 will take comment on Silver Sage Farms LLC’s plan to build and operate a 2,000-head dairy heifer feedlot in Burns.

Chris Eggert of Tualatin is proposing Silver Sage Heifer Ranch at 28870 Weaver Springs Road, in Burns. The department said in a public-participation notice that it proposes to issue a Confined Animal Feeding Operation registration under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System general permit that regulates manure, litter and process waste to protect water quality.

Eggert said it would be a new facility. He would not elaborate.

A nutrient management plan included in application materials says Silver Sage would dehydrate manure and use it as bedding in pens, or apply it to crops when heifers are on pasture.

Plans also call for a storm-runoff lagoon, feedlot-adjacent ditches not connected to surface water, and berms and grass strips around pens. The 6,092-acre site includes 4,027 acres of cropland.

A hearing is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 16 at Harney Education Service District, 25 Fairview Heights, Burns.

Comments can be submitted by mail to William Matthews of the state Agriculture Department’s CAFO program, 635 Capitol St. N.E., Salem, Ore., 97301, by email at wmatthews@oda.state.or.us or by fax at 503-986-4730.