Trustee for troubled Ore. dairy wants to auction off herd

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The bankruptcy trustee for Oregon’s troubled Lost Valley Farm dairy has decided to auction off its cows.

The Statesman Journal reports trustee Randy Sugarman filed a motion with a California bankruptcy court this week asking for approval to hire Toppenish Livestock Commission to sell the entire herd of cows at public auction.

It’s unclear what that means for a separate court-ordered cleanup of serious environmental problems at the site. The dairy has been out of compliance with its wastewater permit since it opened 18 months ago in Boardman, near the Columbia River.

A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Oct. 31.

Lost Valley owner Greg te Velde declared bankruptcy last April solely to stave off a previously planned auction of his herd, arranged as part of a bank foreclosure

In September, the bankruptcy court appointed Sugarman to run Lost Valley.

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Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com