Indoor Cattle Farm Meets Community Backlash During Iron Gate's June Council Meeting
Mayor Persinger Says Matt 'Dizzy' Garten No Longer Pursuing Project | By Jennifer Bailey
Staff Writer | Iron Gate, VA (June 26, 2025)— Normally, the Iron Gate Town Council meetings are held at Iron Gate Town Hall. However, tonight's meeting was moved to the firehouse due to increased interest —and pushback— from the community who had much to say about the Gartens' plans for an indoor cattle farm.
As previously reported by the Journal, the Garten family — owners of Garten Trucking in Covington — reached out to Mayor Kawahna Persinger recently to discuss their idea to have an indoor cattle farm in the town of Iron Gate. During the June 16th work session, Persinger stated, "Their plan was to bring in... 200 heifers and 200 calves, put them under so they would be out of the direct sun. There would be enough ventilation with the windows cross-referencing that they should stay cool enough during the summer and then during the winter, they would be in there, their body heat should potentially keep them warm enough, and I guess that's just going to be a holding tank for them to get them fat and they'll take them up and send them to slaughter."
This evening, Matt "Dizzy" Garten spoke on behalf of the Garten family to the approximately 50 residents in attendance. "This was just an idea that we had," said Garten. "We just asked Ms. Persinger if she would talk to us, we can do a presentation if it goes that far, you know, then we'd look at zoning." The proposal, seemingly presented initially as a means to boost local agriculture through the selling of fresh beef post-slaughter, quickly faced significant opposition from residents concerned about environmental impact, animal welfare, potential disruptions to their quality of life, odor, methane gas produced from the cows, noise pollution, the current state of the building, town ordinances that residents said should have shut down the project prior to tonight's presentation, and the disturbances the cattle farm might create when children are frequenting the nearby park.
"There is nothing that we would do to upset you all in any form. That's not our goal," said Garten. "If you guys don't want it, we will trash it right now." Garten was true to his word. Following about a dozen questions, concerns, complaints, etc. from Iron Gate residents, Matt "Dizzy" Garten exited the firehouse during a brief 10-minute break when council resorted to their regular business.
Following the break, Mayor Persinger informed the residents that she had spoken to Garten outside, who informed her he was no longer interested in pursuing the project. Therefore, there is nothing to vote on, and no indoor cattle farms will be coming to the town of Iron Gate anytime soon. | |
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