How big is too big? Sonoma’s vote on farm size could spread to nation

PETALUMA — The chickens on Mike Weber’s farm live in coops, not cages. Their care has earned an official “Certified Humane” designation. Their organic poop, treated with solar-powered dryers, is turned into valuable fertilizer.

But there are too many of them, animal welfare activists say.

And that has put Weber, and many of his fellow Sonoma County farmers, in the political crosshairs of Measure J, a county ballot initiative that seeks to banish large poultry and dairy farms – and...