Bermuda’s biggest dairy farm is to install specialist equipment to try to reduce the smell of manure after repeated complaints from neighbours.

Green Land Dairy Farm, on Store Hill in Smith’s, has worked with the Department of Health to solve the problem since last year.

The farm took action after a stormy public meeting heard the stink and associated problems were affecting nearby residents’ quality of life.

The manure has been treated with enzymes over the past few months. Farmers Valter and Lidia Medeiros claim that has led to a “dramatic change in odour”, while the Department of Health said there had been “significant improvements”.

Neighbours say they are still unhappy with the stench and blame the farm for problems with flies, rats and pigeons in the area.

A DoH spokesman said the couple had bought “specialised manure treatment equipment”.

He added that it was “going through regulatory checks before importation into Bermuda and installation at the farm”.

The spokesman said Environmental Health, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Planning were working with the farm to find a solution to the smell nuisance.

He added: “An interim solution was put in place and significant improvements have been noted.

“A more permanent solution is being developed, the details of which will be communicated to neighbours once the logistics are complete in the coming months.”

The spokesman said: “There is a public health duty to prevent offensive smells from emanating from liquid manure.

“The Department of Health is taking several measures to mediate a resolution and restore the balance of rights between the dairy farm operation and the peaceful enjoyment of neighbouring properties by their owners and occupiers.”

Mrs Medeiros said the soon-to-arrive waste “digester” would “process raw manure and the end result will be electricity and/or bagged manure”.

The machinery is expected to arrive in Bermuda within a couple of months.

She added: “It will be an effective and efficient system that will not only eliminate the pit odours, but will reduce the environmental impact and produce products that will be beneficial to the island as well.

“All the necessary government agencies are involved and the proper licences are being acquired.”

A spokesman for a group of neighbours said there had been no public consultation yet on the manure treatment equipment.

The resident, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed: “There is little to no information coming out of the Department of Health.

“A waste treatment facility emits all kinds of gases. Someone who operates that would have to be very qualified and there would be stringent health and safety regulations that would have to be followed.”

The group spokesman suggested people had stopped calling the Department of Health to complain, not because of significant improvements, but because of the poor responses they received.

He said: “The most significant improvement is that they are emptying the manure pit on a regular basis, but it makes the most horrific of smells when they do that and it’s random. They could be doing it on the night that you plan your outdoor birthday dinner party.”

The public meeting, held last November, heard that swarms of flies had affected the day-to-day running of nearby Whitney Institute Middle School.

Principal Reeshemah Swan said this week: “Some of the smell has subsided. We smell it less. We haven’t seen the flies. You couldn’t go outside at one point without flies going into your eyes and your mouth. We don’t have that issue now.”

Mr and Mrs Medeiros took over the farm in November 2014 and successfully applied for permission to build a covered cow shed and a manure pit.

The couple have 120 cows, producing more than 1,200 gallons of manure every day.

Mrs Medeiros said the enzymes meant there was “no longer a strong odour, but a normal farm smell”.

She added: “It is, after all, a farm. We are in constant contact with the Department of Health and a daily log of complaints and odours is kept. Recently, it was noted that the complaints have dropped off considerably regarding the odour.”

She said rats and pigeons were a problem island-wide.

Mrs Medeiros added: “It is so easy and convenient to blame the farm for everything.

“We work very hard to supply fresh milk to Bermuda and we are doing a good job at it.

“We are doing everything we can to try to make things better for our neighbours, but you just can’t make some people happy. We work hard every day and sleep well every night.”