Has anyone had any experiences with the new hog farms that are going up in the country ?? I have heard good and bad about them. I think that a person should have a right to have any kind of farm on their land but I hear so much about it. One pig farm I heard went under just due to the nasty neighbors and not the courts or anything that they were doing wrong. One is suppose to be built in our township in the near future. Even though it is not near our homestead there are concerns. I would like to go to the meeting with some "educated" imformation from anyone that can help. I have heard a lot of negatives about them and concerns about the water and all but I have seen some pretty nasty cow barns too. (maybe that's why we have our own dairy goats for milk) Would appreciated any help and any more web pages that I could check on. Thanks !!!

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), May 23, 2001

Answers

Talk to Hoot hes got one for a neighbor. Bob se.ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@hit.net), May 23, 2001.

http://www.amsci.org/amsci/articles/00articles/mallin.html

http://www.factoryfarming.com/pork.htm -- lots of stuff at this site, check the links

http://www.factoryfarm.org/

There was an article on the conditions of pig factories in Countryside sometime within the last 18 months. I think it was early in 2000. You might check your back issues for that.

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), May 23, 2001.

We had a couple start up here in n.e. okla., but they didn't stay in busniss for very long. Don't know if it was bad management or if the EPA shut them down or what! I do know that it shore stunk bad when you drove by the place.

-- Russell Hays (rhays@sstelco.com), May 23, 2001.

Hi,

in VA a few yrs back this issue was a hot issue both in VA and NC. it was shortly before the market dropped out on the price of hogs. the problem in our area of VA, which was rural and farming was that it crunched on the right to farm laws and posed some grave issues for others in farming. for example there was this assemblyman form VA Beach who was vehemently opposed to any type of farming operation and tried to get a bill passed to restrict any type of farming near subdivisions and communities for the entire state. now at the beach and Northern VA it mad esense, but in the rest of the state it didn't. The problem was if the bill got passed then it would set precident and then all farming, homesteading included was in jeopardy. so.... there were many long drawn our discussions with the local board of supervisors which at times got nasty about this. The bill mentioned that if someone was bothered by the smell or dust, etc, they could sue. Well, that went over like passing gas in church on a Sunday morning. So... the farmers had to band together to stop the law.

Now, as for hog operations nearby, there are many concerns over water and the water supplies getting polluted by the mess. When big industrail farming operations move in it greatly changes the community and how things are done. But, if your state has good regs and laws then this will be taken care of in them. they are tightly regulated in many states. i hope this helps. i would start with asking your local coop extension agent.

-- Bernice Raymond (geminigoats@yahoo.com), May 23, 2001.

These type hog farms are more like factories than farms -- and are regulated by the government similarly. Water quality concerns are the number one issue as waste from the site may contaminate local streams and possibly groundwater (excess nitrogen, fecal materia, bacterial problems). EPA and state agencies are generally pretty stringent in enforcing rules to keep waste from being handled haphazardly however -- using the Clean Water Act (NPDES program usually) as their enforcement tool. However, they will likely not police the farms continuously due to lack of manpower. Nonetheless, if it is built and problems occur later, all it would take would be one anonynmous phone call to bring them in for an inspection and to get the farm to clean up its act. Because this will likely require a permit, the permit can be revoked easily by the state if problems continue, essentially shutting them down. Most people that build these farms know what a precarious legal situation they are in and run them properly for fear of losing their investment.

Some states also have regulations specifically focused towards agricultural factories such as this dealing with lagoons, etc. You should check with your states environmental protection division for detail, specifically someone in the water section.

As far as citizen suits go -- this falls under traditional nuisance laws. If a farm is built near a house or community and the community feels that it is a "nuisance" depriving them of the "full use of their property" (lowered home values, odors, etc) they can sue easily -- even if no specific laws are being violated (though legal violations make it easier). On the other hand, if someone were to build a home next to an existing hog farm -- and then complain -- they wouldn't have as strong of a case, as they moved to the "nuisance".

-- Michael Nuckols (nuckolsm@wildak.net), May 24, 2001.

I live in Va now but lived in NC for a long time. I think one of the big problems, aside from the smell, of course, was the pollution. There were many hog farms in the middle of the state and one year after flooding from a hurricane, local towns' water supplies were polluted by overflow from the hog "lagoons" (big ponds the waste goes into).

-- Elizabeth (Lividia66@aol.com), May 24, 2001.

Well--my $2. worth. Our neighbor moved his hog factory in about 10 or 12 years ago. Kinda snuck it in on all us old dummys without any warning at all. We were the the "new kids on the block" and we'd already been here 14 or 15 years when this came about. I'm the closest to it--exactly 1/4 mile from the corner of his building to the corner of my house. The EPA recommended this distance! When they move those stinkin, polluting things in your area it WILL make your property value dimish quite a lot. I can't set outside when the winds are from the east. No amount of avoiding will succeed. The stink WILL filter into your house-even with windows and doors closed! The water WILL become polluted and nitrates WILL show up in the water supply-assuming you're using a well. Our farmer friend has overflowed his pit into a little branch that runs at the bottom of the pit dam. A large siphon hose was run over the pit dam and runnin full force-hid from the public. I didn't find out about it until later --after he'd already stopped. He composts dead hogs in sawdust, with wild animals constantly diggin in the compost heap and draggin out bones and sometime almost the complete carcass. Rats abound along with wolves, coyotes, foxes and other numerous and different brands of animals--all lookin for a free meal. My property is absolutly worthless now-that is for a place to build a house. My house is at the furtherest point from the hog barn and it's too close. I've forgotton all about letting my 2 sons to build houses on the farm.

Have I convinced ya'll yet? I could go on but it's just more of the same. My advice is to fight'm tooth and nail BEFORE any construction is done. Don't count on the EPA to help you out! They won't! Matt.24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), May 24, 2001.

Start fighting now way before its built, the EPA will be of little help untill all your water is contaminated beyond saving. The smell is unbeliveable. Homesteaders know to put the pig pen down wind from the house and that is with only 2 to 4 pigs. Here you are talking about somewhere between several hunderd to several thousand. Tons of pig poop and there is no known use for it. They will pump it into setteling ponds and some day in a heavy rain it will overflow. Mabey then the EPA will respond but it will be to late. I agree with the freedom to use your land as you wish, it should be that way, but remember your rights end where some one else's begin. You do not have the right to do anything on your land that will cause your neighbor problems. I have a firing range but we do not allow anyone to use it when the local church is having services. We have the right and the church is a mile away but it still is not the thing to do while some one is worshiping. Just one example

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), May 25, 2001.

I take it you are talking about the feed lot pigs... I've heard both good and bad about them too. The only thing I can say is that any time you have numbers in such excess of what the land can support, you have problems. I don't know that they have done enough in the way of waste removal to warrant such large numbers. You can't exactly just spread all that manure, and all that urine will drain somewhere....

Increasing the ability of the land to support more animals is a good idea, but at what expense??

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 30, 2001.