Opponents of the proposed expansion of a Dawson hog confinement called on Dallas County residents Tuesday to attend the 7 p.m. public hearing Thursday of the Dallas County Board of Supervisors in order to urge them to reject the application to expand.
Dallas County Farmers and Neighbors, a local group opposed to large-scale livestock confinements, claiming they are harmful to the environment, human health, quality of life, property values and rural economies, posted the call to action on their website.
“Yet another large, industrial hog confinement is planned for Dallas Township, approximately two miles southwest of Dawson,” said Stacy Hartmann, leader of Dallas County Farmers and Neighbors and owner of an organic truck garden near Minburn. “It is an expansion of an existing confinement operation within the already-polluted Fanny’s Branch Watershed, a sub-basin of the lower North Raccoon River Watershed. According to DNR data, there are already five confinements in Dallas Township south of Iowa Highway 141, warehousing 42,738 hogs a year and generating 5,931,601 gallons of untreated waste.”
The confinement at 11032 160th St. in Dawson, owned by VictorAllas LLC, currently houses 3,600 hogs and generates 919,800 gallons of waste a year, according to Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) records. The proposed expansion would double the number of hogs to 7,200.
Kent Scheib of rural Perry is president of VictorAllas LLC and owner of the confinement structure. He contracts with the owners of the hogs, Maschhoffs LLC of Carlyle, Ill., the nation’s third-largest pork producer in 2014.
Ray Harden of Perry, Dallas County Soil and Water Conservation District commissioner and a former Perry Community Schools science instructor, said he has concerns about the environmental and health impacts of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), commonly know as hog confinements.
“I can’t attend Thursday’s hearing,” Harden said Tuesday, “but I’d like to ask the owners where and how they intend to spread their manure. I’ve also recently learned that about 70 percent of manure spills occur in the process of transferring the animal waste from the storage pit or lagoon to the spreader, so I’d like to know whether they’d be willing to build a concrete moat around their transfer area.”
The public will have a chance to voice their opinions on the application to build the CAFO expansion at the supervisors’ public hearing, which will be held at 902 Court St. in Adel.
Hartmann said DCFN works to stop the growth of CAFOs and promote sustainable and human livestock production.
“Please attend the meeting and take advantage of this opportunity to voice your opposition to further confinement expansion in Dallas County,” Hartmann said. “Speak up for the protection of our water and air and on behalf of those residents nearest to confinements who suffer losses in quality of life, health and property values.”
Boone county is again under another drinking water alert due to nitrate levels exceeding federal limits. This is due directly to the ever increasing amounts of hog sewage being applied to the land and reaching our water supply.