Rural residents south of Mount Vernon continue to find their quality of life degraded by the stench of Jackrabbit Family Farms’ sow operation, which processes 150,000 new pigs a year. 150,000 pigs make a lot of poop, and that poop smells.
Pipestone Systems, the Big Agriculturalists who run that pork plant, want you to believe that stating those facts constitutes harassment:
Dr. Barry Kerkaert, Pipestone’s Vice President and veterinarian, is frustrated with what he described as continued verbal attacks on Jackrabbit Farms.
“We just exercised our rights, and we’re tired of being harassed,” Kerkaert said [Evan Hendershot, “Hog Facility Tries to Tame Tension,” Mitchell Daily Republic, 2015.10.30].
That October 30 story is getting some expanded AP play, spotlighting stakeholder farmer John Jones’s comment that, in AP’s paraphrase, “the smell comes with the territory of living in an agricultural community.”
Kathy Tyler tells me that the operators of the new swine CAFO in Grant County give her the same guff, telling her she’s “harassing” them.
Hendershot’s report mentions that Jackrabbit swine growers claim their manure pipes have been vandalized, and yes, if true, such violent action would constitute prosecutable harassment.
But I’m not comfortable with CAFOs bringing their new and massive stench to our rural landscape and throwing the legally charged word “harassment” at people who say their business is bad for South Dakota.
It’s one thing to use your property to make a living. It’s another to demand that your neighbors give up the full enjoyment of their property for the sake of your business. I don’t consider it harassment when someone makes statements objecting to my daily business activities (see the comment section for regular examples). I would consider it harassment if someone arranged for unappetizing odors to permeate my home on a weekly basis and prevent me from inviting company over.
In both Davison County and Grant County, numerous residents occupied their rural land before the swine operations moved in. Those rural residents could argue that, since they were there first, the peace and previously fresh air came with the territory of living in their rural community. On what moral grounds do we say that one person (and, since Pipestone Systems is a corporation, it’s a person, and just one person, right?) gets to change the terms of living in a community for several other people?
I like bacon as much as the next guy. I understand there’s money to be made in making bacon, and bacon isn’t made without poop. But if our cravings drive an industrialization of rural neighborhoods that makes rural neighbors lose their appetites and their home sales values, shouldn’t we at least allow those bearers of the hog industry’s externalities to complain about their loss and remind us of they price they pay for our cheap BLTs?
The biggest climate abusers are these guys. http://www.worldwatch.org/agriculture-and-livestock-remain-major-sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions-1
We may be up to our nostrils in poop, but we still can smell the bacon.
I remember being a kid in SD and when driving through the country-side, EVERY farm place smelled like a lot of poop. That was, of course, before the advent of “rural residences”, or “country living”, or “retirement acreages”, or……. whatever you want to call folk that live in the country and were NOT farmers. Who was where first again?
Big difference in neighborly small.”family farms” and huge cesspools of stink called cafos that concentrate the stink and magnify it and the manure by an order to immense to measure. Who was where first? Many of the rural residents are retired farmers or their children who love the rural life and have accepted odors as a daily part of rural life. Then you get stink that permeates everything,everyday and they tell you it is their right to ruin your space?
In the old days, the poop was not as toxic as it is now in the condensed form.
Dare I say the vegans sort of have a right to take the moral high ground on this one? These types of places only exist because of us carnivores who love our (cheap) bacon. I envision a day when plant-based source of protein are flavored to the point where we won’t need to consume the highly inefficient meat that we have come to love… but until that day comes, we need to find ways to accept the fragrances that support our lifestyles.
I can support a buffer zone around existing neighborhoods and farms, but as Richard aptly points out due to the desire of so many to relocate into the country with their “rural residence” you can hardly find a square mile that doesn’t already include a house these days. So where should the confinement operations be allowed to exist if we don’t want them near anyone? Is this another case of NIMBYism where we want piles of inexpensive bacon provided it isn’t produced anywhere near us?
It all makes me wonder if people would rather live next to a hog farm or a Walmart. From what I hear one of them is a popular place to see fattened, unhealthy creatures who can barely walk under their own power… and the other is a hog farm. Either way they both probably have their own unpleasant odors that make them poor neighbors.
Politicians love these stinking damn things so much,build them right next to the state house and let city residents enjoy the benefits of flies,stink,lung diseases,etc. The stench in Pierre is so bad from wingnut pols,I doubt anyone would even notice a cafo.
First this from Ron White.http://open.spotify.com/track/7DCXJzrv1KtngKFF6Dp8VJ
And then this from some friends of mine.http://open.spotify.com/track/2Wt173KM9i97KSB52qCuqj
The Blindman
13 miles from the nearest town, if you can’t build one out there then where? The county voted upon the zoning ordinance measures and they passed & Jackrabbit is in compliance with such laws. Talking with the commissioners there were over 30 neighbors & supporters of the facility at the recent meeting and only 3 who objected.
You are never going to please everyone, but maybe the harassment stems from vandalism of a manure hose the night before a leak was reported?
Let county residents only vote on building them inside city limits.
mikel-how do you know the facility workers didn’t vandalize the hose themselves just so they can claim harassment?
I think maybe I have a good spot to build the hog barns where residents are not offended. Mikel, where is it that you live?
Just keep eating that cheap bacon, you won’t be for long. That is some bad mojo, now being reported.
I grew up on a farm; it smelled at times. The smell that emanates from these facilities is no where near what ordinary farms produce–think 6500 sows versus 100. There are methods to lessen and/or alleviate the odors, but they cost money and need to be maintained. If they would spend as much taking care of the air leaving buildings, as they do the air entering, there would be no odor. It’s interesting to note that the supporters do NOT live close to the facilities; nor do they offer their land for such. I know, understand, and support agriculture. These facilities are not true ag. We welcome good neighbors; these haven’t been so far, but they could be. It’s their decision.
East River is a sacrifice zone: buy in or butt out.
Sorry, it wasn’t the workers nice try. I read the report from Davison County Emergency management. One of the main protesters has stated on record that “he would shoot the hose” if it was in his way.
via Davison Co Emergency Management.
3-25-14
“Last year Lyle Reimnitz told Commissioner Kiner he was going to shoot the hose so he could get down the “road they blocked”. Upon investigation, the road was an old impassible dirt trail, which I believe did not have a culvert.”
10-7-2015 At 0948 P&Z Director Bathke received a call from Lyle Reimnitz reporting a manure spillage on the corner of 262nd and 396th Ave. Deputy P&Z Director Jenniges and Chief Deputy Harr both dispatched to the location. Upon arrival there in the afternoon he called and requested Deputy Director of P/Z Jenniges and a Sheriff Brink to come back onto the site to document and fill out a vandalism report.
Pretty easy to spot here.
There are only 3 people causing a fuss over Jackrabbit. Lyle & Marlyn Reimnitz and Gregg Bult.
Oh and by the way Paul I live close to half a dozen confinement barns located within 3 miles of my place & no problem with any of them….close to 25,000 hd being fed by some of the best neighbors around.
RIchard, well, the Indians were there first, of course. But our Lakota neighbors chased out the Cheyenne, who had chased out the Kiowa….
Dang, Mikel’s got some useful documentation there. If you’re going to oppose a CAFO, you can’t go on record threatening vandalism. Sounds like someone could use some DRA training!
Mikel does pose an existential question to which Paul may have an answer. Maybe 13 miles out isn’t far enough. Maybe such industry needs to be placed in a zone where it will not bother anyone. Maybe CAFOs need to be restricted to counties with population density less than 3 people per square mile (there are 19 such counties). Or maybe we could set quotas by county for livestock in an inverse ratio to population density—as population density increases, maximum CAFO animal count decreases.
Of course, all those people choosing to live out in the country pose their own environmental harm, burning up a whole lot gasoline to get back and forth to work and the grocery store. Hmm… who does more harm: one CAFO piling up poop, threatening the water supply, and stinking out the neighbors, or a dozen country acreage owners requiring more gasoline and infrastructure to support their retreat to their country estates?
So what actually caused the spill? The report didn’t say. Mikel didn’t say. A threat wouldn’t cause it. How big was the hose and why was it on the road/dirt track? Was the road/dirt track meant for public traffic or was it private property?
There are at least 12 cafos within three miles of me that I can think of. More than 25000 head of hogs and 10-15000 head of cattle in open lots less than 5 miles east of me. None cause a problem because I don’t let them. I was here before everyone of the 12 cafos. The 2 closest are a half mile away. They could have been built within a quarter mile of my residence,thanks to big AG.
BTW-each cafo uses more water in a month than I use in 20 or 30 years.If it is raining when they clean pits in the fall,the trucks and tractors tear up the gravel roads and drag farm mud onto the roads. If they use a large hose to pump manure to the fields it has to be run through a culvert so no one runs over it.
The harassment claim may also stem from an incident where Lyle & Marilyn moved a portable shelter out to the corner of their property in the closest proximity to Jackrabbit. Then proceeded to buy so called “dirty” unvaccinated hogs from the sale barn and housed them in this facility. They manually hauled feed & water to these pigs for 2 years.
Now think about this, for someone who complains about the smell and odor of pigs, it would seem odd to want to go through the effort of hauling feed & water out to a remote area to house a couple dozen pigs, unless there was a different purpose. Can someone say bio-terrorism?
mikel, to call the pigs on the corner bio-terrorism is a bit of a stretch but if that’s the claim there are laws against that. The smell of a few dozen feeder hogs shitting on a dirt lot can in no way compare to the smell of the shit of thousands of adult sows marinating in an open air cesspool.
The road is a grass minimum maintenance road, the hose is laid in the ditch along the right of way.
The report stated:
In a small section on the grass road the hose was punctured 16 times location of the holes all in the top half ( from 9 to 3 o’clock).
Discussion was had about to clean up the spills and drainage into the fields adjacent to the spills. Marty Rost said some of the fields are under contract them to spread the manure once the crop is out. He said he would contact all farmers to let them know what happened and that some areas may be soft for a few days, to be careful if they were to combine. They were going to get hay/straw from a local farmer to place on puddles of standing water from the leaks and whatever else the Baker Township deemed needed since they are in charge of the roads.
10-8-2015 Deputy Director of P/Z got in contact with Baker Township board member Curt Wieczorek to address the situation. After being brought up to speed on the situation, Wieczorek said he would talk to other board members and decide on action needed. He called back mid-morning with the information that he talked to other board members as well as went to the site of the leaks and said hay/straw was on the ground already and other areas of the main minimum maintenance road were pretty well dry or would be after that day and recommended no further action need to be taken. Information was passed along to the appropriate parties.
Lyle Reimnitz called that afternoon to report another leak/spill, but was informed that it was the same leak documented the day before ½ mile north of the Jackrabbit facility on 396th Ave. He was also informed of the clean up measures, recommendation of the Baker Township board, and phone calls to farmers were the manure leaked onto their ground.
Mr. Truesdell another neighbor who lives a mile away from the facility has threatened “What will you do if dead pigs show up on their doorway ?”
4-19-15 Zoning and Planning Meeting
Dr. Kerkaert explained to Mr. Truesdell that he should not threaten people. He explained Mr. Truesdell has threatened to “kick the shit out of him” on the phone and asked “if he wanted to go outside and settle this” during this meeting.
Nick,
The bio-terrorism is taking known unvaccinated animals and housing them next to a facility that is trying to keep disease out. PRRS and PED are very easily transmitted & would cost Jackrabbit millions to replace all the livestock. Lyle & Marilyn for 50 years did not house pigs in the corner of their 1/4 section of ground in a portable shelter. Only until Jackrabbit was built and populated did they do this.
We’re suppose to believe that at the same time they start protesting a large Sow unit for the smell it creates they all of a sudden decide they want to raise pigs in a portable shelter and haul food & water out to them with their pickup each day? Why not do this right on their farm where they used to raise pigs? Why not do it where you have existing facilities, feed & running water?
Come on, get with the program.
I suspect they were making a point. Why do it? Just like these big cafos,they did it because they can-it is legal.
Jackrabbit can offer them 15 or 20 million and buy them off their quarter section of ground and the problem goes away.
Mikel, if such activities are going on, then the CAFO boosters should more clearly distinguish genuine criminal harassment, vandalism, etc. from protected First Amendment activities.
From South Dakota Animal Industry Board-
There are 34 licensed auction markets operating this year in South Dakota.
The auction markets continue to provide a valuable service to the livestock industry in marketing their product. The number of swine being sold at auction is showing dramatic decreases as the swine industry changes.
Veterinary inspection continues to be carried out at all markets with the inspecting veterinarian seeing that Animal Industry Board regulations are being enforced. This is important to ensure the livestock being sold are healthy. This benefits the livestock industry and the marketing of livestock at auctions in South Dakota by ensuring the ability to timely ship livestock from markets to other states.
The cooperation of the auction market industry and the Board continues to be very good.
Makes it hard to believe they would allow un-vaccinated and/or sick pigs to be sold,BUT, I suppose it does or could happen.
I can’t speak to why Pipestone hasn’t aired all the dirty laundry of this matter. What I can deduce is that they manage over 60 Sow farms in the 4 state area. This is the only one that is causing a problem, otherwise all their other facilities have no reported issues. Pipestone does manage another Sow farm in the same county, “Blue Stem” and there have been no issues with the neighbors at that location. Are they taking the high road approach? Who knows.
From reading I do know Jackrabbit employs local residents, and the facility is owned by local producers who use these systems as a way to procure “clean & healthy” pigs. The facilities have strict bio controls, and with the last round of PED that wiped out herds of pigs I can understand the financial risk and care taken at these places.
It also appears that the local farmers have signed up their own property to have manure applied, to me that sounds like a symbiotic relationship. Farmers grow crops, crops are fed to the hogs, waste matter is held in a pit and then applied to the crop land according to DENR rules. The big theme these days is “sustainable agriculture”.
I think the effort should’ve been put forth when the zoning ordinances were voted on and made. Davision County has half mile set backs. It appears Mr. Reimnitz is over 1 mile away, Mr. Truesdell is .8 miles away, and Mr. Bult is 4 miles away. It also appears that the facility installed bio filters at their own cost, agreed to planting trees, and built up 2 miles of township road at their own cost without the use of a TIF. These are not part of the zoning laws, but extra measures Jackrabbit took to try and get along.
Aurora county made the mistake of denying a conditional use permit to a local Dairy that wanted to expand. Several reasons were given in denying the permit, but none of them had to do with the local zoning ordinances. What happened then was the Dairy sued the county and won. Add to that a local states attorney that messed up the county’s liability insurance and the bottom line is the tax payers are on the hook to pay out the lawsuit.
No, it’s not the only one with issues. There is a facility in Grant County that smells. The smell has been present up to 4 miles away. The first mistake the neighbors made was to require biofilters, but we didn’t catch it that the filters were only to be on the Phase One fans. Biofilters need to be on all fans in order to reduce the odor by 95%. The neighbors started in May with complaints on the biofilters. It took until late September until they passed inspection. The trees most zoning boards require are about a foot tall. They will do nothing for at least 20 years. Now, it’s learned that the zoning board can require any size of trees. We’ve been publicly accused of trespassing, intimidation, spying, and doctoring pictures used in the complaint case–none of which is true. Yes, they could be good neighbors; I wish they would.
mikel says, Pipestone…manages over 60 sow farms in the four state area”. Sounds like your average family farm hog operation.
Wow, I never thought of that. You could put some animals on some land adjacent to the CAFO and see how much they would offer you for your quarter. As Donald Trump would say, that is good business. Land there is worth what, about 4 to 5 thousand an acre. So you could invest a million to collect 20 million, only Joop could have come up with a better plan. Now I just need to crowd fund the idea…
“If you are going to oppose a CAFO, you can’t go on record threatening vandalism”
So true
The impression is being given that this is the only CAFO with problems. I think one should look at how many CAFO’s have been fought against–for whatever reason. I know of five or six during the past year. There were some that were/are being built; there are some that aren’t. Not one of the CAFO opponents is against ag or farming–it’s not anti-ag. It’s a fight against out-of-state corporations coming into neighborhoods threatening livelihoods, environment, and the economics of a community. You will not find a fight against a local, family owned CAFO. Yes, I know they are inevitable. There are some very well run operations; and, as with everything, there are some that aren’t so well run. There are some that are good neighbors, and well,….Odor can be treated; the hog facilities can be odor free, or close to it, if the owners want it to be that way..if they want to be good neighbors.
Kathy-thx for the excellent work at the recent brown cownty front porch panel.
could thune, rounds, noem’s heartburn over EPA/COE water jurisdidction be so big corporate CAFOs can keep over-polluting?
county
Leslie, I’d let that Freudian misspelling standing. We do have a hopeful beef plant here. And you can bet that any heartburn Thune-Rounds-Noem have over any bill has a 90% chance of being motivated by some corporate interest. The EPA exists to check the urge of near-sighted corporations to consume everything for short-term gain.
Check this crap out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGIMCmpfxU
Bacon??? None for me. Spam, I always thought this was how it was done, now I know. Corporate Ag is just another criminal outfit that feels right at home in our neck of the woods.
Someone upped the ante…
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/local/3880815-vandal-ruins-hog-barn-floor
And that, Duane, is going too far. I understand the frustration someone could feel about a hog operation moving in next door, but good grief! You don’t go wrecking someone else’s property. I’m sure the cops are out scouring the county for a tractor and plow caked with concrete… or a barn floor or gravel driveway with signs of a whole lot of concrete washed off… or a trail of dripped concrete along the county road leading right to the perp’s house.
Civil disobedience sometimes has to win the day.
Article said the tractor used was on site in a field with a tile plow and was returned to the field with some damage. I’ll bet there was some damage. There have been a number of suspicious fire in NW iowa involving hog cafos and some where power is cut. I don’t know how many are vandalism,but there are always unhappy neighbors where cafos are sited,especially since local control was wrested away from county supervisors by BIg Ag.
http://nationalhogfarmer.com/mag/farming_pipestone_system_produceroriented
These guys got their dirty little fingers in lots of state pies.
Mike, wow: the vandal uses the guy’s own tractor to wreck his newly poured concrete. And now just this morning the hog-farm builder’s hay barn burned down. That’s not civil disobedience; that’s just crime.
Doesn’t civil disobedience include acting publicly, putting your name to your action, and accepting the consequences to shame the oppressor into reversing course?
Mr. Jackley will be locking this crime vandal up, without a doubt. The fellow will be lucky to make it to trial without a witch hunt forming in the community and wrecking all chances of a fair jury.