The number of hogs in Franklin Township will increase in the coming months. Following a sparsely attended public hearing Monday, the Greene County board of supervisors recommended to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources approval of a construction permit for Burton Davis, doing business as Davis Hog and Grain.
The project is an expansion of an existing confinement feeding operation located on County Road P-30 at 315th St. The second building will increase capacity to 4,900 head.
Davis manages the facility and spreads manure from it on the surrounding acres and at his family’s home place. Cargill owns the hogs.
The master matrix for the project was prepared by Twin Lakes Environmental Services and came in at 440 points, the minimum required for approval.
At the hearing, two letters from neighbors were read. Mary and Larry Richards wrote that they live on a Century Farm within walking distance of the CAFO. They noted that Davis has left dead pigs in an overflowing dumpster on the east side of P-30, and that the smell from the existing building has kept them from enjoying being outdoors at their home. They asked that Davis notify them before spreading manure, and that he plant trees at the facility.
Mary Richards had also spoken with board chair John Muir about the facilty.
Gordon and Janet Van Gundy wrote that they moved from northwest Greene County to Franklin Township 13 years ago to get away from hog confinements. They live one-half mile from the Davis facility. They wrote about odor and flies, and asked if Davis would be willing to put an additive in the manure pit to reduce both problems, and to plant a line of trees south of the building.
County sanitarian/zoning officer Tim Healy reported a phone call from Patricia Ankenbauer, who lives three-fourths mile southeast of the facility. Ankenbauer does not support the proposal.
Mae Davis, wife of Burton Davis, said she would contact all neighbors within a mile of the facility before applying manure, and Burton Davis said he would be willing to use the additive in his pits. Supervisor Guy Richardson asked that those offers both be noted in the record.
Joyce Davis, who lives one-half mile from the buildings, said the plum tree in her yard dropping fruit draws more flies than what is around her house, and that she notices an odor on only a few days.
The supervisors approved unanimously a motion to recommend approval of the permit to the DNR. Following that action, Muir said, “Good luck. Take care of those flies.”
“Yes. We’ll ear tag them,” Davis answered.
Healy to retire: The Davis expansion is the last CAFO with which Healy will deal. He has announced plans to retire effective Sept. 9. He has worked for the county since Jan. 1, 1979, first as a surveyor in the secondary roads department, and as county sanitarian since 1989. “It’s gone by fast,” Healy said.
