Oregon farmer challenging order to confine hogs

A pig breeder is challenging the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s order to build a confinement facility for his hogs, arguing it would hurt their health.  Luther Clevenger and his wife, Julie, raise Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs and other livestock on their 15-acre property near Aumsville, Ore., which has experienced water drainage problems during heavy winter rains.  ODA inspected the operation repeatedly this year after receiving several complaints that Clevenger’s 200 pigs were “creating a huge mess and affecting the property values of all the adjacent property owners” and that water was flowing onto neighbors’ lots.  The agency ultimately concluded that Clevenger’s farm was violating water quality standards and ordered a multi-pronged “plan of correction,” requiring him to construct a “swine confinement facility” to prevent pollutant discharges to the “surface water of Oregon,” according to ODA.  Currently, the pigs are raised on pasture but have access to portable shelters.