No pigs allowed?

[mommy21101]

Hi, I usually hang out on the cooking and crafts board, but thought this might better belong here.

So, we're finally REALLY looking for land!!! So excited, I can't stand it. We found a 5.something acre plot up in southern Colorado with water/mineral rights that seemed perfect. The guy was answering all my questions, had soil samples done, water samples, this that and the other-- it was perfect, then I asked about the animals and he said, "you can have as many of whatever kind you want, except pigs, hogs or swine of any kind."

Now, if I could have twenty cows (which I wouldn't), how would one meat hog make a difference-- he didn't know the answer to this, just that they weren't allowed.

Anybody have any idea why a pig wouldn't be allowed?

[amwitched]

One of the restrictions in our "development" is no pig farms. That is because of the incredible stench that those farms emit. I would doubt that one pig would cause any problem at all. Check the restrictions yourself. They should be filed with the county courthouse.

[thequeensblessing]

Our place is restricted against raising hogs too, but we raise them every year. We even raise them for our neighbors.

[Jan Doling]

I vetoed pigs for our homestead because of the smell and flies. I think piglets are adorable, though.

[Shadow]

Unless you have been around a hog farm you have no idea just how bad it can be. True one or two might not be so bad no one wants to take the chance. When we sell property it is restricted against swine. If over 10 acres you can have no more than two, which means you can raise a couple for meat but not raise pigs..

[thequeensblessing]

I don't think pigs smell any worse than chickens, turkeys, goats or cattle. I mean, one billy goat can reek up the place a lot more efficiently than can one or two pigs! Perhaps it depends on how you keep them. I dunno.

[Wendy]

I don't think pigs smell any worse than chickens, turkeys, goats or cattle. I mean, one billy goat can reek up the place a lot more efficiently than can one or two pigs! Perhaps it depends on how you keep them. I dunno.

I have to agree with Dona. My buck goats smell way worse than the 2 pigs I am raising. It also depends on how you raise them. If they have a big old wallow where they lay & poop it will stink. Mine are in a raised floor pen. The poop goes through & they stay clean. So no smell really.

[big rockpile]

I Rented 300 acres one time.Couldn't have any Pigs.But I raised Dogs and to me they smell way worse than any Pig.

big rockpile

[Paul Wheaton]

If you can smell them, you're doing it wrong.

I like what thequeensblessing did: do it anyway. Do it right. Just don't flaunt it. Maybe it would be wise to document it a bit. Take some videos with some people you know and say "do you smell anything?" - maybe during the video, talk about how some factory farms smell awful and why - and how this would never occur with you. Then, if there is any fuss over it, you can share the video with whatever agency is appropriate. Maybe you can get an exception with some limitations.

[ericjeeper]

I live in an area with no retrictions..But for those thinking of buying into developed areas,, Why simply just not buy the lot? If you already lived in the development, it would surely irk you if your neighbor was doing something against the homeowner group rules. Or county rules.
Everyone wants to act like rules and laws were written."for other people only"
I know I have stepped on a sore toe.. but put yourself in a neighbors shoes.

[patarini]

Got 3 pigs, what smell?Unless u stick your nose in it, no smell at all. Course I made a big pen, its dirt and woods, nothing builds up enough to smell!

[thequeensblessing]

Originally Posted by ericjeeper

I live in an area with no retrictions..But for those thinking of buying into developed areas,, Why simply just not buy the lot? If you already lived in the development, it would surely irk you if your neighbor was doing something against the homeowner group rules. Or county rules.
Everyone wants to act like rules and laws were written."for other people only"
I know I have stepped on a sore toe.. but put yourself in a neighbors shoes.

As I said in my post, my neighbors have me raise pigs for them, so I have put myself in my neighbors shoes. My neighbors don't live close to me, and they don't homestead at all, but they all know it's the country, and they like the benefits. They all think the restrictions are stupid.

[caberjim]

There is a pig farm down the road from us. Confinement housing, factory style. It reeks something powerful. If you just walk thru one of the houses, the stink gets on you and stays with you til you shower and change. We have 3 pigs that free-range a section of woods behind our turkey pasture. The turkey poop smells more than the pigs. So do our 2 bucks when they are in rut. Pigs get a bad rap because of the stink generated by large confinement operations.

[Spinner]

If you can live with the rules, buy it, if you can't live with the rules, look somewhere else. I personaly would not buy property that had restrictions on it. It's great for people who want the restrictions, but I would not be able to live that way.

[mommy21101]

Originally Posted by Spinner

If you can live with the rules, buy it, if you can't live with the rules, look somewhere else. I personaly would not buy property that had restrictions on it. It's great for people who want the restrictions, but I would not be able to live that way.

We agree with this completely, it just didn't make any sence to me why the county would allow you to have as many of any other animal you wanted. When I was a kid, we raised hogs, and everyone is right-- the goats smelled worse. But of course, we didn't raise them like a factory would-- I remember one winter when there was a runt that ended up in the house, so he wouldn't get squished by his sibblings-- my dad used to carry him in the bib of his overalls Thanks guys, it just didn't occur to me that the smell would be the problem.

[Oilpatch197]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Unless you have been around a hog farm you have no idea just how bad it can be. True one or two might not be so bad no one wants to take the chance. When we sell property it is restricted against swine. If over 10 acres you can have no more than two, which means you can raise a couple for meat but not raise pigs..

We had this problem a few years back, we had NO hog farm restrictions, but then.... a "mega" progressive farming operation began, the county residence were furious!
There was enviromental studies and stuff, the county tried it darndest to stop "Big Hog" from moving in, it failed, after the fight and all the enviromental studies were over with.

Around here on the "other" side of the county we have mennonites, the mennonites used to Farm turkeys, but now in the past ten or so years they've started up Hog operations, and usually their animal containment buildings are often a 1/2 mile apart, there have been some upset landowners as well.

Nobody wants a stinky hog operation by them, and we live out in the country too!

It wasn't soo bad when you had a turkey operation every 5 miles apart, turkey pucket I can stand the smell, hog is much, much worse!

[seedspreader]

I was looking at land that had a swine restriction and the agent that was trying to sell it actually told me... We can't really enforce any of these restrictions because by the time that you get the pig, raise it and it's gone to butcher, the court case would still be ongoing and yet there would be no pig there. I couldn't believe the agent told me that.

[dezeeuwgoats]

I'm not allowed to keep pigs here, but I do. I've raised them for the last three years or so. I keep them in the middle of two acres, in a small pen and have never had any complaints from neighbors. I pretty much keep just two at a time, but there are times when I have more, like the extra pig my son is raising for $$, and when I pick up a bunch of piglets and transport them to N. Arizona for some friends of mine.

I will never be without a pig again, as long as I am able. Either I'd have to convert the neighbor who complained with some pork chops - or move.

Niki

[kesoaps]

Well, as far as smell goes...we had pigs when I was a kid. Usually two or three sows and their piglets. Sold one of the gilts to the neighbor; he never cleaned up after her, let her wallow in nothing but mud (pigs like mud, right?) and blamed the rendering plant a few miles up the road for the stench. Our pigs never smelled at all because we cleaned up after them and allowed them access to pasture (not just a huge mud hole.)

It's unfortunate that people such as our neighbor exist, but they do, and they're the reason for the regulations the rest of us are stuck with.

[RedHogs]

I might get flamed by saying this, but as a larger scale pork producer.... and a land developer we always have swine restrictions on anything we sell. It is not the pig or the smell, it is the sight of the pig... most hobby farms will pasture the pig(s), they will get out every so often and panic will insue. I put a couple sows in a horse pasture for one afternoon and the police were called twice by passers by. It is not not fair to local neighbors to cause problems with a couple hogs, the deed restrictions are their for those people who don't want to even see hogs. If you buy land with a restriction, you are either a man of your word or not. We tell people and have proven we will unhold poultry restricions....we have never been tested on hogs.