Iowa man arrested after hundreds of pigs die from neglect

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – An Iowa man has been arrested after hundreds of pigs died at his farm last month after they went without adequate food and were kept in conditions so cold that some of their ears froze off.

Black Hawk County sheriff’s deputies arrested the 38-year-old man Monday on one count of livestock neglect, a misdemeanor, the Waterloo-cedar Falls Courier reported.

The man had been hired to raise 2,500 baby pigs until they reached around 280 pounds, according to court records. The animals were delivered to his farm in rural Cedar Falls in late December with 15 tons of feed.

By Dec. 30, a consultant found that 800 of the pigs had died and that the animals didn’t have ready access to water and some didn’t have access to food. The consultant also found temperatures inside the barns were under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, when freshly weaned hogs need temperatures around 80 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit to survive, court records state.