Iowa Court Of Appeals

Iowa Court of Appeals MANURE HANDLING Miscellaneous 10-6-5 Court Refuses To Stop Spread Of Manure ù Rural non-farming neighbors don't have the right to freedom from the smell of manure according to a recent Iowa Court of Appeals ruling. The court ruled in a recent case that offensive odors are "just part of life in rural Iowa." Richard Baer, who operates a confinement hog operation in Mitchell County, was sued by two sets of neighbors who said they occasionally became ill because of manure odors and that the odors "permeated their automobiles, drapes, carpet and clothing." The neighbors said manure from Baer's 40,000 gal. storage pit was being spread as close as 120 ft. to their homes. The court ruled that "residents and property owners, living in a rural setting must endure those annoyances and discomforts ordinary and necessary to rural life. The hog confinement operation in the present case is not a radical departure from the nature of the area in which the plaintiffs reside, unlike a situation where a factory is built within a strictly peaceful, residential area."

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