Douglas County commissioners Monday were told state law lets them to do little to more strictly regulate hog farming in the county, no matter how much hog farm neighbors might complain.

Commissioners had planned to discuss at their Monday meeting creating a setback requirement for hog operations and limiting the number of hogs per acre farmers could raise.

But Douglas County resident and assistant state secretary of agriculture Greg Foley told commissioners most state regulations for hog farms don’t begin until a farm reaches approximately 750 hogs, and state law specifically prohibits counties enacting stricter regulations on their own.

Foley said he came to Monday’s meeting not as a state official, but rather a Douglas County citizen who didn’t want to see the county spend time and money on efforts that likely wouldn’t bear fruit.

“I’ve seen this issue go through a lot of counties and seen a lot of county commissions spend a lot of money researching this only to find out they can’t do anything,” Foley said. “Being this is where my tax dollars go, I thought you should know upfront what you’re up against.”

Commissioners began talking about regulating hog farms after Lloyd Haas, 1808 N. 1100 Road, complained to commissioners and other county officials about a small-scale hog farming operation that is creating waste, odor and trash problems on his property.

Haas told commissioners the neighboring property at 1804 N. 1100 Road for the last three years has had a hog pen right next to Haas’ property line and the owner frequently feeds the hogs trash that blows onto his property. He also has concerns the hog operation could contaminate the groundwater supply.

“He had 18 head of hogs 25 feet from a water well,” Haas told commissioners. “If that waste were to drain in there, it would not only be unhealthy for them, but also for myself and my neighbors. And then there’s the smell. You can sit in our house with all the doors and windows closed, and you can still smell it.”

The name of the hogs’ owner was never mentioned at the meeting, but the phone book lists Tony Schwager as the resident at the property. Attempts to reach Schwager for comment were unsuccessful.

Commissioners said they may not be able to force Schwager to move his hogs back a certain distance from the property line, but they suspect his operation does not entirely meet current state regulations because waste from the hog pens washes onto Haas’ property.

“I don’t think we need to do new rules for hog farming,” County Commissioner Charles Jones said. “I don’t think there is any law now that says it is all right to have contaminated waste run off directly onto your neighbor’s property, and there’s no law that gives you the right to put trash on your property that will blow onto your neighbor’s property.

“This isn’t a hog problem. This is a bad neighbor problem.”

Commissioners agreed to have an executive session with the county counselor within the next two weeks to discuss possible action against the property owner.