NE Iowa Company Looking to Build Huge Hog Farm in Wis.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says it will require a full environmental impact study of a proposed hog "megafarm" in northern Wisconsin, being built by a Northeast Iowa company.

The agency made the announcement Tuesday.

The operation would house about 7,500 sows, 18,750 pigs and 100 boars in three barns in Bayfield County.

Environmentalists are concerned that the farm would create odor and water pollution problems. Some residents worry that millions of gallons of pig manure will eventually wash off the land and pollute Lake Superior.

An Iowa business, Reicks View Farms of Lawler, is proposing the operation. The farm, called Badgerwood, would raise female pigs to maturity and ship them to Iowa farms.

The DNR will soon announce how it will accept public comments on the scope of the environmental impact statement.