DES MOINES - Greene County law enforcement is investigating alleged livestock abuse at a Bayard hog farm after an animal protection organization released undercover videos of workers beating pigs, spray painting their snouts and slamming piglets on the floor.

Undercover investigators working for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, documented the handling of the pigs with concealed video cameras while they worked at the farm between June and September.

Greene County Attorney Nick Martino said his office has met with PETA, and law enforcement has opened an investigation into the hog farm. Martino couldn't say if or when any charges would be filed.

"The investigating officers need to review that information and complete their investigation," he said.

Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA vice president for cruelty investigations, detailed the alleged abuse and neglect during a press conference Wednesday in Des Moines.

Nachminovitch played a four-and-a-half minute video containing some of the footage recorded by undercover investigators at the farm.

The video shows farm employees kicking and beating hogs with metal rods and telling an investigator that they sometimes shove the rods into the animals' anuses.

Another segment of the video shows a worker holding piglets by their hind legs and slamming them on the floor. The next shot shows some of the piglets still squirming and twitching.

Another shot shows a pig whose snout and face had been covered in blue spray paint.

"It's a complete culture of cruelty at this farm," Nachminovitch said.

She called on the farm to change its operations by installing cameras on the site that would be monitored by a third party and banning spray paint and shocking devices.

She also accused the farm of treating sores and infections on some of the pigs with a compound banned by federal regulations because it can be harmful to humans.

The farm, near Bayard, which is located about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines, has been owned by MowMar and operated by Suidae Technologies since Aug. 18. Before that, it was owned by Natural Pork Production II and managed by AMVC.

It is also a supplier for Hormel Foods.

Hormel spokeswoman Julie Henderson Craven called the incidents "completely unacceptable."

Lynn Becker, an owner of MowMar, called the abuses on the video "completely intolerable, reprehensible. We condemn these types of acts. If any animals were abused in the brief time we've owned the farm, if we still employ these people, any attempt will be made to investigate and initiate corrective action immediately."

Becker said his company provided animal welfare training to the staff when it took over the farm.

Natural Pork Production II referred questions to AMVC Management Services, which managed the farm under its ownership. Mark Jones, AMVC's network manager, said the video showed "unacceptable practices" and that his company is working with the new ownership to investigate.

Nachminovitch said one of the investigators complained to a superior about the treatment of the hogs on Sept. 5, and was fired on the next working day Sept. 8.

She said working on the farm took a toll on the undercover investigators.

"It was tremendously difficult to witness things like this on a daily basis and having to get up in the morning and watch these animals go through this sort of system of beatings, kickings," she said.

Mike Deahr, a West Liberty hog farmer with a facility near Muscatine, said most farmers would never treat animals in the manner displayed on the video.

"I don't know how you could assemble a total team, including management, to allow these abuses to take place," Deahr said. "It's just almost beyond words to describe my personal disgust."

He said he employs eight workers full-time to oversee an operation of about 2,800 sows, and he doesn't allow the use of rods or canes when moving animals.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey condemned livestock abuse in a prepared statement Wednesday and called on law enforcement to fully investigate abuse and neglect accusations.

Contact Fred Love at

(515) 243-0138 or

fred.love@lee.net.