RANDALIA, Iowa –A feedlot operator turned himself in on a warrant charging him with letting 3,000 hogs go unfed and starving them to death. Derek Smith, 41, was charged with animal neglect. Three-thousand hogs were found dead on Smith’s farm. Another 200 were so emaciated that they had be put down, Sheriff Marty Fisher said. There was no immediate explanation for the neglect. Reportedly Smith was under contract with Valley Pork of Dubuque. The chief executive of Valley Pork, James Davis, let news media telephone queries go unanswered. The Smith farm is in Fayette County 20 miles southwest of Postville. Dubuque is 90 miles.
Smith. Livestock neglect is punishable by as much as a $2,560 fine and a year in jail.