MITCHELL, SD – The Davison County Commission has approved a conditional use permit and variance request for the expansion of a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, south of Mitchell. Jackrabbit Family Farms applied for the permit and variance for their CAFO located about ten miles south and just over a mile west of Mount Vernon. The permit is for a 54,000 sow facility. Marty Rost with Pipestone outlined the current operation.
“This how the sites sits today. There’s two gestation barns that house about 5,680 sows and gilts. There is one existing farrowing barn in the middle of the complex. That houses about 936 animals. There’s a gilt developer barn up on the north that houses about 1,200 head. There’s an office building on the south, a compost building on the east, and there’s a tractor shed when Jackrabbit purchased the site.
Rost explained their expansion plans.
“The proposal is to move to three gestation barns, two farrowing barns, expand the gilt developer barn, add onto the compost with four bins and to maintain the office as it currently is and then also keep the tractor shed.
The conditional use permit and variance requests were approved unanimously by both the Davison County Commission and Davison County Planning and Zoning. The project is expected to be completed in January of next year.
