Hog wild: Neighbors express frustration at growing pig problem

by Jackie Nunnery

LANCASTER—Iberis Road in Lancaster County is full of rolling farmland, creeks, and for some frustrated residents, roaming bands of pigs. At the Thursday, September 30, meeting of the Lancaster board of supervisors, residents expressed their growing concern about the problem and growing impatience with county officials.

Mark Vernon, a veterinarian with livestock animals experience and whose daughter, Abby Cruikshank, lives next to Janice Baylor, owner of the property and pigs at the center of the dispute, spoke first. “Successful farmers go to great lengths to confine their pigs to safe environments, work diligently to keep that environment clean and sanitized, vaccinate against important diseases, neuter the majority of young piglets and remove eye teeth that grow into tusks over time,” he said. “They limit male pigs’ exposure to females and control the number of breedings. None of this is going on on Jan Baylor’s property.”

Vernon said, “The county’s administration and officials are not doing much to protect you from this impending threat.” When bringing up the issue of freely roaming pigs, he was told by authorities, “We don’t like to tell people how to live their lives.”

Vernon also read a statement from his son-law, John Cruikshank, who was unable to attend the meeting. Cruikshank detailed other concerns with….