Hogs & Law
Hogs & Law is Curt Daniels’ personal account of more than sixty years that carried him from farm-animal veterinary medicine into hog farming and eventually into a prolonged fight over his legal rights. Beginning with his move from Missouri to Iowa in 1968, Daniels recounts how a lifelong ambition to become a farmer placed him at the forefront of changing methods in American hog production. Starting with ten gilts on an 80-acre farm, he gradually expanded his operation to approximately 800–1,000 sows.
As hog production changed, so did the regulatory environment surrounding it. Daniels describes his encounters with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, environmental requirements, manure-management regulations, inspections, and enforcement actions. Eventually, his hog operation was depopulated and permanently closed. What appeared to be the end of his farming conflict instead became the beginning of an even longer series of property and legal disputes.
The narrative turns toward John Holtz and a dispute concerning hog equipment that Daniels had removed from the former operation. Daniels maintained that the equipment belonged to him and that the closed facility could not legally be repopulated and operated as a CAFO. The resulting lawsuit produced a substantial judgment against him and became one of the events that pushed the story from agricultural regulation into years of courtroom litigation.
A contested sheriff’s sale later became central to Daniels’ legal struggle. He challenged the circumstances surrounding the sale and continued pursuing the matter through the Iowa courts. His challenge ultimately resulted in the sheriff’s sale being set aside, but Daniels’ struggle did not end with that judgment. He believed established legal precedent required restoration of the parties, as nearly as possible, to their positions before the invalidated sale.
The later chapters follow Daniels’ continuing attempts to obtain the return of real and personal property and enforcement of the judgment. He sought restoration, an accounting of property, damages, rents, and reimbursement for personal property he alleged had been wrongfully converted. His efforts continued through additional proceedings as he argued that the judgment remained enforceable and that established principles concerning final judgments and fraud should be honored.
More than a memoir about hog farming, Hogs & Law is Daniels’ case study of law, equity, legal ethics, property rights, and precedent. Written from his own perspective and supported throughout by the cases he believes governed his disputes, the book asks readers to consider what can happen when established legal principles are not consistently applied. Daniels presents the work for readers interested in agriculture and law, as well as those considering the legal profession, hoping his experiences demonstrate the importance of fairness, accountability, and adherence to precedent within the courts.
INSIDE THE STORY
Every chapter follows Curt Daniels’ journey from veterinary medicine into hog farming and ultimately into years of legal disputes involving environmental regulation, property, a sheriff’s sale, and the Iowa courts.
Through his personal account, Daniels examines the consequences these events had on his farm, property, family, and pursuit of justice.
The Beginning — A Vision for Modern Farming
Curt Daniels leaves Missouri for Iowa with a dream of building an innovative hog operation, embracing new technologies that would transform American agriculture.
Regulation Meets Innovation
Inside the Courtroom
The Search for Justice
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