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Justice for Olivia - stop Midland Bacon from expanding!

The notorious Midland Bacon piggery, where a caged sow was raped by the manager's son, is seeking to expand. Their development application is open for public submissions. Use our template email below to submit a formal objection to the Campaspe Shire Council.

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To:

Shire of Campaspe

Subject:

To the Campaspe Shire Council, 
I am writing to express my strong objection to the proposed expansion of Midland Bacon, an intensive pig farm located at 97 Robertson Road, Carag Carag VIC 3623 (Lot 1 PS 448893G PSH CAR). Application ID: PLN324/2024.
In January 2026, a planning application notice was published by Campaspe Shire informing the community that Midland Bacon was seeking to expand their operations. In their application, the piggery owners state that they are seeking to build another sow shed, plus two ‘finisher sheds,’ which would allow them to breed and raise pigs to ‘slaughter weight’ at 6 months of age, to then send them straight to the slaughterhouse. This would mean an additional 2000 pigs kept on site at all times, a significant increase in animal numbers and the amount of waste produced by the piggery.
I would like to express serious concern regarding this application on three grounds: the piggery’s track record of poor animal welfare, pollution and water usage, and risks to public health.
Animal welfare
Midland Bacon is a northern Victorian piggery which has been <a href="https://www.farmtransparency.org/facilities/f41a6-midland-bacon/videos">repeatedly exposed for horrific abuse of pigs</a>. In early 2024, hidden cameras installed at the piggery captured day-old piglets having their tails cut off with scissors, and the piggery’s manager, Rick O’Reilly, killing unwanted ‘runt’ piglets by smashing their heads on the concrete floor. In the same farrowing shed, Rick O’Reilly’s son, Bradley, was <a href="https://www.farmtransparency.org/videos?id=9gx8cq1k13">caught on camera</a> raping a sow, who was later named Olivia.
Midland Bacon has a proven track record of cruelty and abuse. While legal, their continued use of sow stalls, piglet thumping and piglet mutilation without pain relief shows that they have refused to adapt many of the ‘welfare’ improvements which the Australian Pork industry have promoted in recent years. It also shows that they fall far behind national and international standards of the treatment of intelligent, sensitive animals, such as pigs. In Europe, the UK and New Zealand, practices such as sow stalls and farrowing crates are banned or being phased out in animal welfare strategies. Midland Bacon continues to profit off a business model built on the very worst practices of intensive pig farming, and there is no doubt that any expansion would lead to more of the same.
Additionally, the discovery of the horrific sexual assault and rape of Olivia, a mother pig confined to a farrowing crate, is an abhorrent and vile crime. Midland Bacon has expressed no concern with the act, despite it being committed by the piggery manager’s own son. Since Olivia’s assault was uncovered, the piggery has made no public comment about how they are addressing what happened. They refused to release Olivia into the care of an animal sanctuary, instead quietly moving her to a different location. They have shown that they have no regard for the wellbeing of the animals they breed and profit from. Allowing them to expand their operations would subject more pigs to this extreme negligence.
Documents confirm that Midland Bacon sends pigs to both CA Sinclair slaughterhouse in Benalla and Diamond Valley Pork slaughterhouse in Laverton. <a href="https://www.farmtransparency.org/campaigns/gas-chambers">Footage captured at both facilities in 2023</a> show pigs screaming, gasping, thrashing and struggling to breathe for minutes as they slowly suffocate in the carbon dioxide gas chambers.
Pollution and water usage
In 2022, Campaspe Shire released their Environment Strategy, where they expressed their commitment “to the environment with a strategic direction of resilient, protected and healthy natural environment.” In it, they lay out the significant risks associated with climate change in the area, particularly increased risks of bushfires and drought. A 2022 report found that the area encompassing Campaspe Shire was the number one most at-risk federal electorate in terms of extreme weather events, including bushfires, riverine flooding, extreme wind, coastal inundation and surface water flooding.
As well as being at high risk of bushfires, the three rivers of Campaspe Shire make it highly susceptible to flooding. Midland Bacon sits within an area that is at high risk of flooding in extreme weather events.
Campaspe Shire also draws attention the importance of water quality assurance, given the area’s high risk of drought. Ensuring the availability of clean water is critically important to the area. The Council sets out an action plan which includes goals to “responsibly manage energy and water consumption” and incorporating “consideration of climate change and relevant state and national plans into strategic planning.”
In their long-term aims, the Council pledges to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for Council operations by 2035 and ensure that “farmers and land managers care for their land to enable agricultural productivity with environmental benefits.”
The expansion of an intensive piggery in the Campaspe shire is in direct opposition to the Council’s own environment strategy. In Midland Bacon’s planning application, it is noted that the expansion of the piggery will lead to increased ‘Standard Pig Units (SPU),’ which is a unit for defining piggery capacity by manure production where the manure and waste feed produced by one SPU contains the amount of volatile solids (VS) equivalent to that typically produced by an average size grower pig (90 kg VS/yr).
Effluent, including urine, faeces, spilt feed and washdown water, is hazardous to the environment and to human health. Midland Bacon stores this effluent in a three-pond system. The Piggery borders the Mansfield Swamp Wildlife Reserve which comprises of a 92.06 ha deep freshwater marsh and 424.24 ha shallow freshwater marsh. The Wildlife Reserve is an important breeding ground for Brolgas and is a home to a wide variety of native species, including the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) listed, Stiff Groundsel, which is critically endangered in Victoria. The Stiff Groundsel is listed in the Campaspe Shire’s Environment Strategy. Effluent ponds at Midland are bordered by a levee however, if they were to overflow, the closest pond is just 70 metres from the reserve’s boundaries.
Piggeries are a significant source of water usage and wastage. Australian Pork Limited estimates on-farm use of fresh water at 55 - 65 L of water per sow, per day for drinking (including spills) and cooling and an additional 20 - 29 L of fresh water for wash down (APL, 2016; Murphy et al., 2016). The current water consumption for Midland Bacon is ~74,500L/day, or 27 million litres per year of drinking water. Total water usage is 64 million litres per year, and ~175,000L per day.
By allowing the expansion of Midland Bacon, the Campaspe Shire is failing in their own conservation and climate change adaption and mitigation strategies and would put the Shire at further risk of harm in the future.
Public health
Piggeries are high risk sites for <a href="https://iacuc.wsu.edu/zoonoses-associated-with-swine/">zoonotic disease outbreak</a>, many of which carry a risk of spreading to other species or to humans. Diseases which can be transmitted through effluent include erysipelas, leptospirosis and streptococcosis. Erysipelas may present in humans as cellulitis, bacteremia, endocarditis, encephalitis, and arthritis. Leptospirosis in humans can cause fever, headache, abdominal and muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, and rash. In more severe cases, it can cause hemorrhagic pneumonia, liver and kidney failure and can lead to death.
Humans can also contract salmonellosis, campylobacterosis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, balantidiasis and infections with pathogenic E. coli through contact and accidental ingestion of fecal material from infected animals. Pigs infected with these bacterial and protozoal diseases typically have diarrhea, but some animals may show no symptoms of disease.
Given the piggery’s proximity to a wetland and the presence of still water, the form of effluent ponds, pigs at Midland Bacon are also at risk of contracting mosquito born diseases. Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne viral disease that can cause reproductive losses and encephalitis in susceptible animal species. If infected pigs are bitten by mosquitos, they can spread the infection, which can then be passed on to humans. Japanese encephalitis can be a <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/japanese_encephalitis.aspx">serious disease for humans</a>, leading to fever, headache and vomiting. In rare cases, symptoms can include neck stiffness, disorientation, tremors, coma, seizures and paralysis.
Conclusion
To allow the expansion of Midland Bacon would mean that the Campaspe Shire Council was supporting the following outcomes:
<ol>
<li>An increased risk of future animal cruelty and suffering.</li>
<li>Increased pollution and water usage at a time when resources are scarce.</li>
<li>Increased risk to public health, including zoonotic disease spread. </li>
</ol>
I urge you to consider these factors and reject this planning application.

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