MAPES (AP) - A group of farmers is proposing a 5,000-sow farrowing business north of here.

The Nelson County Pigs Cooperative has applied for state and county permits. Construction could start in midsummer.

Scott Nelson, 42, who operates a 1,200-pig nursery, said the proposed site also will be on his farmland just north and east of Mapes, which is about 35 miles east of Devils Lake.

Nelson is on the interim board for the cooperative, which has about 10 members. It would produce pigs for co-op members' farms in North Dakota, Minnesota and possibly Iowa.

The cooperative will hire a professional manager and will employ about 20 people, Nelson said. He estimates the payroll at around $650,000 per year. "For Nelson County, that's pretty substantial," he said.

The permit application says the new complex would include one 360-by- 170 foot farrowing barn and two 500-by-75 foot gestation barns. It says manure will drop directly into concrete pits under the buildings.

"Our feeling is that by having pits under the barns, there will be no environmental exposure whatever, which should help with any odor," Nelson said.

Twice a year, the manure would be pumped from the pits and directly injected under the soil on area farmland.

The state and county require setbacks from wells, well heads and drainage areas.

"I believe we're exceeding all of those setbacks," Nelson said.

Nelson said the co-op already has long-term contracts with five area producers to accept the fertilizer.

Jay and Margaret Estvold, who farm four miles east of Lakota, have about 700 acres within the two-mile radius of the proposed pig business. They signed a 10-year contract to receive manure for those acres.

Jay Estvold, who raises wheat, barley, canola and soybeans, said the contract initially does not require him to pay for the manure. He expects about a third of the contracted acres might receive a manure application in a given year. It would help replace conventional fertilizers that often cost up to $35 per acre per year, not counting application costs, he said.

Estvold said the hog project holds the promise of keeping people in the region as farmworkers.

"I live about 1/2 mile from Scott's other place," he said. "You drive by it - 100 to 200 yards off the road - and you usually can't smell hogs. It's not an issue."

Nelson said he visited with his neighbors before starting the permit process.

"At that point, I said if anybody has a concern we'd stop the project before we sought permitting," Nelson says. "I live right down the road from the project, and I want to be good neighbors, just like my neighbors are. Up to this point, we've had support of all of the neighboring producers and other neighbors."

Nelson's existing nursery takes pigs from 12 pounds to about 70 pounds. He feeds them for about eight weeks before they are taken to another farm to grow.