Des Moines Register
A four-story animal feeding operation under construction in east-central Iowa prompted concern on Twitter this week that one of the so-called "high-rise hog hotels" generating buzz in China had made their way to Iowa.
As it turns out, the facility belongs to Fremont Farms of Iowa, an egg company that's building two multi-story buildings for 1.3 million laying eggs east of Grinnell. Fremont Farms says national demand for cage-free eggs prompted it to invest $85 million to convert a traditional egg-laying facility into one that gives the hens room to roam.
The company said the project also includes converting an existing affiliated farm into a cage-free facility with 355,000 pullets, or young hens.