"Look at 'em," said Michael Terrill, a veterinarian and Pigs for Farmer John vice president, leading a group of visitors. "They've all got full bellies. They're eating great . . . They're playful and curious."

Terrill's tour in Snowflake was part of a public-relations campaign designed to show livestock at an industrial farm is treated humanely and that 160,000 hogs can be raised without cruelty or pollution.

Company officials are trying to open another Arizona pig farm in Yuma County, a project stymied at the last minute by an assortment of foes. Some are animal-rights activists. Others are neighboring landowners, farmers and eco-defenders worried that an industrial-size pork producer will suck up water supplies, stink up the county and spread flies.

Terrill grits his teeth at the accusations. He said Farmer John is an ethical and environmentally responsible pork company with a vested interest in keeping pigs healthy.

"The way animals are taken care of today is light-years ahead of the way they were handled 10 or 20 years ago," Terrill said.