Medium-Sized Livestock Farms Under Scrutiny

01-04-2013 in Commodities

During the last month, there have been rumors about EPA focusing on medium-sized livestock farms and forcing them to get costly permits.

Before you panic, remember the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers is here to help. Neither EPA nor DNR can force a farm to get a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit unless they prove the farm has a discharge.

The first thing to do is determine what category your farm falls into. A medium-sized concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO):

• Confines animals for any 45 days in a 12-month period
• Has no grass or other vegetation
• Has 300-999 animal units (300-999 beef/ immature dairy, 200-699 mature dairy, 750-2499 swine)
• Meets specific pollutant discharge conditions: runoff goes through a man-made conveyance OR pollutants are discharged directly into waters of the US

The key for farms in the medium category is to make sure they are not impacting water quality and are in compliance with the rules. If you are concerned your farm may fall into this category and would like further explanation, please give us a call at 800-932-2436.

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