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Feeding Operationen español

What are feeding operations?

Animal feeding operations (AFOs) are places where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. These operations confine hogs, cattle, dairy animals, or poultry in a small area of land, and also keep animal food, manure, dead animals, and production operations in the same area. The animals’ food is brought to them, and no crops or vegetation are grown in the area where the animals are kept. 

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), sometimes called “factory farms,” are animal feeding operations that keep large numbers of animals, or discharge pollution into water that passes through or near the operation. CAFOs are defined as large, medium, or small, depending on the number of animals they confine. For example, a ‘large’ CAFO is defined by the Environmental Protection Agency as a single operation with at least 700 dairy cows or 10,000 swine or 125,000 chickens or 55,000 turkeys. 

The large amounts of animal waste at these operations can threaten water supplies. Waste can be kept in waste lagoons, which can burst and overflow after heavy storms, sending animal waste into water sources and areas where people live. Animal waste and wastewater from animal feeding operations can contaminate ground water through seepage, spills, or breaks in waste storage structures. Water runoff from animal feeding operations can pollute bodies of water with bacteria, viruses, nutrients, and solids. 

Animal feeding operations can emit air pollutants, including ammonia, carbon dioxide, hazardous air pollutants, hydrogen sulfide, methane, nitrous oxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds.


Web Links from MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine)
Animal Diseases and Your Health
Bird Flu

More Links
Animal Feeding Operations (Environmental Protection Agency)
Animal Feeding Operations- Water Quality (Environmental Protection Agency)
Avian Flu - Poultry Workers (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Public Health (Purdue University)
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations home page (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Livestock Environmental Stewardship: Beef, Dairy, Poultry, Swine (Environmental Protection Agency)
Potential Environmental Impacts of Animal Feeding Operations (Environmental Protection Agency)

Chemicals and Feeding Ops
Are these chemicals in MY environment?
Ammonia
Particulate Matter
Pesticides
Volatile Organic Compounds


Last Updated: September 08, 2008

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