What is a CAFO?
Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) are agricultural operations where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures, fields, or on rangeland.
Your operation is an AFO if:
- You confine animals for at least 45 days in a 12-month period, and
- There's no grass or other vegetation in the confinement area during the normal growing season
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are AFOs that meet certain EPA criteria. CAFOs make up approximately 15 percent of total AFOs.
Your operation is a CAFO if:
- It meets the definition of an AFO, and
- The operation meets one of the Regulatory Definitions of Large CAFOs, Medium CAFO, and Small CAFOs [PDF 26KB] About PDF Files
On Dec. 15th, 2002, the EPA Administrator signed revisions to the regulations for large CAFOs. Region 7 is one of the regions which will be most affected by these regulations. (Read more)