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Elk River Basin - Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations A concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, is a farm where there are more than 1,000 animals being raised in a small space. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has estimated the human population equivalent (PE) of these animal operations. Population equivalent (PE) stands for the number of humans that it would take to produce the same amount of biological waste that the animals are producing. Population equivalent estimates for the Elk River Basin show that animals raised in the basin in 1998 produced the same about of waste that would be produced by an extra 2.5 million people living in the watershed. In 1982, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources records showed that there were six concentrated animal feeding operations in the Elk River Basin. In 1985 the number of hogs and cattle in the watershed was estimated to produce the same amount of waste as 1,559,000 people, and the poultry operations in the watershed were estimated to produce 177,800 PE of waste. The total estimated population equivalent waste produced by livestock and poultry in the watershed was 1,736,800. In 1998, there were 265 animal feeding operations in the basin, with 252 of these operations consisting of poultry farms. This was a huge increase from only 6 operations in the basin in 1982. These confined animal feeding operations produced an estimated 1,374,984 PE of waste in 1998 according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Free-ranging cattle are common throughout the basin. In 1998, there was an estimated 90,064 head of cattle with an estimated PE of 1,116,793. Together, concentrated animal feeding operations and free-range cattle produced waste equivalent to 2,491,777 people in 1998. These PE estimates are underestimated for the entire basin because they do not include animal operations located in parts of the watershed within Oklahoma and Arkansas. Also, animal feeding operations with less than 1,000 animal units are not included in the estimates because they are not required to have a permit. Wastes from animal feeding operations are disposed of by spreading them across designated land areas. In Missouri, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources regulates this process, but in Arkansas the application of dry-waste is not regulated. In some instances, animal wastes may be over-applied to the land and nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen, as well as bacteria from the waste, may run off into nearby waters. Data from 1985 from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources shows that confined animal feeding operations may have caused increased nitrate levels and ammonia levels in the Little Sugar Creek and Big Sugar Creek sub-basins of the Elk River watershed. |
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Elk River | James River | Sac River | Spring River | North Fork Salt River |
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Missouri Watershed Information Network (MoWIN) |
Page last updated August 26, 2008 |
