CAFO

[Dave]

I just hear that the Second District Court of Appeals tossed out the CAFO rules. CAFO (confined animal feed operation) rules required operations over a certain size to have an approved plan for dealing with manure, dead animals, etc. Any feeding operation with over 1,000 beef animals, or 700 mature dairy cows, or 40,000 +/- chickens, or so many pigs was going to have to have a plan. Any operation that was a proven discharger of waste was going to have to have a plan. Lots of producer groups spent a ton of time working on this issue in an attempt to make it workable for their members but that is now out the window or at least up in the air. I don't know if the court thought the rules were too strict or not strict enough but you can bet the rules will end upchanging and probably not in a good way.
Dave

 

[dun]

From Dairy Herd Managemnt Alert

Court: Manure rules not protecting water
Two years ago, when the Environmental Protection Agency issued its CAFO regulations for large farms, the consensus within the dairy community was, "Whew! It could have been a lot worse."
Well, things may get a lot worse.
A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the regulations aren’t protecting the nation’s waters from manure pollution. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, N.Y., sided with environmentalists and ordered the EPA to make changes so that it can ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act.

 

[tapeworm]

A lot of feeders have already spent afortune to comply with theysaid they wanted in the first place....guess now they can spend another fortune??? Who cares about them I guess

 

[Dave]

Who cares about them????? Who buys your calves? I know mine end up at a feedlot. What happens if the smaller ones can't afford the cost so they close down which makes for less competion buying the cattle? This puts more control of the market in the hands of a few big operations. This also effects more than just beef or dairy. It is literally every type of livestock and can potenially effect any size operation. Certainly the bigger ones will be affected first but if you pen up any animal and feed it for more than 45 days it could affect you.
Dave

 

[tapeworm]

Who cares about them????? Who buys your calves? I know mine end up at a feedlot. What happens if the smaller ones can't afford the cost so they close down which makes for less competion buying the cattle?

Sorry for the confusion there David. Guess you folks out there in the California suburbs dont have rhetorical questions. From now on if I think youre likely to read my posting I'll try to use one of the little winky blinky boys for you. ;-)