What is a Confined Feeding Operation?
• A Confined Feeding Operation (CFO) is a farm on which producers raise animals in confined spaces such as lots, pens, ponds or sheds – with less than 50 percent vegetation – for more than 45 days out of the year. • There are about 3,000 regulated CFOs in Indiana. • Indiana regulates CFOs that contain at least 300 cattle, 600 swine or sheep or 30,000 fowl. • Cattle, swine, sheep, chickens, ducks and turkeys are all raised in Indiana CFOs. Why does IDEM regulate CFOs? • If the manure produced by animals in a confined space is handled improperly, it can cause significant environmental damage to Indiana’s waterways. What are the benefits of CFOs? • Animals raised in CFOs provide food and clothing for Hoosiers. • These animals also produce manure, which is stored in pits, lagoons, tanks and other storage devices. The manure is then applied as fertilizer on fields. • When stored and applied properly, this manure is a beneficial, natural source for crop nutrition. This practice also lessens
