CAFO: The Concentrated Animal Feeding Organization

Although the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) was established by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to protect consumers, a number of unintended consequences have arisen that negatively impact producers. These include increased costs of feed, negative impacts of small and rural producers, limitations to meeting new demands and the voluntary nature of the VFD. This letter explores the VFD and identifies challenges with its current implementation that impact our rural and remote producers.

In the article America’s Food Crisis and how to fix it by Bryan Walsh it talks about how people are packing in animals into confined pens with a bunch of other animals of its kind. All the animals are dosed with antibiotics to keep from getting sick. The article explains that the waste that the animals produce on the factory farms gets disposed into open air lagoons and how it can contaminate nearby streams and creeks.

In the past century there has been a substantial change in the way human beings raise and keep animals meant for food. While in the past there were great numbers of widely spaced small individual farms, now there are relatively few, but extremely large industrialized farms. And as the numbers of animals kept and slaughtered for human consumption increases, these industrialized farms, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFO's, are having more and more of an impact on the environment and people around them. The concentration of animals causes a major problem with the waste products they produce, as well as the gases, chemicals, and other types of byproducts. And the increased use of antibiotics in the animals is beginning to have a profound effect on the health of not only the environment but the communities that exist around these industrialized farms. CAFO's, and their secondary industries, are also a large consumer of oil, gasoline, and other fuels which can have an indirect, but devastating effect on the environment. Luckily there are some who have come to recognize the problems, and potential future problems, involved in this type of animal farming and have begun to inform the public to the dangers these farms pose. And in response to this information, the public is beginning to force changes in the way these CAFO's operate and the impact they have on the environment and

even as nicely controlled, placed, and monitored, CAFOs can offer a low-fee supply of meat, milk, and eggs, because of inexperienced feeding and housing of animals, extended facility duration, and animal specialization (Molden, D. et al., 2007). while CAFOs are proposed in a neighborhood region, it's also argued that they may beautify the nearby financial machine and growth employment (Garnett, T., 2008). The results of the usage of nearby substances, feed, and cattle are argued to ripple throughout the monetary gadget, and extended tax charges will result in multiplied finances for colleges and infrastructure (Carrie,

Animal waste contains many harmful zoonotic pathogens that can be passed on to humans from ingesting contaminated food and drinking water (Gunderson, 2015, p.103). Wastes from CAFOs channel from “hog houses into pits or lagoons, where it is stored untreated until it is applied to the land (Nicole, 2013, p.186). The lagoons may overflow and the untreated waste will spill into waterways (Nicole, 2013, p.186). One of the most dangerous pathogens of CAFOs is Escherichia coli (E. coli) (Gunderson, p.103). The bacteria may cause bloody diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, seizures, comas, high blood pressure, severe kidney damage, and death (Gunderson, 2015,

Most people do not take a second thought about where their food came from. Whether it be chicken, steak, or pork, the meat was most likely raised in a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). Hundreds to thousands of animals in horrid conditions from birth to slaughter at these factory farms. While damaging animals, CAFOs also damage the environment and the effects of these farms are worsening, with more farms resorting to these methods. Popular brands using these methods include global producers like Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods. The United States Department of Agriculture defines a CAFO as an Animal Feeding Operation that houses “...more than 1000 animal units...” (nrcs.usda.gov). These “units” are later defined as “...an animal

The cons are the hazards to both the health of local residents and the environment. The largest contributor to unhealthy conditions surrounding CAFOs is the amount of manure produced by so many animals. According to numbers by the EPA, livestock in the US produces billions of tons of waste every year, to the point of being anywhere from 3 to 20 times the amount from people. And while human waste goes through sewage treatment plans, animal waste does not, and in quantities this large it becomes a health

The author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan stated, some possible ingredients in cattle feed from a CAFO were "Chicken manure, cattle manure, chocolate, stale pastry, cement dust, molasses, candy, urea, hooves, feathers, meat scraps, fish meal, pasta, peanut skins, brewery wastes, cardboard, corn silage, and pesticides" (49). These ingredients could have terrible effects on cattle raised in CAFOs or concentrated animal feeding operations and the people who eat them. The CAFOs, or feedlots, are giant places where thousands of cattle are confined to be fattened up for slaughter. In addition he stated "there is another cost to raising cattle in CAFOs... these animals have evolved to eat grass. But in a CAFO they are forced to eat corn-at

Author, Michael Pollan believes the industrial food chain is hurting the environment, livestock and the consumers. First of all, he states, “The flood of extra nitrogen causes a wild growth of algae, and the algae take up all the oxygen in the water, smothering the fish.”(34) The extra water from the concentrated animal feeding organization may seem harmless but is actually very harmful to the other animals not in the CAFOs. Pollan also points out,”They’re made to eat forage,”...,”...and we’re making them eating grain...”(58). The cows are being fed something they weren't designed to eat and therefore getting sick. In addition to that, “Some of this bacteria are finding their way into our food...”(49). The bacteria bred by the CAFOs doesn't

UW Fond Du Lac, I feel, is the best school for me. I want to go into animal services which enables me to help the one thing that I have loved all my life. Being in this profession I will be able to continue doing what I love and that's protecting those animals who don't have a voice or get the chance to live a life full of love and happiness.

Industrial agriculture is currently the predominant food production system in the United States. It is distinguished by large-scale monoculture, abundant use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and meat production in CAFOs. CAFOs are ‘Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations’, otherwise known as factory farms, which aim to cram as many animals in one space to boost efficiency and profit at the expense of animal suffering and environmental hazards.

Attention getter: According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States, animal agriculture is a leading source of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions, the top three greenhouse gasses (FAO, 2006).

According to the article “Meat and Livestock Production”, confinement feeding is a drought feeding practice that aims to promote animal health and welfare while preserving ground cover and land condition across the majority of the property.

According to Stephen Pollard coordinator of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) "CAFO is a place where animals feeding operations occurs". When animals are created to be killed, so they can produce meat for consumption and sale. Different from CAFOs, extensive farming/extensive agriculture is also a production system raising animals for consumption, but in this side natural resources are more exploited, the animals have adequate space and are treated better in life and also in the time of slaughter making the meat more tasty, soft and quality.

Is animal husbandry in Texas sustainable in relation to fresh water use and water contamination?