By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Wood County Commissioners often hear about problems with CAFOs – concentrated animal feeding operations. So last week, they met with the person in charge of keeping track of those large farms and the manure produced by them.
Kevin Elder, chief of the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting, gave the county commissioners an overview of CAFOs in Ohio, including the regulations and the numbers in the state.
Wood County has three dairy cow CAFOs and one chicken CAFO.
Dairy cattle statistics for Ohio show the greatest number of operations with dairy cows as 39,000 farms in 1950. Those farms had more than 1.1 million dairy cows.
“That was back when my grandpa taught me how to milk cows,” Elder said.
And that was back when it was common for most farms to have their own dairy cows, Wood County Commissioner Doris Herringshaw said. “Everybody had cows.”
By 2016, the number of farms with dairy cows had dropped to 2,671, and the number of dairy cows in Ohio had decreased to 266,000. Wayne County leads the state in dairy cows, followed by Mercer and Holmes counties. Ohio ranks 11th in milk production and first in Swiss cheese production.
Ohio has the most robotic milkers, Elder said, with one dairy in Wood County being robotic. Cows are also producing so much more milk than in the past, with an average per cow output in the past of 4,000 pounds a year, increasing up to 40,000 pounds a year, he said.
The only livestock group that has expanded in the last few years in Ohio is poultry. In 1963, the state had 5 million layer chickens and 10.7 million broilers. By 2015, the layers numbered 33 million and the broilers hit more than 80 million. Ohio ranks second in the U.S. for both laying hens and egg production.
“Poultry is the only species that has increased in numbers,” Elder said.
“Wood County was the highest beef cattle county in the state at one time, now it’s almost non-existent,” he said.
Elder explained to the commissioners what qualifies as a large concentrated animal feeding operation in Ohio:
- 700 mature dairy cows
- 1,000 beef cattle
- 2,500 swine weighing 55 pounds or more
- 10,000 swine weighing less than 55 pounds
- 82,000 chicken, laying hens
- 125,000 chickens, other than laying hens
- 55,000 turkeys
- 500 horses
There are a total of 230 CAFOs in Ohio:
- 40 dairy
- 5 beef
- 78 swine
- 103 poultry
- 4 horses
“Either farms are getting bigger or they are getting out,” Elder said.
When Senate Bill 141 was signed by the governor in 2000, the ODA was required to develop rules for CAFOs. Prior to that, the Ohio EPA issued permits to install for CAFOs, but had no permits to operate and no routine inspection program.
“A lot of the facilities didn’t match the permits,” Elder said. “We had to make a lot of facilities meet their specs.”
Permits to install require the following information: Local notification, siting criteria, geological report, sizing of manure storage, design of manure storage, construction specs, complete set of engineering plans, construction quality control, and final inspection.
Siting criteria puts restrictions on how close a CAFO can be to private wells, streams, property lines, public roads and neighboring residences.
“It’s not a rubber stamp,” Elder said. “We try to make sure it meets all the criteria.”
Permits to operate then require: Manure management plans, land application restrictions, mortality management plans, methods to minimize odors, emergency response plans, insect and rodent control plans, groundwater monitoring, operating records and closure plans.
“We’re trying to make sure every farm has enough land” to use the manure generated at the facility onsite or has made proper plans to export it, Elder said.
Each CAFO has to maintain records such as: Manure storage inspections, manure characterization records, land application site records, best management practice implementation records, manure distribution records and annual groundwater analysis.
All CAFOs are required to notify county commissioners, township trustees and county engineers of construction. This is the only notice required for any type of agricultural construction in Ohio.
Federal rules recommend inspections of each permitted facility once every five years. It is the policy of the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Division of Livestock Environmental Permitting to conduct a minimum of two routine inspections of each permitted facility during each calendar year. ODA has four livestock environmental inspectors to conduct these checks.
The routine inspections cover manure storage and treatment facilities, manure management, insect and rodent control, mortality management, operating records and visual inspections. Unannounced inspections can be made to check on particular items or complaints.
All complaints received are investigated within a “reasonable” time – with the nature of the complaint determining what is a reasonable time. A report is sent to all parties involved in the complaint, plus the Ohio EPA, ODNR and local Soil and Water Conservation District.
Complaints range from concerns about flies, odors, manure application and manure discharges. The numbers of complaints have decreased in the last decade, with 92 filed in 2005 dropping to 20 filed in 2013.
“Our total number of complaints have dropped off,” Elder said, adding that upon inspection about half of the complaints prove to be valid.
“We have taken enforcement where it’s needed,” with repeat problems leading to stepped up enforcement, he said.
The ODA requires that CAFOs have a certified livestock manager to handle the transporting, buying, selling or land application of manure.
Goals for the ODA include to continue developing positive relationships with CAFOs to assist with compliance, enhance the certified livestock manager program to educate on nutrient management, and to maintain staff training.
Elder said much has been learned about manure application in the last couple decades. He assured that rules are followed. “We have denied people from coming to Ohio,” he said. And some farms have been forced to close.
Farms putting manure on frozen land, or violating other manure application laws, are fined. Elder said his office has responded to complaints about Wood County CAFOs many times, but said the inspections show the sites are being operated properly.
The most recent complaint had to do with sand bedding with some manure placed on a field. “It was being properly stockpiled,” Elder said.
