Animal Feeding Operations Download

Data includes medium and large animal feeding operation sites as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA defines a medium site as a facility with a capacity of 300-999 animal units and a large site as a facility with a capacity of 1,000 or more animal units. Values provided for each animal species type equates to animal units, not the number of animals per head. “Animal unit” means a unit of measurement based upon the product of multiplying the number of animals of each category by a special equivalency factor. For example, swine weighing more than 55 pounds have an AU factor of 0.4, a herd of 750 head multiplied by 0.4 equals 300 animal units. Animal units are defined in IAC 567 Chapter 65. More information regarding calculating animal unit capacity can be found at https://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/afo/fs_mmp.pdf. Note - facilities below 500 animal units in the state of Iowa have no permitting or manure management plan requirements. Therefore, facilities with a capacity of 300-499 shown in this data likely will not have a construction permit or any type of manure management plan. This geodatabase contains 3 feature classes: animal_feeding_operations, AFO_open_feedlots, and AFO_confinements. XML metadata can be found in the gdb folder.