Sizing Dairy Soil/Plant Filters With Conservative Management

Abstract

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requires a permit or letter of approval for constructing and/or operating dairy enterprises above a certain size. Present regulations are primarily concerned with concentrated animal feeding operations. A concentrated animal feeding operation is defined as an operating location where animals have been, are or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for 45 days or more in any 12-month period, and a groundcover of vegetation is not sustained on at least 50 percent of the animal confinement area. Approval of an animal waste management system by DNR requires that sufficient land be available to receive the generated waste. If you do not own suitable land, a legally binding agreement must be reached with neighboring landowners to allow spreading the waste on their land.