Senate File 288 SENATE FILE BY BRUNKHORST Passed Senate, Date Passed House, Date Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays Approved A BILL FOR 1 An Act providing for the animal unit capacity of pullets for 2 purposes of regulation under the animal agriculture compliance 3 Act. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 2620SS 80 6 da/sh/8 PAG LIN 1 1 Section 1. Section 459.102, subsection 6, paragraph i, 1 2 Code 2003, is amended to read as follows: 1 3 i.Broiler or layer chickensChickens weighing twenty ounces 1 4 or more .................................................. 0.010 1 5 j. Chickens weighing less than twenty ounces ........ 0.0025 1 6 EXPLANATION 1 7 BACKGROUND. This bill relates to provisions under the 1 8 "Animal Agriculture Compliance Act", relating to the 1 9 regulation of animal feeding operations by the department of 1 10 natural resources (DNR) which were amended, enacted, and 1 11 consolidated in Code chapter 459 during the 2002 legislative 1 12 sessions pursuant to Senate File 2293 and House File 2627 1 13 (2002 Iowa Acts, ch. 1137, and 2002 Iowa Acts, Second 1 14 Extraordinary Session, ch. 1003). 1 15 ANIMAL UNIT CAPACITY. Regulations affecting confinement 1 16 feeding operations are often based on size. Senate File 2293 1 17 replaced animal weight capacity with animal unit capacity as a 1 18 means of measuring size. An animal unit is a number based 1 19 upon the product of multiplying the number of animals of each 1 20 category by a special equivalency factor. Categories are 1 21 established based on species. However, the section sometimes 1 22 divides categories for a single species based on maturity or 1 23 weight. Slaughter or feeder cattle equal 1 animal unit, 1 24 immature dairy cattle equal 1 animal unit, mature dairy cattle 1 25 equal 1.4 animal unit, butcher or breeding swine weighing more 1 26 than 55 pounds equal 0.4 animal unit, swine weighing between 1 27 15 and 55 pounds equal 0.1 animal unit, sheep or lambs equal 1 28 0.1 animal unit, horses equal 2 animal units, turkeys equal 1 29 0.018 animal unit, chickens, both broiler and layer, equal 1 30 0.010 animal unit. 1 31 PROVISIONS OF THIS BILL. This bill creates another 1 32 distinction for poultry. It retains the equivalency factor 1 33 for chickens at 0.010 but provides that the category does not 1 34 apply to chickens weighing less than 20 ounces. The bill 1 35 provides a new equivalency factor for those chickens, 2 1 sometimes referred to as pullets (0.0025 animal unit). 2 2 LSB 2620SS 80 2 3 da/sh/8