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        Concentrated Animal Feeding 
                        Operations
                           (CAFO)

 Gallo Cattle Company

Few Central Coast residents realize that we have a huge cattle feed lot situated just out of sight on the east flank of the Salinas Valley near Gonzales. The Gallo Cattle Company, once called “Fat City” is the temporary home of 30,000 head of heifers. Heifers are young female cattle raised to production age then shipped to dairies.  

The waste stream from 30,000 head of cattle is equivalent to the waste from 600,000 people. The 100 acre feed lot at Gallo Cattle Company produces more waste than any Central Coast city and nearly as much as the human populations of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties combined. Salinas Valley growers have complained for over a decade that the feed lot is polluting groundwater. 

Every five years Gallo must renew their “waste discharge permit” with the Regional Water Quality Control Board; this year, Monterey Coastkeeper strongly argued for a more comprehensive permit including better monitoring and much tighter control of waste. Monterey Coastkeeper hired Dr. Byron Shaw, a retired University of Wisconsin soil and water expert, and considered the leading expert on animal feed lots, to review the draft permit.

The Board renewed Gallo’s weak permit. While the Board did require Gallo to create a groundwater monitoring plan, no public review is planned and there is no assurance the monitoring plan will ever be implemented. Monterey Coastkeeper has hired water attorney Mr. Michael Lozeau and is appealing the Regional board’s decision to the State Board. We have reason to be optimistic: Regional Board staff has asked to meet to settle the dispute. 

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