Arkansas is home to one of the densest poultry producing regions in the United States, and its compliance program reflects that: an annual feeding-operation registration keyed to bird count, litter management rules in declared nutrient surplus areas, a liquid animal waste permit program, individual CAFO NPDES permits, egg handler reporting, hatchery NPIP registration, entry health records, processing exemptions, and carcass disposal rules. Poultry Log's Arkansas catalog records each requirement with its agency, authority, cadence, retention, and official source link.
The Registration Threshold That Defines the Program
The Arkansas poultry feeding operation annual registration under Ark. Code Ann. 15-20-901 et seq. and the Title 19 rules applies to any operation that houses or confines 2,500 or more poultry on any day. Registration runs annually from January 1 through March 31, with address changes due within 15 working days. Operations that never reach 2,500 birds in the preceding twelve months sit outside Title 19 registration, and adjoining operations or operations sharing a waste-disposal system under common ownership are counted together. The registration itself asks for bird types and counts, coordinates and legal location, waste and litter storage and carcass systems, land-application acreage, litter production and transfers, and the integrator relationship, with the supporting records kept available for Department inspection.
Litter, Waste, and NPDES
- Poultry litter management - Title 22 rules under Ark. Code Ann. 15-20-1101 et seq.: covered operations in a declared nutrient surplus area must obtain and follow the applicable nutrient or poultry litter management plan and keep litter application and transfer records, including source, amount, nutrient content, recipient, location, and date.
- Liquid animal waste (LAWMS) - Ark. Code 15-20-102: confined operations using a liquid animal waste management system must obtain and operate under a LAWMS permit and waste plan, with an annual report before May 30 and a land-application record kept at the facility for each application.
- CAFO NPDES - Arkansas DEQ under 40 CFR 122.23 and the Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act: a discharging CAFO must obtain an individual NPDES permit using DEQ Form 1 and EPA Form 2B. Arkansas did not renew the former statewide CAFO general permit, so the individual permit path is the one the catalog records.
Eggs, Hatcheries, and Movement
Arkansas egg handlers must hold the applicable permit under the Egg Marketing Act (Ark. Code 20-58-201 et seq.), with packers filing monthly volume and inspection-fee reports by the fifteenth; a producer with fewer than 700 hens may sell compliant ungraded country eggs to retailers under the washing, identification, invoice, and refrigeration conditions the catalog records. Hatcheries must register and be inspected annually, and hatcheries selling hatching eggs or anyone selling chicks must be NPIP approved, under the Arkansas Poultry Disease and Flock Condemnation Rule. Birds entering Arkansas must carry the applicable CVI or NPIP VS Form 9-3 with disease, origin, permit, and outbreak documentation, and current emergency declarations can add avian-influenza testing, entry permit, and vehicle sanitation conditions.
Processing and Mortality
Poultry processed for sale must be federally inspected under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) or qualify for and register under the applicable Arkansas processing exemption, with annual and batch bird counts, source, buyers, sales channels, sanitation, and labels kept. Mortality disposal follows Ark. Code 2-40-403 and 2-40-404 and the carcass disposal rule: authorized methods only, with major die-offs following the Department-approved emergency method. The catalog records that extrusion and cooking for swine feed are no longer authorized fowl-carcass disposal methods.
Where Poultry Log Fits
Poultry Log's Arkansas catalog carries these requirements with official source links and form templates, in the same workspace as the daily records that feed them. The registration context is covered in the US integrator compliance records guide, litter and manure records in the manure management records guide, and the federal CAFO layer in the CAFO permit guide. Confirm current requirements with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and Arkansas DEQ; completing a checklist does not certify legal compliance. Start free at poultrylog.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many birds require a poultry farm registration in Arkansas?
An Arkansas operation that houses or confines 2,500 or more poultry on any day must register annually from January 1 through March 31 under the Title 19 poultry feeding operation registration rules. Adjoining operations or operations sharing a waste-disposal system under common ownership are counted together.
What records does the Arkansas poultry registration require?
The Poultry Log Arkansas catalog records the required fields as owner and facility addresses, bird types and counts, coordinates and legal location, waste, litter storage and carcass systems, land-application acreage, litter production and transfers, and the integrator relationship, with each annual registration and its supporting records kept available for Department inspection.
Does Arkansas require NPDES permits for all poultry CAFOs?
Arkansas requires individual NPDES authorization for a CAFO that discharges, using DEQ Form 1 and EPA Form 2B. The catalog records that Arkansas did not renew the former statewide CAFO general permit, and that a CAFO with no actual or proposed discharge is not automatically required to seek NPDES coverage, subject to designation and other state permits.