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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 8, 2002 - 5:14 pm:

I run a 15-stall boarding facility in Georgia. I've been told by a prospective boarder that the USDA can shut down a boarding facility if it's inspector finds a pasture capacity of less than 1 horse / acre. I'm in the process of buying more land (there's 10 acres presently and we're not full) but I'd like to know what authority the USDA or any other agency has. (I previously posted this message under pasture but it seems more appropriate here.)

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 8, 2002 - 5:36 pm:

If the USDA could shut down a boarding stable for having less than an acre per horse, there would be lots of stables across the country shut down. In Tennessee and Kentucky and many or states where horses are an industry and stables have very little ground because the horses are hand worked and exercised and not turned out. I would personally say this person is blowing smoke to say such a thing. If your county or local goverment has a health inspector that can determine there is a problem if for instance you are in the city limits, then they might be able to do something if there are complaints. If you have proper waste disposal for manure and such you shouldn't have a problem and if your place is zoned for agriculture which is important. If you have close neighbors to whom smells from the stable might be offensive could be a problem. It usually requires a complaint from neighbors or concerned citixens or someone who just wants to cause trouble.
I would suggest calling the local health dept and getting the rules. USDA would be out of their element and jurisdiction at the local level and your situation is not a federal issue.
I had five acres in the city, zoned agriculture, and had 8 horses that were fed well and the ground was for exercise and I checked with the health department and they said a disgruntled person could cause trouble, but since the land on both sides was also zoned agriculture it was unlikely to cause a problem.

Check it out and be prepared. Pollution charges is the big threat on small farms.

Good Luck and keep us informed on what you find.
Elsie Darrah

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 8, 2002 - 10:51 pm:

or call your agricultural extention agent....I have found them very helpful. They will know the local rules, and their job is to answer questions such as this.
But...I agree with the above post...I do not know of many boarding barns that would be able to fall within those guidelines.

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 9, 2002 - 9:01 am:

Hello J Wilkes,
Though I cannot pretend to know all the USDA rules and regulations, I don't think there is any such authority and if there is I have never seen or heard of it being exercised in 20 years of being a federally accredited veterinarian. We are private veterinarians, who take a test demonstrating some knowledge of the rules and regulations and then allowed to do regulatory work for the feds as it comes up.

In fact, I have never seen any agent of the federal governement who was interested in inspecting boarding facilities. Pretty much the feds depend on the accredited (local) veterinarian to keep an eye on things horsey.

Such matters may occasionally be controlled by local zoning and animal control laws but usually no one is concerned about the acres per horse in a boarding facility, what they are concerned about is how humanely those horses are treated. The USDA's main concern as far as horses are concerned is with the transport and handling of horses in stockyards and sales.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 9, 2002 - 11:50 am:

J Wilkes may have heard about discussion involving putting racetracks under same guidelines as feedlots by considering a racetrack a "confined animal feeding operation" (CAFO). Generally, EPA is considering lowering the threshold that defines a CAFO in "other sectors" and that means horses (along with sheep and ducks). The threshold is 1000 animal units (with a horse counting 1.5 animal units) for certain regulations and 500 AU's for others. If interested in those proposed guidelines (127 pages of dry reading) go to https://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/afo/preamble.cfm?program_id=7

C. Reid McLellan

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 9, 2002 - 2:44 pm:

Thanks so much for your comments. I suspected as much, since, as you point out, such regs. would shut down many stables. For some reason, this tenant believes a USDA inspection is necessary for all boarding facilities. (Has anyone ever heard of this?) Perhaps I should let them board elsewhere.
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