Guilford County, NC Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Guilford County's Unified Development Ordinance regulates livestock keeping through its 'Animal Feeder/Breeder' use category, which applies wherever the county's AG (Agricultural) zoning district allows the use, at UDO Subsec. 5.3.C. Any structure, building or enclosed area used to house poultry, hogs, cattle or other livestock or breeding animals must be set back a minimum of 100 feet from every property line of the tract, a buffer meant to keep barns, coops and pens away from neighboring parcels. The same 100-foot standard reappears for noise: mechanical equipment tied to the operation, such as feed augers, ventilation fans or waste-handling machinery, producing sound in excess of 70 decibels must be located no closer than 100 feet to the nearest residence, a more specific numeric standard than the county's general nuisance-based noise ordinance in Code Sec. 11-8.

Operation of a feeder/breeder use is also tied directly to the Guilford County Health Department: any violation of the Health Department's regulations governing how the feeder/breeder is run is treated as a violation of the UDO itself, giving planning and health inspectors overlapping enforcement authority over the same site. The standard sits alongside, but is distinct from, the UDO's 'Animal Services - Other' category, which covers commercial animal-service businesses in the county's mixed-use and business districts and separately bans outdoor pens and runs there. Because the feeder/breeder setback and noise standards apply 'where required: AG,' they govern livestock keeping on agriculturally zoned land in the unincorporated county; a homeowner outside the AG district raising a small backyard flock still must satisfy the county's general nuisance, health and sanitation rules even though this particular 100-foot UDO setback is tied to agricultural zoning.