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

The Table of Uses at Sec. 21-113 lists 'Agricultural production livestock and animal specialties' (SIC group 02) as a 'P' (permitted by right) use in the RA, RR, RS, MHP and MFR residential districts and in the CBI, NB, INST and IND nonresidential districts; the Airport Industrial (AI) column is left blank, meaning the use is not listed there. A household in the RA or RR district can keep chickens, cattle, goats or other livestock as an agricultural use without a special use permit or conditional district review, the same treatment given to row-crop farming (SIC group 01).

Related commercial animal services carry heavier review: veterinary services for livestock (SIC 0741) and livestock services other than veterinary (SIC 0751) are marked 'SR or S' in RA and RR, meaning the zoning administrator can approve them with special requirements or the board of commissioners must approve them as a special use, while an animal shelter, boarding kennel or dog pound is always an 'S' special use in RA and RR. Boarding or training horses, other than racing, is permitted by right in RA and RR.

Separately, Sec. 21-6 removes bona fide farms from the zoning chapter altogether, so a tract meeting the state's bona fide farm definition, including land producing livestock or poultry, is not subject to zoning permits, setbacks or the Table of Uses for its farm activities, though any nonfarm use added to the same property can still be regulated.