Southborough, MA Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Chapter 226 of the Southborough Code is a Board of Health bylaw adopted 1-1-1973, and it is the Town's livestock-keeping rule. Section 226-1 bars any person from erecting, occupying or using a building or other facility as a stable until the Board of Health grants a license. Section 226-2 then says no person shall maintain a horse or horses anywhere in the Town except in a licensed stable, so there is no unlicensed backyard option for horses.

Section 226-3 sets the siting distances: a stable or manure storage area cannot be built closer than 150 feet to a dwelling not occupied by the owner or operator, closer than 100 feet to a well used for drinking water, or closer than 25 feet to a water line, sewage system, standing water or watercourse. Section 226-5 requires a written application on a Board of Health form with a rough-to-scale plot plan showing contours, drainage, sewage systems, wells, brooks, swamps and structures within 200 feet of the proposed stable, the manure handling areas, roads, easements and lot lines, plus the number and type of animals, a manure storage and removal plan, and a floor plan with stall dimensions.

Once licensed, Section 226-4 sets the operating standards. Stalls must be kept clean and dry, grain must be in rodentproof containers, and the number of animals cannot exceed the number written on the license. Manure cannot accumulate for more than two weeks between May 1 and November 1, and the total can never exceed two cords without a Board of Health variance. Manure moved over a public way must travel in a covered container or vehicle.

A license costs $2 under Section 226-15 and expires two years from issue or on transfer of the property (Section 226-6). Section 226-7 lets the Board of Health grant a variance from any provision of the chapter, and Section 226-8 grants stables operating satisfactorily before the chapter took effect a variance from the Section 226-3 distances. Separately, Section 81-1 of the Town's animal bylaw bars the owner or person in charge of any horse, cow, swine, sheep, goat or other grazing animal from letting it pasture in any street or way within the Town.