In unincorporated Lake County, keeping horses and farm animals is prohibited except on traditional farms (20+ contiguous acres) or hobby farms (2.5+ acres). Hobby farms are capped at one animal unit for the first 2.5 acres plus one more per additional two acres. Traditional farms have no numeric livestock cap.
Lake County UDO No. 2560, Sec. 154-8-030, restricts keeping horses and farm animals to traditional farms and hobby farms, aside from separately regulated beekeeping and chicken keeping. Traditional farms require at least 20 contiguous acres and have no zoning limit on the number of horses, fowl, bees, or farm animals. Hobby farms require at least 2.5 contiguous acres and are prohibited in subdivisions unless 80% of lots are 4.5+ acres; animals may be kept only for personal enjoyment, not commercial gain. Hobby farms are limited to one animal unit for the first 2.5 acres plus one additional animal unit per each additional two acres (Table 8-1). Commercial stables need a special exception. Incorporated cities have separate rules.
Keeping more animals than allowed, or livestock outside a qualifying farm, is a zoning violation prohibited unless approved as a special exception; enforced by the Plan Commission with notice, fines, and abatement.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Lake County, IN
Backyard composting of yard and food scraps is allowed in Lake County and encouraged by the Lake County Solid Waste Management District. A compost pile must ...
Lake County, IN
Lake County has no county-wide ban on artificial turf for residential yards. Installation is governed mainly by local zoning and stormwater rules and, in dev...
Lake County, IN
Native-plant and prairie landscaping is allowed in Lake County, but it must still comply with local rank-vegetation and detrimental-plant rules. Intentional ...
Lake County, IN
Collecting rainwater is legal in Indiana and Lake County imposes no barrel ban. Rain barrels for outdoor irrigation are unrestricted, though any barrel or ci...
Lake County, IN
Lake County, Indiana sets no county-wide day-of-week lawn watering schedule. Northwest Indiana is not a drought-rationing region, and outdoor water use is go...
Lake County, IN
Indiana law makes property owners destroy detrimental plants. IC 15-16-8-1 lists Canada thistle, Johnson grass, Columbus grass, bur cucumber, and shattercane...
See how Lake County's livestock rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.