Mendocino County, CA Animal Ordinances: Livestock (2026)

Larger animal keeping — cattle, sheep, horses, goats, pigs — in unincorporated Mendocino County is regulated through the Zoning Ordinance (Title 20). The County's agricultural use-type definitions classify 'animal raising—general agriculture' as the raising of crops or livestock on parcels greater than 40,000 square feet (or land zoned A-G, R-L, U-R, F-L or TPZ), expressly including animal husbandry such as the breeding and raising of cattle, sheep, horses, goats, pigs, rabbits, and poultry, including egg production. The 'A-G' Agricultural District (Ch. 20.052) is intended to create and preserve areas for the raising of crops and animals, and the County also maintains range-land districts (e.g., RL — Range Lands). On the fencing/stray-animal side, Mendocino County is not treated as a 'free-range' county, so adequate perimeter fencing to contain livestock is required, consistent with California Food & Agricultural Code §17121 (fencing) and the estray provisions of §17122. Under §17122, in any county or part of a county devoted chiefly to grazing, a person does not have the right to take up an estray (stray) animal found on their premises unless the premises are entirely enclosed with a good and substantial fence. California's estray laws are codified at Food & Agricultural Code §§17001–17128. The result for owners: which livestock you may keep, and at what scale, depends on parcel size and zoning district, and you remain responsible for fencing your animals in.