Commercial farm classification

[Robyn8]

I wasn’t sure where to put this question. We have a small beginners hobby farm. Chickens, 2 goats, 3 sheep, Pyr. My neighbor complained about my pyr barking from 7:30-8:30 am “most weekends”. He is not outside all night as we lock all the animals in. I let him out when I let all the livestock out. The neighbor is over a quarter of a mile down our road. I have asked closer neighbors and they report he is not issue from inside their house. Our township has a noise ordinance of no more than 86 decibels after 7 am so I plan to try to see how loud he really is with an app on my phone at the edge of our property.

We are technically over our animal limits with the chickens but some a babies and won’t be here come winter. But when we add the 4h lambs next spring we will exceed our numbers. I thought our area had a 4h exemption but just confirmed with the township that we do not.

I am willing to let the dog out a little later to keep the peace (like 8 am) but now I’m worried the neighbor will hate us anyways and complain about us exceeding our numbers next summer.

Township said we can get a commercial farm exemption from noise complaints and I think total number of animals. I do sell our eggs but does anyone know how to get classified as a commercial farm? I could sell fiber as well and probably eventually we’ll breed the sheep so there’s that option as well.

 

[Mike CHS]

The MSU Extension office might be a good place to start. At least they should be able to tell you how to get started. USDA as seen below talks about $1,000 in gross income. In our county in Tennessee that figure is $1,500 a year so it does seem to vary by state. We also registered our farm with the state.

USDA defines a farm as “any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year." The $1,000 is the gross value or the gross sales amount of the product. The KEY WORDS are that the farm or entity is in “the production of qualified agricultural or horticultural pursuits as a business enterprise.”

The link leads to one article but there are several tied together.

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/michigan_sales_tax_and_farm_exemption

 

[BrendaMNgri]

Your question must be answered locally, where you live. The USDA's laws and definition of what constitutes a "farm" is overruled, if you will, by your local state, county, city codes and zones. Look up your codes. If where you live has counties, go see what the county code says - and your zoning! I am in same kind of weird deal here, in the sticks and boonies, yet some schlep, eons ago, got this area zoned "high density commercial." Oh, right, my tail it is. Heck we have farms all over the place including huge hay farms and BLM (public) lands ringing all of it. So go downtown, ask to see the zoning, the codes, etc. Warning: you'll probably run into lots of red tape and tons to read, but that is what you have to do, and be prepared to be shocked and disappointed. I know I was when I tried fighting my fight here on if I needed to be permitted on number of working LGDs or not. Apparently my "ranch" and all the others around me, don't get classified as "real farms" - because we don't produce blah blah blah thousands of dollars of this and that, and have to have x number of acres to be considered "ag", and more....it's a joke and why there is outrage all over the USA from little farmers getting screwed (like us) on zoning and codes. This is a growing issue all over the country. Just the tip of the iceberg. Good luck.

 

[babsbag]

You may have to file a schedule F on your federal taxes as well to be considered a commercial farm.

 

[Robyn8]

Thanks for all the good input! I will continue to investigate and ask around locally. I’m sure some of our 4h friends must have similar issues. For now no one has mentioned reporting us or anything so I have time to research.