Other pets and livestock

Council attends livestock on roads as a priority as it is a danger to the public. As the owner of livestock, or the land on which livestock is kept, you can be issued with 16A & 16B Notices, directing you to keep your livestock contained and fix any inadequate fencing.

You may also be liable for infringements for failing to adequately confine your livestock to your property, and for the trespassing of the animals.

Council may impound livestock found trespassing if the owner cannot be contacted or located. If you are missing livestock, please contact our Compliance Team on 5624 2411 and visit the Lost Animals webpage.

Fees are applicable for the release of impounded livestock.

Farm animals are popular with owners of small properties, but even in a residential area, you must comply with Local Council and State legal requirements.

The first thing you must do when you are looking to own cattle (cows), sheep, pigs, goats, alpacas, llamas, horses, deer or more than 100 poultry is to apply for a Livestock Property Identification Code (PIC).

These are free and easy to obtain through the Department of Economic Development’s Livestock PICs webpage.

These Identification codes are important in the event of a serious livestock disease outbreak. They allow for the tracing of animals to detect where an outbreak may have started and to help control and eradicate disease. They are also linked to systems such as the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) and commercial operators need one to sell and move animals.

To find out more about Livestock Property Identification Codes and to obtain yours, go to the Department of Economic Development.

In residential zoned area you are able to keep up to 6 chickens without a permit. More than 6 chickens requires a permit. Roosters are not permitted. The keeping of chickens must meet the conditions set out in the Local Law under keeping of animals (section 2.6, page 11).

 In addition to these regulations it is recommended that the following guidelines are considered:

• Poultry housing should not be located within 1.5 metres from the boundary of any adjoining allotment of land;
• All manure refuse and rubbish produced should be promptly placed in a fly and vermin proof receptacle and disposed of at least once a week;
• The refuse receptacle should be maintained at all times in a clean sanitary condition;
• The ground surrounding the poultry house should be well drained and maintained in a neat manner so as to prevent the harbouring of rats, mice and vermin;
• The poultry should be thoroughly cleaned weekly and kept at all times in a clean state;
• To calculate the recommended space for each chicken within a poultry house can be calculated using the following method; (to the nearest whole number) the floor area of the poultry house divided by 2.5m = number of hens allowed. e.g. 10 square meters divided by 2.5 = 4 hens.
• All food should be kept in a rat, mice and vermin proof container;
• All feeding receptacles should be kept off the floor of the poultry house.

For further advice on safely keeping backyard chickens and using their eggs, download this handy 'Keeping backyard chickens' flyer(PDF, 191KB) produced by the Victorian Department and Health and Human Services Food Safety Unit.