E-I-E-I-Ordinance: City expanding urban farming options
EUGENE, Ore. - Old MacDonald can have a farm in E-U-G-E-N-E.
And on that farm he can have 6 chickens and 6 rabbits.
Or 3 bee hives and 3 mini-goats.
But he can't have a chicken, a mini-pig and a bee hive.
That's the upshot of a proposed ordinance working its way through the City Council.
The Council endorsed the measure Monday. It comes back to them February 20 for a final vote.
The ordinance increases the numbers and kinds of animals that are OK to keep in Eugene. But Backyard farmers in Eugene would only be able to keep two types of critters.
Owner Bill Bezuk of The Backyard Farmer store says the ordinance update is a vast improvement from the current code. "We're very happy that the city council is recognizing that urban farming is such a growing part of our community and they're doing their very best to try to balance the needs of urban farmers with the rights of non-urban farmers," says Bezuk.
So urban agrarians could pick any two from this list of four categories:
- Up to 6 chickens or other domesticated fowl
- Up to 6 rabbits
- Up to 3 mini-goats or 1 mini-pig
- Up to 3 bee hives
Tom Adams from KVAL News looked into the urban farming proposal for a story set to air on KVAL News on February 13, 2013.
There are land use laws associated with this ordinance and lot size for keeping such animals. Know this before you get those 3 goats or a pig. Pigmy goats are not the same as small dairy goats which need more land and can be very loud if penned up. Rabbits and Chickens are great for backyard farming but the change as written is totally unrealistic for rabbits. Six adult rabbits and only six kits Most rabbits have 8 - 12 kits per litter so there you go doesn't make sense. I would suggest talking to people that have these animals and for sure Learn the real Ordinance before you get the animals so you do not have to rehome them on Craig's List which I already see happening. Call City hall and find out how much land you will need for those goats or pigs. You need to do what is best for the animals first.Â
I have goats and I would never recommend keeping them in a city environment. I could teach people how to sensibly raise rabbits in the City because just 3 rabbits could put 200 lbs of meat in your freeze a year.
Ah! so! Diversity does have it's limits.
But , but, I thought this was a "free country" and that our soldiers are overseas (in how many countries now?) "protecting our freedom" ... So I guess ,er' ,I wasn't free? Well goody,looks like our overlords have granted a limited glimpse of freedom I should have anyway... Thanks overlords.
Pretty soon they will be controlling the nuber of kids you can have and the sex. only 2boys in that house and across the street they can only have one of each and down there only one girl and so on and so on, dom't you people that don't have a life just love it!
This makes me glad we're going to buy a house outside the city limits. How about the city do something logical and tie the number/type of animals you can have to the size of your lot or something like that? There are lots of homes in the city that shouldn't have a single mini-goat, but plenty of places that could easily accommodate all of those animals and then some.