Last updated 2026-08-20
TL;DR
Colorado has no standalone custom exempt slaughter board. The Colorado Department of Agriculture licenses custom processing plants under Title 35, Article 33. You need that license to slaughter other people's livestock for a fee. The meat goes only to the owner and household and cannot be sold. Confirm the current fee and review steps with CDA before you build.
Who actually regulates custom exempt slaughter in Colorado?
Colorado has no standalone custom exempt slaughter board. The Colorado Department of Agriculture Inspection and Consumer Services Division licenses custom processing plants, and it is the agency you call first.[5]
People say board because other states park this work in a livestock board or a local board of health. Here the plant paper is a custom processing license under Title 35, Article 33 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act.[4] CDA takes the application, walks the building, and can pull the license if the place is dirty or the marks are wrong.
CDA is not the Colorado Brand Board either. The State Board of Stock Inspection Commissioners and the Brand Inspection Division handle livestock identity and movement paper. They do not issue the custom plant license.[6] Treat them as two phone calls.
Federal custom-exempt rules still sit under the state license. 21 U.S.C. 623 and 9 CFR 303.1 are why the meat is owner-use only and why the boxes say Not for Sale.[1][2] CDA is the daily regulator. FSIS wrote the exemption, and FSIS publishes Custom Exempt Review procedures for operations in the federal custom lane.[3]
Don't burn a month hunting a slaughter board phone number that does not exist. Call ICS meat inspection. Ask for the current custom processing license packet and who schedules the facility review. Write the names down. Staffing changes.
If you want official inspected product you can sell by the cut, that is a different CDA or FSIS grant of inspection. Do not mix those files on one clipboard.
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Colorado?
Yes, if you operate a custom processing facility. Title 35, Article 33 puts a CDA custom processing license on that business.[4] Killing only your own animal, on your own land, for your own household, does not take the plant license. Selling any of that meat is still illegal.
The line is about who owns the animal and whether you process for other people for a fee. Custom work is a service. The owner keeps the meat. You keep a check.
Slaughtering a neighbor's steer in the barnyard for cash is the fact pattern Article 33 is built to stop. A come-along and a pickup tailgate is not a facility. I would not do it. The cleanup costs more than the license.
A cut-and-wrap room with no knock box still needs a direct answer from CDA. If you take hanging beef and return boxed cuts to the owner for a fee, you are processing. Confirm the license class before you lease the room. Do not guess from a forum post.
Official state or federal inspection is a different path. It is what you need if you want to sell meat. It is a waste of money if your only customer is the person who owned the live animal. Pick the model, then draw the floor.
| Path | Who licenses it | Can the meat be sold? | Inspector on kill day? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal use on the farm | No plant license | No | No |
| Colorado custom processing | CDA ICS under Title 35, Article 33 | No | No daily inspector |
| Official state or FSIS inspection | CDA or FSIS grant of inspection | Yes, if properly marked | Yes |
If you also run cattle in the Southwest, read custom exempt slaughter in Arizona. The Colorado license does not travel.
Can you sell meat from a custom exempt plant in Colorado?
No. Custom prepared meat is for the owner of the animal, the owner's household, and nonpaying guests and employees. 9 CFR 303.1 requires those articles to be marked "Not for Sale."[2] Colorado's custom act sits on that same owner-use limit.[4] You cannot sell it by the cut, at a farm stand, or to a restaurant.
21 U.S.C. 623 says the inspection rules "shall not apply to the slaughtering by any person of animals of his own raising" when the meat is "exclusively for use by him and members of his household and his nonpaying guests and employees."[1] The custom-slaughterer version is the same household box, just with a plant in the middle.
Freezer beef sold as a live animal, or a share of a live animal, before slaughter is how ranchers stay legal. The customer owns the animal. The custom plant processes that owner's animal. The plant does not sell meat. The rancher does not sell meat. They sold livestock. Get the ownership paper straight before the truck shows up. A sloppy bill of sale is how this blows up.
Do not donate custom meat to a food bank and call it charity. Public feeding is not the owner's household. Do not serve it as the farmstay breakfast special.
The stamp is not decoration. If a box leaves without Not for Sale, you have a marking problem under 9 CFR 303.1.[2] Print those three words the way the federal rule writes them, not a cute substitute, unless CDA has told you in writing they accept other text.
What federal custom exempt rules still apply in Colorado?
Colorado has its own license. Federal law still draws the box you live in.
9 CFR 303.1 is the operational text. It limits the work to cattle, sheep, swine, or goats delivered by the owner, for that owner's household use. It says "such custom prepared articles are marked “Not for Sale.”"[2] It also says the custom slaughterer does not engage in the business of buying or selling carcasses of those livestock. You are a service shop. You are not a meat dealer.
Sanitation is not optional because the word exempt is in the title. The same section requires sanitary standards that produce unadulterated articles.[2] FSIS Directive 5930.1 is how FSIS staff review custom-exempt operations when the federal custom lane is the one in play.[3]
Colorado's official inspected plants run under a state meat inspection program that FSIS measures against the "at least equal to" federal standard in 21 U.S.C. 661.[8][13] Custom plants are not official establishments. Do not borrow an inspected plant's HACCP binder and call it finished. Most of that binder is for a grant of inspection you do not have.
Humane handling still matters. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act starts at 7 U.S.C. 1901, and 9 CFR 313 is the federal how-to on stunning and handling.[9][10] Ask CDA what they enforce on a custom kill floor. Train the knock like someone is going to watch it anyway.
Amenable species are the FMIA list. Bison, elk, and other non-amenable animals are a separate CDA conversation. Do not assume one custom license covers every four-legged thing on the Front Range. Confirm the species list before you advertise.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Colorado?
Two different bills get mixed up. One is what you pay CDA for the license. The other is what a livestock owner pays a plant to kill and cut an animal.
Colorado does not set a statewide custom kill price. Plants set their own kill fees and cut-and-wrap rates, usually on hanging weight. Confirm the quote with the plant. Species, rush work, curing, and vacuum packaging change the ticket. Nobody publishes an official price list you can treat as current.
I will not invent a current CDA license fee. Title 35, Article 33 authorizes the license. The dollar line moves when the department or the legislature moves it.[4] Confirm the current amount on the ICS custom processing application or fee schedule before you write a check. If someone quotes a number from an old thread, throw it out.
Build cost is the real money. A usable custom kill floor needs a rail, reliable hot water, a cooler that holds temperature, and a cut room you can wash. Wastewater is where first-year budgets die. A pretty stainless table is optional. A floor drain plan the county and CDPHE will accept is not.[12]
Here is what I would skip in year one: a full official-inspected layout so we can upgrade later, if you have no buyer who needs the inspected mark. You will overbuild the office and the welfare pens and still have a custom business. What I would buy is a water heater that does not quit at 6 a.m., a rail height you can work, and a cooler you can hang without stacking carcasses like firewood.
For owners paying a plant, ask for the kill fee, the per-pound cut rate, box or vacuum upcharges, hide and offal policy, and any weekend minimum. Get it in writing. Fall quotes and April quotes are not the same conversation.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Colorado?
There is no official CDA clock for how many days a custom beef hangs, and no published statutory deadline for how fast ICS must issue a new plant license. Confirm both with the people doing the work. Nobody should promise you a date they do not control.
For the animal, ask the plant. Beef often hangs about one to three weeks depending on the cooler and the cut schedule. Hogs and lambs move faster. That is shop practice, not a statute. I would not put a 10-day promise on a website and then eat the phone in October.
For the appointment, fall is tight. People book after pasture season. Some Colorado plants fill weeks or months ahead in peak season. Call early. If a plant says they are full, they are full. Do not show up with a live steer and a story.
For the license, plan on an application, a facility review, and at least one walk-through. How long that takes depends on whether your drawings are complete and whether water and waste are already legal. I have no honest statewide median to cite. Confirm the current review steps with ICS.[5] No approval guarantee. No timing guarantee.
Building the room takes longer than filling the form. Pouring a floor before CDA has looked at the plan is a classic way to spend twice.
If you are lining up calendars with Idaho custom exempt slaughter or California, remember each state desk moves on its own. Colorado ICS does not honor another state's appointment card.
What paper, stamps, and records does Colorado expect?
CDA wants a licensed facility and a clean product. 9 CFR 303.1 wants owner identity records and a Not for Sale mark on the custom prepared articles.[2][4]
Keep a record that ties each carcass to the person who owns it. Name, contact, date in, species, head count, date out. If you cannot say whose beef is on the rail, you are already in trouble.
Mark the meat. Boxes, bags, quarters. Not for Sale is the phrase the federal rule uses.[2] Do not invent farm use only as a substitute unless CDA has accepted that wording in writing.
Bills of sale and live-animal ownership paper belong to the producer, but you want a copy in the file so you are not left holding a carcass with two people claiming it. Inedible product, condemned product, and specified risk materials for cattle need a control story. Custom is not a free pass to throw spinal cord behind the shop.
I keep a federal custom-exempt file even when CDA is the daily regulator, because 9 CFR 303.1 still describes the marks and the owner-use limit. If you want that federal stack already assembled, CustomExemptPath sells a $249 one-time USDA Custom-Exempt Kit at /start. It does not replace the CDA application. This site is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a licensing service.
Confirm current CDA forms with ICS. Do not photocopy a 2016 PDF from a random blog. Brand inspection certificates for cattle live in a different folder.
Do you need a Colorado brand inspection before custom slaughter?
Often yes for cattle. Colorado brand inspection is a separate legal track from the custom plant license. The Brand Inspection Division and the State Board of Stock Inspection Commissioners run it.[6]
If you move cattle to a slaughter plant in this state, plan on brand inspection paper. The owner of the animal does not skip the desk just because the meat will come back in their own cooler. Confirm the current trigger, the current per-head assessment, and where the inspector sits with the Brand Division. I will not quote a fee. Those numbers change.
Horses have their own brand rules. Sheep, goats, and hogs are not the classic Colorado cattle brand story. Confirm species with the Brand Division instead of assuming.
Plants get tired of being the last people to notice a missing inspection. I would not take a bovine on the dock without the current brand paper in the file. Send the producer the Brand Division link when you book the slot.
Title 35 holds both Article 33 (custom processing) and the brand statutes. Same title, different phone number.[4][6] This is one of the Colorado-specific traps that generic USDA custom exempt posts skip. The plant license does not swallow the brand certificate.
What building, water, waste, and zoning issues stop Colorado custom plants?
CDA can like your rail and still refuse to bless a building the county will not zone, or a drain the state will not permit.
Zoning is local. A custom slaughter room in an agricultural zone is a different fight than the same room on a two-acre rural residential lot along the Front Range. Call the county planner before you order insulated panels. People buy used coolers first. That is backwards.
Potable water needs to be real. A hose in a ditch is not a water system. If you are on a well, ask the county and the Division of Water Resources what your well permit actually allows for a commercial processing use.
Process wastewater is the expensive surprise. Washdown from a kill floor is not ordinary house septic. CDPHE's commerce and industry water quality permits are the state starting point if you discharge, and many shops instead hold, haul, or treat under a county-approved design.[12] Confirm it. Do not copy a blood pit from a video.
Solid waste, bones, and offal need a renderer or another lawful outlet. Dumping behind the shed is how you meet the health department the hard way.
I would spend money on floors, drains, hot water, and a cooler before a viewing window. Custom customers do not need a showroom. They need their meat back cold and on the day you promised.
Is custom poultry in Colorado the same as custom beef?
No. Poultry runs under the Poultry Products Inspection Act, including the producer exemptions in 21 U.S.C. 464 and 9 CFR 381.10, not under the livestock custom text in 9 CFR 303.1.[2][11][14]
A lot of Colorado farms want to kill birds for customers. That is a federal exemption conversation (who owns the bird, where it is cut, which numeric cap applies) and a CDA conversation. It is not custom beef, but smaller.
Read the current eCFR text of 9 CFR 381.10 for the numeric producer exemptions that fit your fact pattern. I am not going to freeze a bird count on this page like it can never move. Confirm with ICS how Colorado treats on-farm poultry next to a licensed custom livestock room.[14][5]
I would not build a chicken line inside a custom cattle plant and assume the livestock license covers it. Species split, sanitation split, labeling split.
Wild game that hunters drag in is another sideline many Colorado custom shops take. That meat is not an inspected retail product either. Ask CDA and Colorado Parks and Wildlife what they want on game intake logs. I will not fake a CPW form number.
If poultry is your whole business, start with 9 CFR 381.10 and a CDA call, not with a livestock custom application you found in a search result.
What would I do in year one, and what is a waste of money?
I would call CDA ICS, then the county planner, then the Brand Division, in that order.[5][6] I would not pour concrete first.
I would write a one-page business model: custom only, or inspected sales later. If it is custom only, I would refuse to draw an inspector's office I do not need. If inspected sales are the real plan, I would start that conversation now, because the floor plan changes.
I would skip a paid HACCP consultant for a custom-only room. Official plants need HACCP. Custom plants need sanitation, owner records, marks, and inedible control.[2] Paying for a 200-page HACCP plan you will not operate is a waste.
I would not buy the biggest used vacuum machine on the lot. I would buy a rail, hooks, a saw you can get parts for, and a cooler alarm. I would put every owner's name on a carcass tag the day the animal hits the floor.
I would read 9 CFR 303.1 and Title 35, Article 33 myself, not through a summary thread.[2][4] Confirm fees, forms, and review steps every time. This page cannot freeze a dollar amount or a wait time.
Nearby state desks do not answer Colorado questions. Skim Arkansas custom exempt slaughter or Illinois only if you are actually building there too.
How does Colorado's custom path compare with other states?
Colorado is a license-from-agriculture state, not a mystery board state. You deal with CDA for the plant and the Brand Division for cattle identity.[5][6] FSIS still owns the federal exemption text in 21 U.S.C. 623 and 9 CFR 303.1.[1][2]
Some states dump custom work into public health. Some dump it into a livestock board. If you already learned Alaska's custom exempt slaughter board path or Florida, throw out the org chart. Keep the federal marks. Keep the no-sale rule. Redraw the phone list.
Colorado also has official state inspection for plants that want to sell inside the state under a state mark, plus the federal option. Custom is the owner-use lane. Do not pick it if your business plan is grocery contracts. The useful comparison is not pride. It is whether your customers need a sellable cut. If they do, custom will never get you there, in Colorado or anywhere else.
Mobile custom units get asked about every season. Ask CDA how they license a truck or trailer that kills on the owner's place. Do not assume a truck skips Article 33. Confirm it.
If you want the federal file bundled after you have talked to CDA, CustomExemptPath keeps the kit at /start. Call ICS first.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Colorado?
Yes, if you run a custom processing facility. Title 35, Article 33 requires a CDA custom processing license for that work. Killing only your own animal on your own land for your household does not take the plant license. You still cannot sell the meat. Confirm the current application with Inspection and Consumer Services.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Colorado?
There is no official statewide kill price. Plants set kill fees and cut-and-wrap rates, usually on hanging weight. Confirm quotes with the plant. The CDA license fee is set in the current department schedule, not on this page. Confirm that dollar amount with ICS before you write a check. Construction and wastewater will dwarf the license fee.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Colorado?
There is no statutory hang time and no published CDA deadline for a new plant license. Beef often hangs one to three weeks by shop practice. Fall appointments can book out weeks or months. License review depends on complete plans and legal water and waste. Confirm current steps with ICS and the plant. No timing guarantee.
Is there a Colorado custom exempt slaughter board I apply to?
No separate slaughter board issues this license. The Colorado Department of Agriculture Inspection and Consumer Services Division licenses custom processing plants under Title 35, Article 33. The Brand Board is a different body for livestock identity. Call ICS for the plant packet and the Brand Division for cattle movement paper.
Can I slaughter my own steer on my farm without a license?
Usually yes for personal household use under 21 U.S.C. 623, if it is your animal and your freezer. That meat still cannot be sold. Local zoning, disposal, and neighbor complaints can still stop you. The moment you kill other people's animals for a fee, you are in CDA custom processing territory and need the plant license.
Can a custom plant in Colorado ship my beef to another state?
Custom meat is not inspected product for sale, in Colorado or across a state line. The owner-use limit in 21 U.S.C. 623 and 9 CFR 303.1 still applies. Moving your own household meat is a different fact pattern than a plant selling boxes. Do not treat custom beef like a wholesale item. Ask CDA before you invent a shipping plan.
Do custom plants need a USDA inspector on the floor?
No daily inspector stands on a custom kill. That is the point of the exemption. You still follow sanitation, marking, owner records, and Colorado license rules. Official state or FSIS plants do have inspection on slaughter and processing days. If you want that mark so you can sell meat, you need a grant of inspection, not a custom-only license.
What does Not for Sale have to appear on?
9 CFR 303.1 requires custom prepared articles to be marked Not for Sale. In practice that means the packages and quarters that leave your room, not a single sign on the wall. Use the federal wording unless CDA has accepted other text in writing. Missing marks are an easy way to fail a review.
Do I need HACCP for a custom-only plant in Colorado?
Official inspected plants need HACCP. A custom-only room needs sanitation that produces unadulterated product, owner identity records, Not for Sale marks, and inedible control under 9 CFR 303.1 and the CDA license. Paying for a full HACCP binder you will not operate is usually a waste. If you later seek a grant of inspection, that changes.
Does Colorado brand inspection apply if I own the animal?
Often yes for cattle moving to slaughter. Ownership of the meat after custom processing does not erase Brand Division rules. Confirm the current trigger and fee with the Brand Inspection Division. The custom plant license from CDA does not replace a brand certificate. Ask before the animal leaves the ranch.
Can I sell freezer beef if a custom plant cuts it?
You can sell the live animal, or a share of the live animal, before slaughter. The buyer then owns the animal the custom plant processes. You are not selling inspected meat. Get the bill of sale dated before kill day. Selling boxed cuts from an unsigned live animal is how people turn a legal custom job into an illegal meat sale.
Are mobile custom slaughter units legal in Colorado?
Maybe, if CDA licenses the unit as a custom processing facility and the stop meets the same owner-use and sanitation rules. Do not assume a trailer skips Title 35, Article 33. Confirm unit standards, water, waste, and recordkeeping with ICS before you buy a truck. County zoning still applies wherever you park to kill.
Where do I confirm the current CDA license fee?
Ask the Colorado Department of Agriculture Inspection and Consumer Services Division for the current custom processing license application and fee schedule. Title 35, Article 33 authorizes the license. The dollar amount is not something to copy from an old blog. Confirm it each time you apply or renew.
Sources
- Cornell LII, 21 U.S.C. § 623: Federal personal-use and custom slaughter exemptions limit meat to the owner, household, and nonpaying guests and employees
- eCFR, 9 CFR § 303.1: Custom prepared articles must be marked Not for Sale and prepared under sanitary standards for the owner's household use
- USDA FSIS Directive 5930.1: FSIS publishes Custom Exempt Review procedures for custom-exempt operations
- Colorado General Assembly, C.R.S. Title 35 (2024): Colorado Title 35 includes Article 33, the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act that licenses custom plants
- Colorado Department of Agriculture, Meat, Poultry and Egg Inspection: CDA Inspection and Consumer Services runs meat, poultry and egg inspection, including custom processing oversight
- Colorado Department of Agriculture, Brand Inspection: Colorado Brand Inspection Division handles livestock identity and movement paper separate from the custom plant license
- Cornell LII, 21 U.S.C. § 661: Federal law sets the at least equal to standard for cooperative state meat inspection programs
- Cornell LII, 7 U.S.C. § 1901: The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act states federal policy on humane slaughter of livestock
- eCFR, 9 CFR Part 313: Federal humane slaughter handling and stunning requirements are in 9 CFR 313
- Cornell LII, 21 U.S.C. § 464: The Poultry Products Inspection Act contains producer and other exemptions separate from livestock custom slaughter
- CDPHE, Commerce and Industry wastewater permits: Colorado process wastewater discharges are addressed through CDPHE commerce and industry water quality permits
- USDA FSIS, State Inspection Programs: FSIS oversees state meat and poultry inspection programs and publishes the program list
- eCFR, 9 CFR § 381.10: Poultry producer exemptions and related limits are set in 9 CFR 381.10, not in the livestock custom rule