Last updated 2026-08-20
TL;DR
Yes. Colorado wants a custom processing license from the Department of Agriculture before you slaughter or cut for an animal's owner under the federal custom exemption. The meat is household-use only and gets marked Not for Sale. Daily carcass inspection drops away if you stay inside 21 U.S.C. 623 and 9 CFR 303.1. Confirm the current application, fee, and review timing with CDA. Nobody can promise you an approval date.
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Colorado?
Yes. Slaughter or cut livestock for the animal's owner in Colorado, keep it out of sale, and you still need a state custom processing license. The federal custom exemption pulls you out of daily carcass inspection. It does not pull you out of Colorado's licensing statute.
C.R.S. 35-33-201 is the Colorado statute that requires a license to run a custom processing facility. [6] The short title of that article is the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act. [7] People skip it because a national blog told them custom work is unlicensed. That is a myth. Federal law and Colorado law do different jobs.
The owner-use path is narrower than folks think. An owner killing their own animal for their own household is not the same business as you hanging a shingle. The moment other people's cattle, hogs, sheep, or goats come to your rail, you are in facility-license territory. Confirm odd fact patterns with CDA Inspection and Consumer Services. I would not let a Facebook thread make that call.
You also sit under 9 CFR 303.1. That federal rule is how the custom exemption actually runs day to day, including sanitation and the Not for Sale mark. [2] Skip the mark and you have handed the reviewer a gift.
Want to sell cuts later? You are not tweaking this license. You are changing systems. Read how to start custom exempt slaughter in Colorado for the order of calls around the license itself.
What does custom exempt actually mean under federal law?
Custom exempt means you slaughter or prepare an animal the owner delivered, and the meat goes back to that owner's household. No carcass-by-carcass inspection. No sale. 21 U.S.C. 623(a) is the federal custom slaughter exemption Colorado custom plants sit on. [1]
The statute reads, in part, "nor to the custom slaughter by any person, firm, or corporation of cattle, sheep, swine or goats delivered by the owner thereof for such slaughter." [1] Read that twice. Delivered by the owner. Exclusive household use. Nonpaying guests and employees of that owner. That is the box.
9 CFR 303.1 implements the box. It requires custom operators to keep the place sanitary under 9 CFR 416.1 through 416.6. [2] [4] It also says custom prepared products get plainly marked "Not for Sale" as provided in 9 CFR 316.16. [2] [3] Handle any product headed for sale and that product has to stay separated the whole time custom work is on the table. Mixing those streams is how plants lose the exemption.
FSIS Directive 5930.1 is the review playbook for custom exempt operations that fall under federal review. It sets a floor of at least one custom exempt review a year. [5] In Colorado, CDA runs the state meat and poultry program, so your ordinary reviewer is usually a state employee, not a federal circuit. [9] [10] The federal text still matters because Colorado's official program has to stay at least equal to the federal baseline.
I treat the statute as a fence, not a vibe. A customer asks you to drop boxed beef at a restaurant loading dock? That is not custom work. That is uninspected sale.
Who issues the custom exempt slaughter license in Colorado?
The Colorado Department of Agriculture issues it, through Inspection and Consumer Services, Meat and Poultry Inspection. [9] Colorado runs its own meat and poultry inspection program under a federal "at least equal to" setup. [10] Custom plants are one state paper path. Official (inspected) plants are a different state paper path. A USDA grant of inspection is a third path, and you only need that if you want the federal mark and interstate sale. [14]
Call the program before you draw a floor plan. Ask who reviews custom facilities, what the current application packet is, and whether your species list is even on their form. C.R.S. 35-33-103 defines the terms the license hangs on, including what counts as a custom processing facility. [8] If your animal is not in that definition, do not assume the same license covers it.
County planning still sits in front of CDA in real life. A license does not rezone an Ag-zoned parcel that your planner reads as a commercial slaughterhouse. I would put the county planner and CDA on the same week's call list. I would not pour a kill-floor slab on a hope and a sketch.
Other western states do this differently. Comparing paper? Start with custom exempt slaughter license in Arizona and custom exempt slaughter license in California. Do not copy their forms into a Colorado folder.
What paper do you file for a Colorado custom processing license?
You file whatever CDA is using right now for a custom processing facility license under the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act. [7] [9] I am not going to invent a form number. Forms get revised. The current packet lives with the department, not in a blog cache.
Expect an application, a way to describe the premises, and a review of how you will slaughter or cut under sanitary conditions. 9 CFR 303.1 points custom operators at 9 CFR 416.1 through 416.6 for that sanitation baseline: grounds, construction, light, ventilation, plumbing, sewage, water, dressing rooms. [2] [4] Bring a simple floor sketch that shows dirty side, clean side, carcass rail, cooler, and inedible. Fancy renderings are a waste of money at this stage.
Water and wastewater paper is local and state, more than CDA. On a septic system? CDPHE's onsite wastewater program and your county health department are in the conversation. [12] Slaughter effluent is not household laundry water. People buy a used hoist and then discover the tank is illegal. Get the wastewater answer before the equipment answer.
Some readers use the $249 USDA Custom-Exempt Kit from CustomExemptPath (/start) as a filing checklist for the federal pages and the Not for Sale and sanitation printouts. It is not a Colorado license. It does not replace CDA, and this site is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company.
Keep copies of everything you send. When the reviewer shows up, you want the same packet they have, plus your water test and your mark-up of how product leaves the dock.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Colorado?
There is no honest single price. Split the question or you will budget nonsense.
The state license fee is set by CDA under the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act. Confirm the current dollar amount with the department. [7] [9] I will not invent a fee. Anyone publishing a Colorado custom license fee without a dated CDA schedule is guessing.
Build-out cost is the real number, and nobody has a clean public dataset for it. A lean custom cut room in an existing ag building is one project. A new kill floor with a rail, hide room, and carcass cooler is another. Wastewater is often the sleeper invoice, especially if county health wants a designed onsite system. [12] I would spend money on a legal floor drain plan and a cooler that holds temperature. I would not spend money on a retail display case. You cannot sell this meat.
What a farmer pays you (or what you pay a plant, if you are the owner) is a private rate. Plants set a kill fee plus a per-pound cut-and-wrap charge, and they change those sheets without asking the legislature. Ask two or three Colorado custom plants for their current sheet if you need a market check. Do not treat a 2020 COVID wait-list anecdote as a price.
Against going official, custom is cheaper on inspection labor and HACCP consulting. It is not cheaper if you build a plant that looks like a grocery. Official is the path if you need a mark of inspection and in-state or interstate sale. [10] [14]
Budget a lawyer only if your county is fighting the use. Budget a process-authority consultant only if you plan to cure or smoke at scale and CDA asks for a process. Most first-year custom rooms do not need a $20,000 brand package.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Colorado?
Two clocks. Do not mash them together.
The license clock is CDA's. There is no board-published statutory promise I can cite for how many days sit between a complete application and a license. Confirm current timing with Inspection and Consumer Services. [9] I will not invent a processing time. Anyone who guarantees you a date is selling something.
The animal clock is the plant's. Beef often hangs days to weeks before cut. Pork and lamb usually move faster. That is shop practice, not a statute. Species, cooler space, and how full the book is decide it. During 2020 and 2021 a lot of Colorado books ran months out. That was a capacity crunch, not a licensing rule, and it is a bad number to treat as current. Call the plants you would actually use.
If you are the plant, your first-year limiter is usually cooler space and appointment discipline, not the license reprint. A custom room that books every Saturday in October and then cannot hang cattle is a room that makes enemies. I would publish a simple booking rule (deposit, species, drop-dead live-weight) before I advertised on Facebook.
Review after you open is its own clock. FSIS Directive 5930.1 sets a federal floor of at least one custom exempt review a year for operations under that directive. [5] Your CDA reviewer will tell you how they schedule Colorado custom plants. Ask. Write the answer down.
Custom exempt vs state-inspected slaughter in Colorado, what's the difference?
Custom exempt is owner-use meat with no inspected mark and no sale. State-inspected is each carcass inspected, Colorado mark, sale inside Colorado. USDA inspected is the federal mark and interstate sale. [2] [10] [14]
Pick the column that matches how money is supposed to move. A rancher who needs boxes to sell at a farmers market cannot do that job on custom exempt. A rancher who wants their own freezer filled gets the cheaper system with custom.
| Question | Custom exempt (CDA custom license) | State inspected (CDA official) | USDA FSIS inspected |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you may do with the meat | Return to the owner's household only | Sell inside Colorado | Sell across state lines |
| Carcass-by-carcass inspection | No | Yes | Yes |
| Required mark | Not for Sale (9 CFR 303.1 and 316.16) | State mark of inspection | USDA mark of inspection |
| Federal HACCP (9 CFR 417) | Not required by the custom exemption | Yes | Yes |
| Sanitation floor | 9 CFR 416.1 through 416.6 | Full 9 CFR 416 plus more | Full 9 CFR 416 plus more |
| Typical reviewer | CDA custom review | CDA inspectors | FSIS |
I would not build one room and "see how it goes." Retrofitting a custom cut shop into an official plant means new traffic flow, a government office, and a HACCP plan. Cheaper to decide now. For how neighboring states split the same choice, how to start custom exempt slaughter in Arizona and how to start custom exempt slaughter in California are useful contrasts, not templates.
Can you sell any meat from a custom exempt plant in Colorado?
No. Custom product is for the owner's household, plus that owner's nonpaying guests and employees. That limit is in 21 U.S.C. 623(a) and again in 9 CFR 303.1. [1] [2] The packages are plainly marked Not for Sale. [3]
Not for Sale means no restaurant, no store, no CSA box, no Facebook "share," no farm stand. If the owner wants to sell beef, they needed an inspected slaughter and an inspected cut, or they needed to sell the live animal and stay out of the meat sale. Custom cannot launder that.
9 CFR 303.1 also says any products you prepare or handle for sale stay separated from custom prepared products the whole time custom work is being prepared or handled. [2] A dual plant is possible on paper. It is a pain on a small floor. I would not plan a dual plant in year one unless CDA has already walked the sketch and you have separate coolers in the budget.
Labeling is not a creative project. 9 CFR 316.16 is the marking rule the custom exemption points at. [3] Use a mark a reviewer can read from a few feet away. Cute kraft paper with a tiny stamp is how you fail a review you should have passed.
If sale is the business, stop reading this as a maybe. Apply for official inspection. [14]
What building, water, and sanitation rules apply to a Colorado custom plant?
Federally, custom operators run the establishment in line with 9 CFR 416.1 through 416.6. [2] [4] That is grounds and pest control, construction that can be cleaned, light and ventilation, plumbing, sewage, and potable water. It is not the full written SSOP stack official plants live in, unless Colorado asks for more. Ask CDA what they want in writing. [9]
I would still write a one-page opening and closing clean. Not because a blog said so. Because the second employee you hire will not remember what you muttered in October.
Water has to be potable. On a well? Budget a test and a plan for the result. Wastewater is where first-year shops get surprised. Blood, paunch content, and washdown are not a standard house septic load. CDPHE's onsite wastewater rules and your county board of health are the documents that matter if you are not on a municipal line. [12] I would rather delay opening than open on a tank the county will tag.
Floors, wall-floor junctions, and a rail height you can actually work are worth money. A decorative stone facade is not. Neither is a glass retail door. Customers dropping a live animal need a chute and a place to park a trailer, not a tasting room.
Humane handling is still your problem even when a carcass inspector is not standing there. Stun gear that works, a knock box that holds, and a plan for a bad shot. Colorado cruelty law does not take the day off because you are custom exempt. I would train whoever holds the stunner before I trained anyone on the band saw.
What records should you keep in the first year?
Keep a log that ties each lot back to an owner. Name, contact, species, head count, live or carcass weight if you take it, drop-off date, release date. The custom exemption is an owner-use story. Cannot tell that story from paper? You do not have a defense.
Keep a copy of the Not for Sale mark you actually use, and a photo of a finished box. [2] [3] Keep water tests, pest invoices, cooler temperature checks, and any letter CDA sent you. [4] [9] Keep condemnation or inedible tallies if you rail out a carcass. Keep a simple stunner maintenance note. None of this needs software. A bound notebook beats a phone that dies.
I would not build a full HACCP plan for a custom-only room unless CDA tells you to. Official plants need that plan. [14] The custom exemption is the path that avoids it. Spending $8,000 on a HACCP consultant for a plant that cannot sell meat is a common waste.
Owner-signed cut sheets help. So does a written rule that you do not release product without the mark on the package. When a customer asks you to leave the stamp off "because it looks nicer," the answer is no.
If you also cut hunter game, keep those lots visually and on paper away from amenable livestock. Different rules, different story, same cooler if you are sloppy.
How do poultry, bison, and hunter game fit a Colorado custom license?
Poorly, if you assume one license equals every species. Confirm each class with CDA before you advertise it. [8] [9]
Poultry has its own federal exemption text. 21 U.S.C. 464 and 9 CFR 381.10 are the poultry pages, not 21 U.S.C. 623. [11] [13] Some small poultry work is a producer exemption, not a custom facility story. Some of it still needs a premises CDA recognizes. I would not take in neighbors' chickens on a Saturday and call it a farm chore.
Bison and other nonamenable species sit in a messier pile. Amenable livestock under the Meat Inspection Act are the cattle, sheep, swine, and goats named in the custom statute text. [1] Elk and bison may need a different conversation: voluntary inspection, state custom coverage, or a flat no. Read 35-33-103 with a CDA specialist on the phone before you print a bison price list. [8]
Hunter-harvested deer and elk are usually a cut-and-wrap service, not a livestock slaughter. Sale of that meat is still illegal under wildlife rules. Keep game separate from beef. I would use different days or a documented break and clean if the cooler is small.
Mobile custom units exist in other states and sometimes here. Whether Colorado will license your trailer is a department question, not a YouTube question. Ask before you weld.
Alaska's paper is a different animal if you are hunting for models. See custom exempt slaughter license in Alaska only as a reminder that states do not copy each other.
What should you confirm with CDA before you spend money?
Confirm five things in writing or in dated notes from a named program contact. Current application packet. Current license fee. Whether your species are covered. Whether your building sketch is even in the conversation. How they schedule the first review after you apply. [9]
Confirm zoning with the county in the same week. Confirm wastewater with county health or the municipal utility. [12] Confirm well or public water. Confirm whether you need a separate retail food license (you should not, if you are truly custom and not selling). Confirm sales tax questions with your bookkeeper if you charge for a service.
I would not order a $15,000 vacuum sealer first. I would not pour a fancy showroom slab. I would not hire a brand designer. I would buy used rail if it is sound, a stunner I trust, and enough cooler to hang what I already booked.
If the plan is to flip to inspected sale in year two, say that out loud now. Traffic flow that works for custom often fails official inspection. [10] [14] Build the dirty/clean split as if a picky reviewer will hate you. That habit travels.
Southern-state guides will not save you here. how to start custom exempt slaughter in Arkansas is a different department and a different statute. Use Colorado paper.
What first-year mistakes waste money on a Colorado custom plant?
Building for retail. You cannot sell this meat. A storefront is a heated hallway you will mop.
Skipping wastewater. A cheap tank that county health rejects is not cheap. [12]
Treating Not for Sale as optional. 9 CFR 303.1 and 316.16 are not decor guidelines. [2] [3]
Taking restaurant side work "just this once." That once is how exemptions die. [1]
Buying official-plant software, a full HACCP binder, and a consultant stack you do not need yet. Official is a different license. [14]
Advertising bison, poultry, and beef on one flyer before CDA agrees those animals belong on your license. [8] [11]
Pouring concrete before zoning talks back. I have no patience for that one.
Copying another state's packet because the logo looked official. Colorado uses the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act and CDA. [7] [9] Arkansas paper is Arkansas paper. custom exempt slaughter license in Arkansas will not get you a Colorado number.
CustomExemptPath will keep publishing these state paper guides, and the kit at /start is only a checklist. Your regulator is CDA. Call them.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Colorado?
Yes. Colorado requires a custom processing license from the Department of Agriculture under the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act. The federal custom exemption in 21 U.S.C. 623 removes daily carcass inspection. It does not remove the state license. Confirm edge cases (owner-kill at home versus a public rail) with CDA Inspection and Consumer Services.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Colorado?
The license fee is set by CDA. Confirm the current amount with the department. Do not trust an undated blog number. Build-out and wastewater usually dwarf the license. Farmer-facing kill and cut rates are private plant prices. Ask plants for their current sheet if you need a market check.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Colorado?
License timing is a CDA operational fact. There is no published statutory clock I can honestly quote, so confirm it with the department. Animal timing is plant practice. Beef often hangs days to weeks. Pork and lamb usually move faster. Books fill by season. Call the plant. Nobody can promise you an approval date or a hang date from a statute.
Can a Colorado custom exempt plant sell burger to a restaurant?
No. 21 U.S.C. 623(a) and 9 CFR 303.1 limit custom product to the owner's household, nonpaying guests, and employees. Packages must be marked Not for Sale. A restaurant ticket is a sale. If the customer needs inspected meat, they need an inspected plant, not a favor on your rail.
Do you need HACCP for a Colorado custom exempt plant?
Not under the federal custom exemption. Official plants need HACCP. Custom operators are pointed at sanitation in 9 CFR 416.1 through 416.6. CDA can still ask for written procedures. Ask them. Buying a full official HACCP binder for a no-sale custom room is usually a waste.
Can you custom slaughter on a Colorado farm with no licensed building?
If you are holding out as the slaughterer for other people's animals, CDA treats that as a custom processing facility. A pop-up on dirt with a tractor and a gambrel is how people get stopped. Owner-kill of an owner's own animal for that household is a narrower fact pattern. Confirm it with CDA before you advertise dates.
Does a Colorado custom license automatically cover poultry?
Do not assume that. Poultry sits under 21 U.S.C. 464 and 9 CFR 381.10, plus whatever CDA says about your premises. Some small poultry work is a producer exemption, not a custom-house story. Get the species list approved before you print a chicken price.
What does the Not for Sale mark have to look like?
9 CFR 303.1 requires custom prepared products to be plainly marked Not for Sale, and it points at 9 CFR 316.16. Use a mark a reviewer can read without a squint. Do not skip it because the customer wants prettier craft paper. Keep a photo of a finished, marked box in your file.
Do you also need a USDA grant of inspection for custom work?
No. A grant of inspection is the official federal path for the USDA mark and interstate sale. Custom exempt is the opposite bargain: no mark, no sale, no daily carcass inspector. Colorado custom licenses come from CDA. Apply for a grant only if you are leaving the custom box.
Can the animal owner help on kill day at a custom plant?
Sometimes, if your insurance, your written rules, and CDA are all fine with a visitor in a dirty area. A lot of small plants say no because of knives, rail height, and workers' comp. Make the rule before opening day. Do not invent a "family tradition" exception when someone in sandals walks into the knock box.
Are mobile custom slaughter units legal in Colorado?
Maybe, if CDA licenses that unit as a custom processing facility and the unit can meet the sanitation baseline. Do not weld a trailer and assume the license follows. Ask Inspection and Consumer Services what they will review on a mobile unit before you spend on stainless.
Who shows up after a Colorado custom plant opens?
CDA reviewers, on the department's schedule. FSIS Directive 5930.1 sets a federal floor of at least one custom exempt review a year for operations under that directive. Your ordinary contact in Colorado is still the state program. County health can also show up on wastewater. Keep the file ready.
Can you process hunter-killed deer in the same Colorado custom room?
Often yes as a cut service, if CDA and your layout allow it and you keep game separate from amenable livestock. You still cannot sell wildlife meat. Use different days or a documented clean break if the cooler is tight. Confirm the practice with CDA before you advertise elk drop-off.
What if you want to sell meat later from the same building?
That is a new system: official state inspection or a USDA grant of inspection, HACCP, a mark of inspection, and usually a remodel of traffic flow. Custom product still cannot be sold. Do not plan to "convert the boxes." Decide the sale question before you freeze the floor plan.
Sources
- Cornell LII, 21 U.S.C. § 623: Federal custom slaughter exemption for owner-delivered cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, household use only
- eCFR, 9 CFR 303.1 Exemptions: Custom operators must meet 9 CFR 416.1-416.6 sanitation, separate any for-sale product, and plainly mark custom product Not for Sale
- eCFR, 9 CFR 316.16 Marking custom prepared products: Custom prepared products are marked Not for Sale under the marking regulations the custom exemption points to
- eCFR, 9 CFR 416 Subpart A sanitation performance standards: Sanitation baseline (grounds, construction, light, plumbing, sewage, water) that 9 CFR 303.1 applies to custom operators
- USDA FSIS Directive 5930.1, Custom Exempt Review Process: FSIS custom exempt review playbook, including at least one custom exempt review per year
- Colorado Revised Statutes § 35-33-201, License required: Colorado requires a license to operate a custom processing facility
- Colorado Revised Statutes § 35-33-101, Short title: Article 33 is the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act
- Colorado Revised Statutes § 35-33-103, Definitions: Statutory definitions for custom processing and custom processing facility that decide what the license covers
- Colorado Department of Agriculture, Meat and Poultry Inspection: CDA Inspection and Consumer Services administers Colorado meat and poultry inspection, including custom plant oversight
- USDA FSIS, State Inspection Programs: Colorado operates a state meat and poultry inspection program under the federal at least equal to framework
- eCFR, 9 CFR 381.10 poultry exemptions: Poultry custom and related exemptions are in the poultry rules, not in 9 CFR 303.1
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, On-site Wastewater Treatment Systems: Onsite wastewater systems in Colorado are regulated under CDPHE's OWTS program and local public health agencies
- Cornell LII, 21 U.S.C. § 464: Federal poultry products inspection exemptions, including custom and small-producer paths
- USDA FSIS, Apply for a Grant of Inspection: A USDA grant of inspection is the separate official federal path for the USDA mark and inspected sale