Last updated 2026-08-20
TL;DR
Run custom exempt slaughter in Colorado, and you keep a current CDA custom processing license and stay ready for an FSIS custom-exempt review. No daily federal inspector stands on your rail. Meat goes back to the animal's owner only and must be marked not for sale. Confirm the current fee, expiration date, and forms with CDA Inspection and Consumer Services.
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Colorado?
Yes. Run a custom processing facility in Colorado and you need a state license from the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The federal custom exemption is not a license. It only excuses true custom work from continuous USDA inspection, and FSIS still reviews the plant.
Colorado writes the state duty into Title 35, Article 33 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, the Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act. That article is the one you actually renew against. The official CRS Title 35 compilation is the copy I would print, not a blog summary. [6]
Federal law is the other layer in the same building. 21 U.S.C. 623 says the inspection chapter does not apply 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] That sentence is the whole model. The owner delivers the animal. You kill and cut it. The meat goes back to that household. You do not sell it.
FSIS still knows the plant exists. Custom exempt slaughter Colorado operators get reviewed. They do not get a daily inspector standing on the rail. [4][5]
A person killing an animal they raised, for their own household, can fall under a different exemption in that same federal section, and Article 33 has its own exemptions. I would still call CDA Inspection and Consumer Services before I poured a floor on a ranch and called it "just for us." The line between a family kill and a facility the neighbors use is where unlicensed activity usually lives.
Want to sell cuts? Stop. Custom exempt is not a starter inspected plant. You either stay inside the owner-only box or you chase a USDA grant of inspection. Mixing the two is how people lose both.
How does custom exempt slaughter renewal work in Colorado?
You renew the CDA custom processing license on the cycle printed on your current license, and you stay continuously ready for an FSIS custom-exempt review. FSIS reviews each custom exempt facility at least once a year. [4] Confirm the state fee, the expiration date, and the current form with Inspection and Consumer Services. Do not take a turnaround promise from anyone who does not work there.
There is no USDA "custom license" to renew. You stay under 9 CFR 303.1 by staying inside the exemption. Owner-delivered animals. Product used in that owner's household, by that owner, household members, and nonpaying guests and employees. No buying and selling carcasses as a side hustle. [2]
Here is the paper split I actually use.
| Layer | What it is | What you do again |
|---|---|---|
| State custom processing license (CRS Title 35, Article 33) | CDA facility license | Renew by the date on the license. Confirm the fee with CDA. |
| Federal custom exemption (9 CFR 303.1) | Exemption from continuous inspection | Ongoing compliance. FSIS review at least once a year. |
| Local zoning, building, wastewater | County and CDPHE paper | Whatever those permits say. Different clock. |
| Brand inspection | Livestock movement paper | Each qualifying lot, not a plant anniversary. |
What I would do, in order. Pull the physical license off the wall and write the expiration date on a shop calendar 90 days out. Download the current CDA renewal form. Do not reuse a PDF from 2019 that lived in a parts drawer. Walk the plant against last year's review notes before anyone from Denver or FSIS walks it for you. Pay the fee on the current CDA schedule. Keep the submission receipt.
I will not quote a dollar figure for that state fee. Fee rules move. A stale number is worse than none. Call the board.
Comparing paper across the West? The Idaho path is a useful contrast because the federal exemption is the same and the state wrapper is not. Read custom exempt slaughter renewal in Idaho after you finish this one.
What does FSIS actually look at on a custom-exempt review?
FSIS is checking that you are still a custom plant, not an uninspected meat shop. The review is not a grant of inspection. It is a check that the exemption still fits and the place is not producing adulterated product. [5]
FSIS reviews each custom exempt facility at least once a year under FSIS Directive 5930.1. [4] Show up dirty on that day and you have a problem that a fresh CDA sticker will not fix.
They look at sanitation on the kill floor, the rail, the cooler, and the cut room. They look at humane handling. They look at whether every lot traces to an owner, and whether the meat is marked so it cannot drift into commerce. 9 CFR 303.1 is the rule that keeps custom work inside that box. [2]
9 CFR 316.16 requires custom product to be marked Not for Sale in letters at least three-eighths inch high. [3] The same height applies on a closed container if that is how you pack it. I have seen plants lose arguments over faded ink on a bag. Use a stamp that still prints after a week in a wet cooler.
They will ask who owns the animals. If your answer is "a guy from Fort Morgan, I think," you are already late. Names, addresses, dates, species. Keep them where a reviewer can read them without watching you dig through a glove box.
Humane slaughter is not optional because the plant is custom. 7 U.S.C. 1902 is still the federal humane policy, and 9 CFR part 313 is still the livestock method rule. [7][8] A bad stun on review day is not a paperwork issue. It is a stop-the-line issue.
One opinion: do not hire a consultant to write you a 40-page "FSIS readiness binder" full of language you will never follow. Walk the floor. Fix the door gasket. Restock the ink. Put last month's owner sheets in a folder. That is the review.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Colorado?
There is no single public price for custom exempt slaughter in Colorado. The CDA license fee is set by the department and belongs on the current fee schedule, not in an article from last year. Confirm it with Inspection and Consumer Services before you write a check. [6]
If you mean the cost to build and keep a plant open, the license fee is the cheap line. Wastewater, cooler capacity, a decent hoist, and a building the county will actually permit are the lines that hurt. Nobody has a clean public dataset of Colorado custom plant build-outs that I trust enough to treat as a number. Mountain counties and Front Range counties do not price concrete, septic, or industrial discharge the same way.
What I would spend money on. A wastewater engineer before you slope a floor. A well permit conversation with the Division of Water Resources if you are not on a municipal line. [10] A cooler that holds temperature in July, not a used box that almost does. Liability insurance written for custom processing, not a general farm policy you hope is close.
What I would not spend money on. Paying someone to "expedite" a routine CDA renewal. A new vacuum machine in year one if your bags and your ink already work. A second smokehouse before the first one has a clean review behind it.
If you mean what an owner pays you to kill and cut a beef, that is a private quote. Plants price a kill fee plus a per-pound cut-and-wrap charge on hanging weight, or they quote a packaged-pound number. Fall books fill first. I will not invent a Front Range average. Call two shops and compare the unit they are actually using.
Custom exempt slaughter Colorado pricing also breaks when people forget disposal. Offal, hides, and specified risk material are not free just because the steak is going back to the owner.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Colorado?
It depends which clock you mean. Killing one beef is a morning if the crew has done it before. Aging is often one to three weeks, set by the plant and the owner, not by CDA. Cut and wrap is a scheduled slot. In a busy October that slot can sit weeks out. None of that is a state processing time, and none of it is guaranteed.
License issuance for a new custom plant is a CDA decision plus whatever the county wants for building and wastewater. Confirm current review times with the board. I will not invent a week count. Anyone who sells you a guaranteed open date is selling you something they do not control.
Renewal of a clean file is paperwork. If CDA wants to walk the plant again, their calendar controls yours. FSIS custom-exempt reviews run at least once a year and are scheduled by FSIS, not by you. [4]
The seasonal truth in Colorado is simple. Elk tags, deer, and beef cattle hit custom rails in the same stretch of fall. If you are the owner booking a steer, call earlier than feels polite. If you are the operator, stop taking animals when the cooler is actually full. A jammed cooler is how sanitation reviews go badly.
Building out from a ranch shed to a licensed facility is measured in months to more than a year in a lot of counties, mostly because of wastewater and zoning, not because the CDA form is long. Confirm every one of those clocks locally. No article gets to promise yours.
What records do you keep between Colorado renewals?
Keep owner identity, slaughter date, species, and animal ID for every lot, plus the brand paper when Colorado requires it. Keep those records where you can hand them over without a scavenger hunt. 9 CFR 303.1 expects custom operators to stay inside the exemption, and you cannot prove that from memory. [2]
I also keep a simple kill log, a cooler temperature log, and a cleaning log. Federal custom rules are not a full SSOP program the way an inspected plant runs 9 CFR 416, but insanitary conditions still sink the exemption. [2] A notebook you actually fill out beats a binder you bought and ignored.
Marking is a record too. 9 CFR 316.16 requires custom carcasses and parts to be marked at preparation with "Not for Sale" in letters at least three-eighths inch in height, unless they are in a closed container marked the same way. [3] If the stamp dies, product sitting in the cooler is already wrong.
Water matters if you are on a well. Keep the last potability result with the license file. Inedible barrels and any specified risk material from cattle need a disposal trail that matches what you told the last reviewer.
Want those federal pieces in one checklist? CustomExemptPath sells a $249 one-time USDA Custom-Exempt Kit at /start. Use it or do not. The CDA form and the FSIS review still happen either way.
Do not store the only copy of last year's review letter in a truck. Scan it. When a new inspector asks what you fixed, you want the old note, not a shrug.
Do Colorado brand inspection rules apply at a custom plant?
Usually, yes, when the livestock movement is one Colorado requires to be inspected. Colorado is a brand inspection state. The brand statutes live in Title 35 with the custom processing act, and CDA Brands Division runs the program. Confirm the current movement rules and any per-head charge with that division before you write them on a shop sign. [6][12]
A custom plant is a common change-of-location point. Animals arrive from a seller, a rancher, or a 4-H family. If the movement needed a brand inspection, you want that certificate in the same folder as the owner's name. An FSIS reviewer focused on custom exemption may still ask how you know who owned the live animal. Brand paper helps you answer.
I would not tell a customer "we can skip brands because it is custom." That is not how brand law works, and it is a sloppy way to start a file. Call Brands Division when the animal's story is weird. Out-of-state cattle, missing brands, and late-night drop-offs are where plants get stuck.
This is separate from the CDA custom processing license. You can hold a current facility license and still mishandle a load at the chute. Renewal will not cure a brands problem you created in September.
Which local permits still sit under the CDA license?
The state custom license does not replace zoning, building, well, or wastewater paper. Counties treat a kill floor like light industry, or they treat it like a problem. Ask planning before you buy the property, not after you set a rail.
Drill or use a well, and the Division of Water Resources well permitting program is the state door. [10] Do not assume a stock well is automatically a processing-plant well. Ask DWR. Get it in writing.
Blood, wash water, and paunch material are why custom plants stall. A simple on-site system sits under Colorado's on-site wastewater treatment program and Regulation 43, with the county health department issuing the local permit. [11] A discharge to a ditch or a bigger industrial waste stream can pull you into CDPHE clean-water permitting instead. I am not going to pretend those two paths cost the same. Get the county sanitarian and, if they flinch, a wastewater engineer on site before you slope the floor to a drum.
Building and plumbing codes are local. Grease and hair will find the weak joint in a drain you rushed.
Register the business entity with the Colorado Secretary of State if you are operating as something other than your personal name. That filing is not a slaughter license. It just keeps the CDA application from bouncing on identity.
One opinion: the wasted money I see is not the CDA fee. It is a steel building on a parcel that will never get a septic permit for this use. Walk that risk down first.
What gets a custom plant in trouble at renewal?
Selling custom meat, missing Not for Sale marks, a filthy cooler, and an expired CDA license. Those four show up over and over. The first one is fatal to the exemption. 9 CFR 303.1 is built around owner-only use. [2]
A package that leaves your dock and lands in a farmers market cooler is not custom. A side sold to the owner's neighbor "as a favor" is not custom. Employees may receive product only in the narrow household-and-nonpaying-employee sense the federal exemption already wrote down. [1][2] When in doubt, it stays with the owner.
Sanitation failures are the other common way a review goes badly. Custom exempt is not a free pass to run a dirty rail. FSIS can act when product is adulterated or the exemption no longer fits. [5]
Humane handling failures stop work. 7 U.S.C. 1902 and 9 CFR part 313 still apply to livestock slaughter. [7][8] Fix the stunning gear before you argue about forms.
Letting the state license lapse while you keep killing is a self-inflicted wound. Article 33 requires the license to operate the facility. [6] If you are late, stop the schedule and call CDA. Do not hope a backdated check covers last Tuesday's beef.
Incomplete owner records are how a clean-looking plant still fails the conversation. If you cannot name the owner of the carcass on the rail, you are not in custom. You are in a story.
Are poultry, bison, and game on the same renewal path?
Not automatically. Cattle, sheep, swine, and goats are the animals named in the 21 U.S.C. 623 custom slaughter text. [1] Poultry sits under the Poultry Products Inspection Act custom rules in 9 CFR 381.10, which is a different exemption with its own limits. [9]
Colorado's custom processing license is a state wrapper around a facility. Whether your particular license class covers poultry, bison, elk, or deer is a CDA question. Read the license you hold. Then call Inspection and Consumer Services before the first flock or the first elk hits the floor. I would not assume an elk is a goat.
Game processing is everyday work in a lot of Colorado custom shops. That does not mean the federal red-meat exemption magically expands. Keep game lots separate in the cooler and on paper so an FSIS reviewer is not staring at an unlabeled tub wondering if it is beef.
Bison and other uncommon livestock are where plants talk themselves into trouble. Some of that work is voluntary inspected product. Some is custom under state rules. Confirm it. Do not let a customer talk you into a species your license and your marks do not cover.
If poultry is a real line for you, budget a second read of 9 CFR 381.10 and a direct question to CDA. Dual-species plants that treat chicken like a small beef are the ones that write sloppy labels.
What should you do 90 days before the license lapses?
Read the date on the license, pull the current CDA form, and walk your own plant with last year's notes in your hand. Ninety days is enough time to fix a door, restock ink, and get a water test back. It is not enough time if you also need a new septic field.
Call Inspection and Consumer Services and ask three things. Is the renewal form the same. What is the current fee. Do they want anything you did not send last year. Write down the name of the person who answered.
Then walk the floor like a skeptic. Cooler temperature. Rail cleanliness. Stunner function. Inedible barrels. Not for Sale stamps that still print three-eighths inch letters. [3] Owner sheets for the last twelve months. Brand certificates for the lots that needed them.
Submit early. Keep the proof. If CDA wants a walk-through, you want that on the calendar before opening day of rifle season, not during it.
If the license is already close to gone, stop adding animals to the book until you know CDA will have you covered. An extra week of downtime beats a week of unlicensed slaughter.
No one can promise you the department will turn the file in a set number of days. Confirm timing with the board and plan as if they will want to see the plant.
How does Colorado compare to other states on custom exempt?
The federal exemption is the same in every state. 21 U.S.C. 623 and 9 CFR 303.1 travel. [1][2] What changes is the state wrapper, the brand rules, and whether the state also runs its own inspected meat program.
Colorado licenses custom processing under Title 35, Article 33 and leaves inspected slaughter for commerce with USDA. [6] Confirm that program picture with CDA if you are chasing a grant of inspection instead of custom. Do not build a sales plan on a state mark Colorado is not issuing.
Arizona, California, and Idaho wrap the same federal custom box in different state licenses and different local wastewater fights. Operate near a border, or already ran a plant somewhere else? Read those paths before you copy old forms. Start with custom exempt slaughter renewal in Arizona, custom exempt slaughter renewal in California, and the Idaho renewal paper path.
Further out, the Alaska, Illinois, and Arkansas writeups are useful only for the contrast. Copying another state's fee or another state's expiration month onto a Colorado renewal is how people mail the wrong check.
CustomExemptPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. Read Title 35, Article 33, read 9 CFR 303.1, and confirm fees and dates with the board that actually issues your license.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for custom exempt slaughter in Colorado?
Yes. A custom processing facility needs a Colorado Department of Agriculture license under Title 35, Article 33. The federal custom exemption is separate. It excuses true owner-only slaughter from continuous USDA inspection, but FSIS still reviews the plant. Confirm exemptions for on-farm household kill with CDA before you skip a license.
How much does custom exempt slaughter cost in Colorado?
The CDA license fee is set by the department. Confirm the current number with Inspection and Consumer Services. Plant build-out cost is mostly building, cooler, and wastewater, and there is no trustworthy public average. Owner prices for a beef are private plant quotes, usually a kill fee plus a per-pound cut-and-wrap charge. Call two shops and compare units.
How long does custom exempt slaughter take in Colorado?
Killing one beef is often a morning. Aging commonly runs one to three weeks by plant practice, not by statute. Cut-and-wrap slots stretch in the fall. New-plant licensing and county wastewater clocks vary. Confirm CDA and local timing. Nobody should guarantee you an open date or a renewal turnaround.
Is a USDA grant of inspection the same as custom exempt?
No. A grant of inspection puts USDA inspectors on inspected product that can be sold. Custom exempt slaughter is owner-delivered livestock, marked not for sale, and used in that owner's household. You cannot sell custom product as if it were inspected. If you want retail or wholesale sales, you are in a different plant.
Can I sell custom exempt beef at a Colorado farmers market?
No. Custom product is for the owner of the animal, that household, and nonpaying guests and employees. A market stall is commerce. 9 CFR 303.1 and 21 U.S.C. 623 do not give you a farm-stand exception. Selling those cuts takes you out of the exemption and into inspected meat rules.
How often does FSIS show up at a Colorado custom plant?
FSIS Directive 5930.1 directs a review of each custom exempt facility at least once a year. That is a minimum, not a promise they will only come once. Sanitation complaints or a bad prior review can change the pace. You do not get a daily inspector, and you do not control the calendar.
What happens if my CDA custom processing license expires?
Stop operating the facility and call Inspection and Consumer Services. Article 33 requires a valid license to run a custom processing facility. Killing animals on a lapsed license is a problem you cannot fix with a story about the mail. Confirm reinstatement steps with the board. Do not invent a grace period.
Do I need a new license if I add a smokehouse?
Maybe. A new process can change what CDA and FSIS think you are doing, especially if you start offering cooked product that looks like retail. Call CDA before you hang the first smoke. Ask whether your current license class covers it and whether the floor plan they have on file is still true.
Are employees allowed to take custom meat home?
Only inside the federal exemption language. 21 U.S.C. 623 ties custom product to the owner's household, members of that household, and nonpaying guests and employees of that owner. It is not a staff meat program for your crew. If the employee is not in that owner's household picture, the meat stays with the owner.
Does humane slaughter law apply to custom exempt in Colorado?
Yes for livestock. 7 U.S.C. 1902 and 9 CFR part 313 still apply. Custom exempt is not a pass to skip an effective stun. Poultry humane rules are a different federal story. Train the person on the stunner and keep the gear working. A bad stun is a review problem the same day.
Can I custom slaughter my own cattle on my farm without a license?
Possibly, if you stay inside the personal-use exemptions in 21 U.S.C. 623 and in Title 35, Article 33. The moment neighbors' animals, a fee schedule, or a shared kill floor enter the picture, you are in facility territory. Call CDA before you build. Do not take internet advice as a substitute for that call.
What marking has to be on custom packages?
9 CFR 316.16 requires "Not for Sale" in letters at least three-eighths inch high on custom carcasses and parts at preparation, or on a closed container marked the same way. Faded ink fails. Stamp at prep, not at pickup if you can help it. That mark is how custom product stays out of commerce.
Do I register my LLC before the CDA license?
If you want the license in an entity name, register that entity with the Colorado Secretary of State first so the CDA application matches. The SOS filing is not a slaughter license. It does not replace zoning, wastewater, or the custom processing license. Sole proprietors should still confirm how CDA wants the legal name written.
Is custom exempt chicken handled by the same CDA license?
Do not assume it is. Poultry custom work sits under 9 CFR 381.10 at the federal level, not under the red-meat sentence in 21 U.S.C. 623. Whether your Colorado license class covers birds is a CDA question. Read the license and call Inspection and Consumer Services before the first flock arrives.
Sources
- U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 21 U.S.C. § 623: FMIA exempts custom slaughter of owner-delivered cattle, sheep, swine, or goats from the chapter's inspection requirements when product is for that owner's household use.
- eCFR, 9 CFR § 303.1 Exemptions: Custom operations remain exempt only when livestock are delivered by the owner and product is prepared exclusively for that owner's household use, with conditions that keep custom work out of inspected commerce.
- eCFR, 9 CFR § 316.16 Custom prepared products: Custom carcasses and parts must be marked Not for Sale in letters at least three-eighths inch high, or packed in closed containers so marked.
- USDA FSIS, Directive 5930.1 Custom Exempt Review Process: FSIS inspection program personnel review each custom exempt facility at least once annually.
- USDA FSIS, Custom Exempt Review program page: FSIS reviews custom exempt operations for sanitation and exemption compliance rather than issuing a grant of daily inspection.
- Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes 2024 Title 35: Title 35, Article 33 (Custom Processing of Meat Animals Act) is the Colorado statute that requires a department license to operate a custom processing facility.
- U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 7 U.S.C. § 1902: Federal humane slaughter policy requires a humane method of slaughtering and handling in connection with slaughter.
- eCFR, 9 CFR Part 313 Humane Slaughter of Livestock: Federal livestock slaughter method rules in part 313 apply to how livestock are stunned and handled at slaughter.
- eCFR, 9 CFR § 381.10 Poultry exemptions: Custom poultry operations are governed by PPIA exemption rules in 9 CFR 381.10, not by the FMIA custom sentence alone.
- Colorado Division of Water Resources, Well Permitting: New or changed wells used to supply a processing plant go through Colorado DWR well permitting.
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, On-site Wastewater Treatment Systems: On-site wastewater systems in Colorado are administered under the state OWTS program (Regulation 43) with local county permitting.
- Colorado Department of Agriculture, Brands Division: CDA Brands Division administers Colorado livestock brand inspection, which commonly applies when animals move to a slaughter facility.