Michigan

[Chickenmaven]

YakLady - I am glad you were able to fight for our Right to Farm. I have read over the law & the info on the Ag website. Something that concerns me is that GAAMP was established in 2000 and it does outline site selection rules. Did that apply in your case? Were you in your home prior to 2000? I have seen this as a limit to Right to Farm. I would love to be wrong about this sticking point. Look at Detroit, Flint & Saginaw: urban blight has created open tracs of land. I cannot think of a better use of this land, than fresh good food. Okay, I am on a rant, here. Doesn't it seem like these attacks on our freedoms are about control rather than enforcing standards?

 

[Bluemoon420]

Quote:
She doesn't need to prove she is selling anything, she just needs to show she has an INTENT to sell. So, she can price her eggs ( for example) for 20/dozen, she probably won't sell them for 20/dozen, but that doesn' matter. She can put an ad out in craigslist, or a sign in her yard. That's considered intent to sell. I sent her a PM last night about printing all that info out, and handing copies to whomever would like to read it.

Bluemoon

 

[Bluemoon420]

Quote:
GAAMPS applies to how you store, and use your waste pretty much. For example, Compost piles/bins, GAAMPS also applies to fertilizing, and what times of the year you can do it, etc. That's the shortened version, but if you have a compost pile or bins, that falls under GAAMPS. The guidelines for GAAMPS change sometimes, so I've always checked it once a year to make sure I'm not violating anything.

 

[YakLady]

Quote:
Well, I haven't had to fight yet. At this point, all we had to do was look up information and provide it to the Township Supervisor. They dropped it immediately. I don't recall reading anything about site selection rules. All I remember reading was that if you follow GAAMP, you can set up anywhere you want to (as I mentioned before, the one judge even stated downtown Detroit as an example). I think there are definitely a lot of holes in the RTFA which leaves much of it up to individual interpretation. Fortunately for us, though, there have already been a great number of cases that have gone all the way up the legal ladder. Those cases are documented, along with each judge's interpretations. In most cases, it has been favorable for the farmers.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
I inherited your knack for hatching roosters.

So, I started a club.

Want any roosters???

Bluemoon

Erm, no thanks. I have 4 in the bachelor pad already......

 

[Bluemoon420]

Quote:
I inherited your knack for hatching roosters.

So, I started a club.

Want any roosters???

Bluemoon

Erm, no thanks. I have 4 in the bachelor pad already......

I've got 6.

Bluemoon

 

[YakLady]

I'm posting the following email, because I thought it might be helpful. I'm deleting specific names, though.

Dear Mr. H,

Thank you for your time yesterday on the phone. Per your request, my contact who is associated with the MDA has provided the documentation that is needed for clarification. I know that Mr. D has stated that the local ordinance to which he refers is not a ‘nuisance’ ordinance. We operate our farm/business under GAAMP guidelines, and therefore we are not subject to ANY local zoning ordinances, ‘nuisance’ or otherwise. We are not required to report to local zoning officials for anything that we do on our property that relates to our farm/business. Hopefully, the following information will clear this up and allow us to continue having a good relationship with our community.


This is the email that I received from my contact at the MDA:

Cayce,

Please see the highlighted section below. Your township has no jurisdiction on ANYTHING you do that is agricultural related provided you are running a farm as a business not a hobby. The fact that you sell products qualifies you. In order for your township to continue to harass you, they could be subject to penalty under Michigan law, and their attorney should know that. See below:

Please also note the following article provided to me not long ago:

RIGHT TO FARM UPDATE
As most Townships know, farms are protected from many nuisance actions by the Michigan Right to Farm Act (“RTFA”). Over the past year, the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court have rendered key decisions that clarify some of the issues under the RTFA. It has always been clear that if a farm operation complies with “generally accepted agricultural management practices” (“GAAMPs”) developed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture, then it is immune from an action to abate a nuisance. Many Townships thought this meant that farms still had to comply with local zoning ordinances, and that an action to enforce a zoning ordinance would stand. The Court of Appeals even previously supported this proposition in the Papadelis case in 1998, holding that the RTFA is not a defense to an action filed to enforce a zoning ordinance. In a 2006 Papadelis case sequel, the Court of Appeals did an about-face, holding that if a farm complies with GAAMPs, it does not have to comply with ANY local zoning ordinances. Based on MCL 286.473(1 ),which states that a farm is not a nuisance if it conforms to GAAMPs, the Court found that a farm that complies with GAAMPs is exempt from ALL local zoning requirements. The Court acknowledged that “A business could conceivably move into an established residential neighborhood and start a farm or farm operation in contravention of local zoning ordinances as long as the farm or farm operation conforms to GAAMPs.” While this may seem unwise, the Court pointed out that its interpretation is based on “the clearly expressed intent of the Legislature”, and that the statute must be enforced as written.


Mr. H, I do hope that this information is helpful. We have a very good relationship with the neighbors who we have met. While we are out working, people will often walk by and thank us for having animals. None of our neighbors have had anything negative to say about our farm operations. This farm has been a working farm since at least 1919, when Mr. Currie raised thousands of chickens to supply Maybury Sanitarium with eggs and meat. Our intent is to honor history by keeping this farm operating while respecting and nurturing the land that it is on. We look forward to being long-time members of this community, just as Mr. Currie was. We believe that our operations can be of some benefit to the community, as well, since we are the only yak meat producing farm in Michigan. Thanks for your time, and we look forward to developing a ‘good neighbor’ relationship with you in the future.

PS (I spoke to the restaurant manager from *&%’s yesterday. He told me that they have yak burgers on the menu today, and then they will be out of it for a couple of weeks. They are trying not to order too much of it since we will not have another animal ready for processing until Fall/Winter. If you can’t get a burger there, let us know. We’ll have you over here for a yak burger dinner.)

Sincerely,

Cayce Kelly
Michigan Yakkers, LLC
www.Mi-Yak.com

 

[chickflick]

Quote:
Hi Neighbor! I'm in Davison.

I don't know your laws there. How many chickens do you have? Hope you can come to chickenstock. You'll have loads of fun and meet lots of people.

 

[YakLady]

Hey, for those of you who have ducks... I'm truly baffled about having found eggs this morning that either:

A) were laid by 5 week old Pekin/Cayuga X's, or
B) my adult Pekin laid her normal size egg plus 2 small ones last night/early this morning

I posted pics here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4125587#p4125587

Is this normal?

 

[YakLady]

That's what I thought at first. But, no, it's not possible. The hens were all locked up last night before the ducks. I lock up the ducklings and their two adult babysitters next. When I do that, I check the stall for any hardware that may have come in through the garage during the day (I'm terrified of them eating something metal and hurting themselves). So the stall was thoroughly checked out last night when I tucked them in. After they are in, I put away the rest of the adult ducks.

In the morning, I let the chickens and adult ducks out, letting the adult ducks out the gate so they can waddle down to the creek. Then I go in the garage and remove the board that blocks the entrance to where the ducklings are. They all waddle out into the yard with the two adult babysitters. That's when I go get the egg that is always there from the Pekin. Except this morning, there was the one big one and two little ones.