ORLEANS — The predawn crowing of two roosters at 39 Hopkins Lane, who neighbors say announce the start of each day around 4 a.m., prompted several complaints at the town’s agricultural advisory council meeting in July.

And a South Orleans Road resident lodged another objection: the owner of a flock near him was allowing his poultry to range onto other properties. In that case, the backyard farmer owned three roosters whose crowing had gotten competitive. He had dispensed with two of them, but that wasn’t enough for the neighbors.

What quickly became clear to the council was the lack of guidelines for farmers raising livestock in this “right to farm” community.

In August, the council decided that new policies would be the simplest way to restore peace. Members Heather Bailey and Rand Burkert took on the task of researching farming regulations elsewhere, and they drafted a set of policies to be voted on at a Sept. 9 meeting. That vote didn’t happen.

The council tabled the draft after deciding that revisions were needed. There were no chicken tenders heard from at the Sept. 9 meeting, but afterward worried farmers flocked to social media, with some accusing the council of trying to eliminate their right to farm.

Orleans adopted the right-to-farm law in 2013 and amended it to include the right to fish in 2020. The bylaw allows farming activities on holidays, weekdays, and weekends, at night or by day, “and shall include the attendant incidental noise, odors, dust, and fumes associated with normally accepted agricultural practices.”

Draft Policies

The draft policies Bailey and Burkert presented on Sept. 9 represented a compilation of proposals based on their review of standards set by the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources as well as of New Jersey’s best practices for suburban and urban residential areas, they said.

“Historically, Orleans was an agricultural community with much larger tracts of land than we have now,” Bailey said, explaining why they had looked at New Jersey. “We are now shifting to a suburban community, and we have a lot of acre and half-acre lots that people are farming on.”

One idea Bailey and Burkert included had been suggested by several county extension services: “the thousand-pound-per-acre” rule for livestock. Bailey described what that might mean: “It can be broken down into 125 chickens, 75 turkeys, or maybe a goat, an alpaca, and a chicken.”

Another common policy, Bailey said, requires that animal pens be set back 50 feet from property lines. Other suggested provisions included setbacks of livestock pens from water resources and town watersheds.

Bailey said the draft was an attempt to protect the animals on these barnyard properties as well as the neighbors’ quality of life. For example, properties should have four-foot-high fencing, she said, which is “as much to protect the farm animals from a neighbor’s dog coming onto the property as it is for a stray rooster, chicken, rabbit, whatever, going off the property.”

The draft proposed that owners of roosters housed on any property less than five acres would be required to minimize crowing from 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. That suggestion was taken from the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources best farming practices, Bailey said.

They said the draft includes a protocol for handling complaints efficiently, but, if complaints continue, it calls for farmers to be asked to remove the problem, such as a noisy rooster, from the premises.

“The hope, I think, is by having this document, it would allow us a little bit more authority, that if you choose to have animals in Orleans, you would be subject to us coming and inspecting,” Bailey said. Right now, she said, “It’s a free-for-all. Everything is subject to anybody’s and everybody’s interpretation of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.”

If a set of policies were to be adopted, Bailey said, it could be sent to everyone in town with farm animals.

Council chair Peter Jensen appeared ready to support the draft. He said the town’s right-to-farm bylaw does not supersede other town bylaws, including those regulating noise, building, and zoning. “That’s an important caveat that the right to farm doesn’t mean that you can do anything you want,” Jensen said.

But member Matthew Milan, a commercial farmer, suggested that the council postpone action until members had time to review the document line by line and offer revisions. Some of the rules, Milan said, were unnecessary, and others would result in making some existing barnyards noncompliant.

Members agreed to take some time to review the proposal. Others wanting to comment were invited to email Jensen directly at [email protected].

On Sept. 19, Jensen declined to give the Independent Bailey and Burkert’s draft proposal, saying that it was not what would eventually be adopted. By that time, it appeared Jensen had reviewed and reconsidered the details of the draft. “The issue of physical setbacks and specific noise timing was too restrictive in the opinion of most of us,” Jensen said.

“We are in no way looking to curtail or eliminate the Orleans right-to-farm bylaw,” he said. “Our goal is to strengthen the right to farm by developing a framework that informs local growers, including livestock growers and local neighbors, of both their rights and their responsibilities.”

To accomplish this, Jensen said, “involves due diligence on noise mitigation, proper housing, and proper fencing to keep everyone safe and productive.”

The council’s next meeting is set for Oct. 21. “Hopefully, people show up in support of the right to farm, make their suggestions, and we can move forward,” said Bailey in an email.