---
kind: "section"
citation: "7 U.S.C. § 6509"
title: "7"
title_heading: "Agriculture"
number: "6509"
heading: "Animal production practices and materials"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/7/6509"
units:
  - "Chapter 94 — Organic Certification"
---

# §6509. Animal production practices and materials

- (a) **In general—** Any [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) that is to be slaughtered and sold or labeled as [organically produced](/usc/7/6502.md?p=15) shall be raised in accordance with this chapter.
- (b) **Breeder stock—** Breeder stock may be purchased from any source if such stock is not in the last third of gestation.
- (c) **Practices—** For a farm to be certified under this chapter as an organic farm with respect to the [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) produced by such farm, [producers](/usc/7/6502.md?p=19) on such farm—
  - (1) shall feed such [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) [organically produced](/usc/7/6502.md?p=15) feed that meets the requirements of this chapter;
  - (2) shall not use the following feed—
    - (A) plastic pellets for roughage;
    - (B) manure refeeding; or
    - (C) feed formulas containing urea; and
  - (3) shall not use growth promoters and hormones on such [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11), whether implanted, ingested, or injected, including antibiotics and [synthetic](/usc/7/6502.md?p=22) trace elements used to stimulate growth or production of such [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11).
- (d) **Health care—**
  - (1) **Prohibited practices—** For a farm to be certified under this chapter as an organic farm with respect to the [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) produced by such farm, [producers](/usc/7/6502.md?p=19) on such farm shall not—
    - (A) use subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics;
    - (B) use [synthetic](/usc/7/6502.md?p=22) internal parasiticides on a routine basis; or
    - (C) administer medication, other than vaccinations, in the absence of illness.
  - (2) **Standards—** The National Organic Standards Board shall recommend to the [Secretary](/usc/7/6502.md?p=20) standards in addition to those in [paragraph (1)](#d-1) for the care of [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) to ensure that such [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) is [organically produced](/usc/7/6502.md?p=15).
- (e) **Additional guidelines—**
  - (1) **Poultry—** With the exception of day old poultry, all poultry from which meat or eggs will be sold or labeled as [organically produced](/usc/7/6502.md?p=15) shall be raised and handled in accordance with this chapter prior to and during the period in which such meat or eggs are sold.
  - (2) **Dairy livestock—**
    - (A) **In general—** Except as provided in [subparagraph (B)](#e-2-B), a dairy animal from which milk or milk products will be sold or labeled as [organically produced](/usc/7/6502.md?p=15) shall be raised and handled in accordance with this chapter for not less than the 12-month period immediately prior to the sale of such milk and milk products.
    - (B) **Transition guideline—** Crops and forage from land included in the organic system plan of a dairy farm that is in the third year of organic management may be consumed by the dairy animals of the farm during the 12-month period immediately prior to the sale of organic milk and milk products.
- (f) **Livestock identification—**
  - (1) **In general—** For a farm to be certified under this chapter as an organic farm with respect to the [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) produced by such farm, [producers](/usc/7/6502.md?p=19) on such farm shall keep adequate records and maintain a detailed, verifiable audit trail so that each animal (or in the case of poultry, each flock) can be traced back to such farm.
  - (2) **Records—** In order to carry out [paragraph (1)](#f-1), each [producer](/usc/7/6502.md?p=19) shall keep accurate records on each animal (or in the case of poultry, each flock) including—
    - (A) amounts and sources of all medications administered; and
    - (B) all feeds and feed supplements bought and fed.
- (g) **Notice and public comment—** The [Secretary](/usc/7/6502.md?p=20) shall hold public hearings and shall develop detailed regulations, with notice and public comment, to guide the implementation of the standards for [livestock](/usc/7/6502.md?p=11) products provided under this section.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 101–624, title XXI, § 2110, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3940; Pub. L. 102–237, title X, § 1001(2), Dec. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1893; Pub. L. 109–97, title VII, § 797(c), Nov. 10, 2005, 119 Stat. 2165.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2005—Subsec. (e)(2). Pub. L. 109–97 designated existing provisions as subpar. (A), inserted heading, substituted “Except as provided in subparagraph (B), a dairy” for “A dairy”, and added subpar. (B).

1991—Subsec. (d)(1)(B). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1001(2)(A), substituted “parasiticides” for “paraciticides”.

Subsecs. (g), (h). Pub. L. 102–237, § 1001(2)(B), redesignated subsec. (h) as (g).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Regulations

Pub. L. 116–94, div. B, title VII, § 756, Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 2654, provided that: “Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 20, 2019], the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue a final rule based on the proposed rule entitled ‘National Organic Program; Origin of Livestock,’ published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 23455): Provided, That the final rule shall incorporate public comments submitted in response to the proposed rule.”