Rules for keeping livestock on your property
Check if your property is in a rural or urban zone
The Auckland Unitary Plan determines whether your property is in an urban or rural area.
To find out whether your property is in a rural or urban zone, type your address into the search bar in GeoMaps and check the 'Zone' category in the results.
If you cannot find your property in the GeoMaps viewer, contact us to find out whether it is urban or rural.
Keeping livestock in a rural area
You may keep and farm livestock on private rural property. There are no restrictions on the number of animals you can keep.
To keep livestock, you need to understand:
- responsible animal ownership
- the welfare needs of the animals, including food, water, shelter and exercise
- the type of properties suitable for keeping stock animals.
Keeping livestock in an urban area
Depending on the size and suitability of your property, you need to consider:
- type of stock you want to keep
- fencing
- housing
- drainage
- waste disposal controls, particularly for pigs
- how to limit potential nuisances.
Number of animals you can keep in an urban area
You can keep a limited number of animals in an urban area without an animal management licence.
If you want to keep more animals, you will need to apply for an animal management licence.
This table shows the number of stock that you can keep in an urban area without a licence.
| Type of stock | Property smaller than 2000m² | Property larger than 2000m² |
|---|---|---|
| Cattle | 0 | 0 |
| Chickens | 6 | 12 |
| Deer | 0 | 0 |
| Donkeys | 0 | 0 |
| Ducks | 0 | 6 |
| Geese | 0 | 6 |
| Goats | 0 | 0 |
| Horses | 0 | 0 |
| Llamas | 0 | 0 |
| Peacocks | 0 | 0 |
| Peahens | 0 | 0 |
| Pheasants | 0 | 6 |
| Pigs | 0 | 0 |
| Ponies | 0 | 0 |
| Quail | 6 | 12 |
| Roosters | 0 | 0 |
| Sheep | 0 | 0 |
| Swans | 0 | 0 |
Impounding of livestock
If we find or get a report of livestock wandering on the road, we may impound it. You must pay a fee before we can release impounded livestock.
For impounding fees, see Get your impounded animal back.
Grazing livestock on public land
If you want to graze your livestock on public land, you need permission from either:
- our Parks Team (if in a public park)
- Auckland Transport (if in a road reserve).
We will consider:
- the location of the animals
- whether the fencing is appropriate
- whether the animals may cause a nuisance to the public.
To get permission to graze your livestock in a park or on a road reserve, contact us.