I am just curius as to why we are moving backwards in Miles City. We have had a discussion about chickens and now our mayor has sheep in his yard. I really dont believe that having farm animals in town is going to attract any new and progressive companies to Miles City. The mayor did tell me that he has the sheep because they are legal. Just because it is legal, is it right and or prgressive?

I don't know about that...does 'progressive' necessarily mean 'non-rural' America? I think a great calling card to attract people to this area IS the country setting and atmosphere. Plus, on the 'go green' bandwagon, having sheep mow your yard can't be baaaaaaad *sorry, someone had to do it!*

I have no problem with going green but, I can hardly imagine some of the boards of directors of Fortune 500 companies sitting in a meeting discussing places to set up new operations saying, Hey lets move to Miles City Montana, They allow their citizens to keep farm animals in their yards.

Seems as though I remember someone on MC.Com suggesting that the Mayor sort of uses Taos, NM as a model. Sheep in town is the way they would do it in Taos.

Whether it is good or bad probably depends on how ewe define "progress". It seems slightly hypocritical having sheep in your yard, but not allowing others to have their Lincoln Towncars.

Does anyone know the regulations for having sheep in your yard?
I am just curious!!

According to the ordinance it isnt illegal.

Section 4-3. Keeping of certain animals prohibited; exceptions.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to keep any swine, goats, horses, cattle, chickens, geese, turkeys or other domestic fowl within the city limits at any time, except to bring same to market for commercial purposes, and the same shall be kept and cared for by the owner or person in charge thereof at such place as may be directed by the chief of police and the city-county sanitarian.

If this part of the green movement, I am thinking that there will be no poisonous chemicals used to spray the flys that the sheep and their excrements will attract.

A lot of folks used to have bum lambs in town so they could keep them fed. Maybe it's still done. That may be why its legal.

Chickens in town are legal in Missoula and Kalispell.

If every family in town has 2 sheep how many sheep can we keep in town? 5,000? 10,000? Oh and by the way; why limit it to 2?

any swine, goats, horses, cattle, chickens, geese, turkeys or other domestic fowl

I do not see the word sheep in the list above. I read it several times.

The latest, most progressive trend in urban areas is local foods including--brace yourself--keeping chickens in the cities.

Trust me. When Fortune 500 companies consider locating somewhere, I very much doubt chickens come up.

Any time you keep multiple animals, you are selling those animals and THAT falls into different regulations. One sheep to mow the lawn and end up in your freezer in the fall is regulated differently than a commercial herd. Besides, animal units require a certain amount of space and you would need one heck of a big yard for a herd of anything besides guinea pigs.

Sheep are already legal, Guy. I don't think you need to worry about EVERYONE running out and getting their two sheep. It's Miles City Montana for chrissakes. What do you expect?

I Know they are legal. I wasnt saying they were illegal. I also know that not everybody will have sheep. I just believe that farm animals should be on the farm. Just because we live in Miles City doesnt mean that we should have farm animals in town.

I don't think that sheep in town are driving away any progressive new businesses. They're not coming here for a lot of good reasons, the presence or absence of chickens in people's back yards has nothing to do with it. Miles City exists for one reason...agriculture. That may change some day but don't hold your breath.

FWIW, the city I lived in when I was in California (Livermore) allowed back yard chickens and I believe sheep as well. You didn't see them very often but a few people had them. Livermore had a fair number of high tech businesses as well but I don't think it was because of the chickens.

What difference is it if the mayor has sheep or Jim Bob has dogs? They are both legal to have in the city... Just because you don't want to be part of "dogpatch"???
Move to Glendive if ya don't like chickens and sheep in town. This isn't L.A. or Denver, it's Miles City.
Besides, the sheep and chickens were here before the fortune 500 companies...

AHA. That means if we allow chickens and sheep in town, we will have high tech industries popping up everywhere!!!!!!

Or not. In high tech as in real estate, location, location, location. Businesses locate somewhere that makes sense to them and while this location makes sense for Sangel, say, our isolation, travel connections and crap weather make us pretty undesirable for most folks.

Sheep are farm animals. Farm animals live in dogpatch. The estemed mayor of dogpatch wants to live in a pile of sheep poop. Let him. After all he does whatever he wants anyways. Just bend the rules and all is good. Find a loophole and have at it. Isn't that the good ol boy dogpatch way?

One can only wonder why sheep were excluded from that ordinance...

'Miles City, where men are men and sheep are nervous!'

Maybe we should get rid of dogs and cats, snorkie. They poop too.

I have a better idea. Get rid of the people. They poop too. That solves everyone's problem.

One theory to throw out to the collective:

Maybe those against sheep, are secretly attracted to sheep. As my out-of-state friends used to rib me: "Montana: where men are men, and sheep are scared."

Alternately, maybe those opposed to sheep have wild children who might like to wander out in the fields and have their way with sheep.

*DISCLAIMER* In no way am I disparaging any posters in this thread....I am simply pointing out why some might not like sheep in town, as I certainly could not come up with any logical reason....so, as I usually do here on mc.com, I am trying to bridge a gulf of different viewpoints for both sides.

Sheep don't bite, bark all night, or run around pooping on all the neighbor hood lawns. They eat weeds and grass and fertilize with little round pellets(usually) not big piles of poop.

Friends outside of Denver live in a community where the Homeowners Assoc allows 4 sheep per property. It is a very long way from Dogpatch.

Yup... Denver is about 500 miles from the "Dogpatch".

I knew the sheep jokes were coming...
Miles City will blossom and bloom/boom someday, animals in town won't be the issue, it's the nice people there that set it apart from other towns. In my biased opinion, anyway, thus:
I know a Canadian-owned business I work with a lot was looking for a SW Montana location to expand to (in addition to three others up and running), I DID suggest they check out MC and I know they did, but had to pass on it for some reasons. Miles has some lovable attributes but some problems also. It can be good or bad, depending on whether your town wants to change or remain the same. Farm animals in town could be a good thing.

Don't you still have FHA in Miles City? They do in Texas and most farm animals are allowed particuarly for that reason. There are some restrictions on the number and how close your chicken roost can be to a neighbor's yard, but we could have kept them in zip code area 77024 when our son was in FHA in one of the highest income suburbs in the Houston area. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a big, big deal here -- raises millions for scholarships, etc.

By the way, I think Houston is now the third largest city in the country and never has had trouble attracting Fortune 500 companies.

Something tells me people who are upset about the mayor having a sheep are upset about the mayor. It is true, he doesn't do things the "good ol' boy" way and this is upsetting to many but I think his animal ownership is irrelevant to the way he does his job. Other members of the City Council have animals. Do we need to decide our electoral positions based on animals?

Sort of like those ads for politicians that include their families, so we know the are capable of reproducing. Now we should start including all the family pets as well!

I am seriously considering a sheep. Couldn't help but improve my lawn and couldn't be worse than the yappy dogs all the neighbors have.

Correction -- meant FFA -- Future Farmers of America -- not FHA -- Future Homemakers of America -- which I belonged to when I attend CCHS.

We just returned from Bozeman. Our in-laws there live in a very nice subdivision in town, expensive homes and common green areas with biking, walking paths etc. The home owners assn. brings in a herd of sheep (100 or so I guess) to mow the common green areas. The owners of the sheep set up a portable electric fence which they relocate as the mowing progresses. Our understanding is that the homeowners are quite satisfied with the arrangement.

Likely as not the alligators will keep the sheep population down to a level where they won't be too much of a problem.

There are herds of goats in San Francisco that are used to clear out weeds in vacant lots and for fire mitigation. You can even "rent" a couple of goats for a week to clean up your back yard. A few years ago there were a bunch of them left in a pen in Oakland and some psychopath shot 15 of them with a .22.

I know a couple 'old goats' you might be able to rent cheap!

Do you think Mayor Joe will let me borrow his two sheep to eat my grass so I can eliminate the mowing? Now, that is going green! No, I do not intend to house two of my own sheep. I am hoping the Mayor will share his critters.

Maybe Mayor Joe could lend them to Rob Shipley to help clean up his yard.

I am all in for the chickens. Have you seen the CUTE chicken coops available? Stunning. And fresh eggs. And chicken poop ( ) is good for the garden....along with the sheep's. As long as you don't have a rooster, what could be wrong with a few hens clucking around?

milagros~ If you've got rosemary or cilantro volunteering in your yard, we may have something to discuss.

I'm thinking that a day or two of grazing either less than a week ahead of slaughter would be a finish with a flourish...

[gvideo]4261130809957959046#[/gvideo]

We had a friend who lived in Manhattan, MT, before it became a 'burb of Bozegrade. He had a sheep named Buddy who mowed his lawn. Every fall, Buddy went into the freezer and every spring, a new Buddy took his place.

Sucks to be Buddy.

Choose your 'Buddys' carefully....

Does anyone know if the law has been changed yet regarding like chickens or ducks?

If anyone has a couple of hungry goats, my sister is looking for some lawn mowers out at her place. She lives on the Mizpah Road not in town. PS: David, that video was super cute.

So can I have a mini horse in my back yard?

How about a gnu? I did'nt see them on the list.They also eat grass.

Any changes to allow chickens in town yet? What's the status of the animal bill that would have allowed this?

Animal control laws are in review by the city safety committee. Then they might go back to Jerry Huss and then finally to the City Council for approval. Hopefully things might be there in May.

We need more sheep and/or goats in town to help get rid of unsightly weedas. We need to graze them in the vacant lots and in the allies In stead of worrying about one sheep, Let'concentrate on the pigeon problem. How about a squab festival in about three weeks. Because the newest generation of pigeons just hatched. If anyone needs a recipe, I have one in my Two fat ladies cook book. By the way, Joe, I have a Swedish recipe for leg of lamb that is out of this word.

By the way, Joe, I have a Swedish recipe for leg of lamb that is out of this word.

Willing to share?