Local Meat in Virginia

Virginia operates a state meat and poultry inspection program. The Office of Meat and Poultry Services (OMPS) inside the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspects slaughter and processing establishments under the Virginia Meat and Poultry Products Inspection Act (Va. Code Title 3.2, Chapter 54) and the regulations at 2VAC5-210. Va. Code 3.2-5404 requires antemortem and postmortem inspection at every establishment preparing meat or poultry for intrastate commerce, except those exempted, and passed product is marked Virginia Inspected and Passed.

That gives a Virginia farm two inspected options. A USDA plant, listed at /processors/virginia, produces meat that can be sold anywhere. A Virginia-inspected plant produces meat that can be sold anywhere in Virginia but not across state lines, because Virginia is not in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program. VDACS's selling guide states that anyone whose products were processed at a USDA/FSIS or VDACS/OMPS inspected facility can sell at farmers markets, to restaurants, to retail stores, and online. The comparison is in USDA vs. state vs. custom-exempt; the national list is in state meat inspection programs.

In Virginia the plant that cuts your half of beef holds a Custom Permit from VDACS, and the meat it returns to you is marked Not for Sale. OMPS's Guide to Red Meat Custom Exemptions defines a custom exempt operator as one who slaughters amenable livestock (beef, pork, sheep, or goats) belonging to someone else and processes the carcass for the exclusive use of that owner's household, nonpaying guests, and employees. Permits are free, run from the date of issue to June 30, and are required of every custom exempt operator that does not also hold a state or federal grant of inspection.

The guide is unusually clear about shares. When several people own an animal together, each co-owner may receive a portion of the processed meat for their own use. The purchaser must be the owner at the time of processing, so buy the animal or the share before slaughter, not after. The operator keeps records of every owner's name and address under 9 CFR 320.1, marks carcasses and packages Not for Sale under 9 CFR 316.16, and cannot sell or donate custom product. Custom product also cannot contain specified risk materials from cattle 30 months and older. The federal basis is 9 CFR 303.1(a)(2). See how to buy a half cow, custom-exempt slaughter explained, and animal shares and herd shares. Prices are quoted by live or hanging weight, with processing billed by the plant.

The federal Poultry Products Inspection Act exempts a producer who slaughters no more than 1,000 birds of their own raising in a calendar year, and a second tier up to 20,000 birds, when the birds stay in the state and the producer does not buy or sell other poultry (9 CFR 381.10). VDACS's selling guide confirms that some poultry operations may be exempt if they meet the requirements of the exemption they claim, and that exemptions still carry sanitation and recordkeeping requirements; they are not a complete exclusion from oversight.

Two Virginia specifics. First, the label: VDACS says the statement Exempt P.L. 90-492 should appear on the label of exempt poultry offered for sale. Second, the border: exempt poultry may not be sold across state lines. OMPS also publishes a guidance document for determining whether a poultry operation is exempt. Read on-farm poultry exemptions for the federal tiers and what each allows.

Virginia is a mid-sized cattle state and a significant poultry state. NASS counted 1.32 million cattle and calves on January 1, 2026, 21st nationally and unchanged from a year earlier, with 575,000 beef cows and a 2025 calf crop of 590,000. In 2025 the state produced 248.4 million broilers weighing 1.56 billion pounds and raised 15.3 million turkeys weighing 430 million pounds. Hog numbers are small enough that NASS does not report Virginia separately in the December Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report.

Cattle are spread across the Shenandoah Valley, Southside, and the southwest mountains; poultry concentrates in the Valley. Find the USDA plants that serve each region on our Virginia registry or by county in the finder.

Virginia's cool-season pastures peak in spring and again in fall, so grass-finished beef is generally finished and slaughtered from late summer into early winter. Custom exempt operators book those months first; farms that sell halves and quarters usually take deposits in spring. Pork can be scheduled through the year. Pastured poultry is a spring-through-fall product, and turkeys for the holidays are processed in November.

OMPS publishes its Guide to Red Meat Custom Exemptions, a guide to selling meat and poultry in Virginia, and poultry exemption guidance on its Meat and Poultry Services page. The statute is at Va. Code Title 3.2, Chapter 54. Our registry of USDA slaughter plants is at /processors/virginia.