[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health of the Town of Blackstone
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 3-25-1982]
No individual or individuals, partnership, company or corporation shall
keep a pig or swine within the limits of this municipality without first obtaining
a permit from the Board of Health. All such permits shall expire on December
31 of each year unless sooner revoked. Any permit may be revoked at any time
by the Board of Health.
A license to transport garbage, offal or other offensive substances
along the public highways of this municipality must be obtained from the Board
of Health in accordance with MGL c. 111, § 31A, and no such materials
shall be so transported without such a license. All licenses shall expire
on December 31. Any license may be revoked at any time by the Board of Health
for cause. Garbage and other offensive material shall be transported only
in watertight vehicles or containers and shall be securely covered while the
vehicle is in motion.
All piggeries shall be suitably isolated and maintained in such a manner
that no nuisance shall be created thereby. No pen or enclosure shall be located
within 75 feet of any public highway.
All piggeries will be examined frequently by a representative of the
Board of Health, who will make such recommendations to the owner as are necessary
to maintain the piggery in proper condition. In no case shall the representative
examine each piggery less than four times yearly.
All buildings used for the housing of swine shall be kept in a clean
and satisfactory condition. Brood houses shall be cleaned daily.
If outdoor pens or runs are provided, the swine shall be fed from platforms
built of heavy watertight material, flat on the ground or on skids, one foot
above the ground, so arranged that the platform can be readily moved and the
ground at the earlier location ploughed in. If the feeding platform is elevated,
the space between the ground and the platform shall be kept clear and clean,
and no food shall be allowed to accumulate about the platform or on the ground.
A bin for receiving garbage shall be provided which shall be covered.
No water or leachate shall be allowed to accumulate in said bin. The bin must
be completely enclosed, and no garbage shall be stored for more than 48 hours.
Garbage cans, wagons and trucks shall be thoroughly cleansed after the
garbage has been removed therefrom.
Manure and uneaten garbage shall be cleaned out at least once daily
and must either be immediately removed from the premises or must be so kept
that it will not constitute a nuisance and so that the pigs will not have
access to it.
If uneaten garbage and manure are collected in compost piles, they shall
be treated or covered with earth, loam or other suitable material in sufficient
amounts to eliminate any odor, fly-breeding or other nuisance. All such piles
shall be at least 500 feet from any highway or dwelling. No garbage, manure
or putrescible matter, whatsoever, shall, except in the cultivation and use
of the soil in ordinary methods of agriculture, be put upon the ground within
250 feet of high-water mark of any open waters flowing directly or ultimately
into any source of water supply. In addition, they shall be sprayed daily
during the fly-breeding season.
Manure shall be spread upon land only when such land is in condition
to plough, and any manure so spread shall be ploughed under within 48 hours.
Wet muck in outdoor pens shall be removed and replaced with clean sand.
A water supply adequate for cleaning purposes shall be provided.
Adequate personnel shall be employed at all times necessary for the
proper maintenance and operation of the piggery.
No piggery shall be located, constructed or maintained any part of which
is within 250 feet of the high-water mark of any source of drinking water
supply or tributary thereof, or within 250 feet of the high-water mark of
any open waters flowing directly or ultimately into any source of water supply.
[Adopted 7-13-1987]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any meat waste, or meat waste combined with any food waste, resulting
from handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of foods, including animal
carcasses or parts thereof.
The state, any municipality, political subdivision, institution,
public or private corporation, individual, partnership or other entity, except
that it shall not mean a person who feeds garbage to swine which are raised
for such person's own use.
No person shall feed garbage to swine without first securing a permit
therefor from the director. Such permits shall be secured before January 1,
1954, and shall be renewed on the first day of January of each year thereafter.
A.
Any person desiring to obtain a permit to feed garbage
to swine shall make written application therefor to the Director in accordance
with the requirements of the Division of Animal Health.
B.
At the time of filing such application, the applicant
shall pay to the Division of Animal Health a permit fee in the sum of $5.
Upon determination that any person having a permit issued under this
section, or who has applied for a permit hereunder, has violated or failed
to comply with any of the provisions of this section, or any of the rules
and regulations promulgated thereunder, the Director, subject to the approval
of the Commissioner of Agriculture, may revoke such permit or refuse to issue
a permit to an applicant therefor.
On and after January 1, 1954, all garbage, regardless of previous processing,
shall, before being fed to swine, be thoroughly heated to at least 212º
F. for at least 30 minutes, unless treated in some other manner which shall
be approved in writing by the Director as being equally effective.
The Director shall cause the premises of all permit holders to be inspected
semimonthly for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this and the
preceding sections.
A.
Any authorized representative of the Division of Animal
Health shall have the power to enter at reasonable times upon any private
or public property for the purposes of inspection and investigating conditions
relating to the treating of garbage to be fed to swine as required by this
section.
B.
Any authorized representative of the Division of Animal
Health may examine any records or memoranda pertaining to the feeding of garbage
to swine. Copies of such records shall be submitted to the Division of Animal
Health on request.
