Products containing CBD are not legally available for food-producing animals in the United States. That is the position, and it holds regardless of how you personally keep the animal.
Why food-producing animals are different
The concern is residue.
When a substance is given to an animal whose milk, meat or eggs enter the human food supply, regulators need to know how long it stays in that animal’s system before the products are safe to consume. That interval is a withdrawal period, and it is established through specific research for each substance and each species.
No withdrawal period has been established for CBD in any food-producing species. Without that, there is no way to say when milk or meat from a treated animal would be safe, and that is the whole basis of the restriction.
What the FDA has actually done
The FDA has issued warning letters to companies selling CBD products intended for use in food-producing animals. That is not a theoretical position or a guidance document, it is enforcement action against specific sellers.
The wider framework: hemp and hemp-derived products are not approved for use in animal food, and no CBD product has been approved by the FDA for use in food-producing animals.
The FDA does not currently allow CBD in animal food or commercial feed, and AAFCO has not approved hemp as an ingredient in animal feed.
What AAFCO says
The Association of American Feed Control Officials, which sets the model regulations most states adopt for animal feed, has taken the position that the safety data for hemp-derived ingredients in animal food does not currently exist.
Its stated view is that research and the proper approval process need to come first, and that stakeholders should submit applications for review rather than proceeding ahead of them.
Practically: hemp is not an approved feed ingredient at the federal level.
The FDA does not currently allow CBD in animal food or commercial feed, and AAFCO has not approved hemp as an ingredient in animal feed.
The part that catches people out: pet status does not change it
This is the most useful thing on this page.
Legal classification follows the species, not the living arrangement.
A mini pig or potbelly pig living indoors is legally a food animal. It does not matter that it wears a harness, sleeps on a sofa, has a name and will never be eaten. The regulatory category is set by what the species is, and pigs are food-producing animals.
A pet goat is a food animal. Even one kept purely as a companion, even one that has never been milked.
A backyard goat whose milk goes in your coffee is the clearest case of all. Residue is not an abstraction there. You are the consumer.
Two pet sheep in a paddock are food animals. Same principle.
This surprises owners, and it is the single most common misunderstanding on this topic. Sanctuaries and rescues run into it constantly.
What this means practically
Do not give CBD to a goat, sheep, cow, mini pig or potbelly pig. Not a product marketed for the species, and not a pet product from a shelf.
Be sceptical of anything sold for these species. A company selling CBD for livestock in the United States is selling something for which no legal pathway currently exists, and the FDA has taken action against that specific conduct.
If your animal needs something, that is a veterinary conversation. Livestock veterinary medicine has real tools, and a vet treating a food-producing animal works within withdrawal periods as a matter of routine. That is exactly the framework this restriction exists to protect.
What about a horse?
Horses sit in a genuinely complicated position, and it is not identical to the species above.
In the European Union horses are classified as food-producing unless signed out of the food chain. The United States position is not the same, and this page is not going to state it definitively.
For horses, there is a separate and more immediate problem: competition governing bodies prohibit cannabinoids.
What about llamas and alpacas?
Camelids in the United States are overwhelmingly kept as fibre and companion animals rather than food animals, which is why they are treated separately here. The classification is not uniform internationally, and a camelid producing consumed milk raises the residue question directly.
Check with your state department of agriculture.
→Read nextCBD for llamas and alpacas
This is likely to change
The FDA opened a request for information on cannabis-derived products in veterinary use in 2025, and the regulatory picture for animal cannabinoids is actively developing.
That means two things. The current answer is no, and it is a firm no rather than a cautious one. And this page will need rechecking, because a regulatory page that goes stale is worse than no page at all.
If you are reading this some time after publication, verify the current position with the FDA directly rather than relying on this summary.
Why we are publishing a page that sells nothing
We make a THC-free CBD tincture for dogs and cats. There is no link to it on this page and there will not be one.
The reason for publishing is that this question is asked constantly by smallholders, sanctuaries and mini pig owners, and the answers available are mostly from people with something to sell into a category where selling is the problem. Somebody should write the accurate version.
The short version
The short version
- CBD products are not legally available for food-producing animals in the United States.
- The reason is that no withdrawal period has been established, so residue in milk and meat cannot be assessed.
- The FDA has issued warning letters to companies selling into this category.
- Hemp is not an approved animal feed ingredient, and AAFCO’s position is that the safety data does not exist.
- Pet status does not change the classification. A mini pig in a house is a food animal. So is a pet goat.
- Horses and camelids sit in separate and more complicated positions.
- This area is actively developing. Verify the current FDA position directly.