Ordinance 309: Measure seeks to ban existing and future slaughterhouses in Denver

Denver voters will decide on Nov. 5 if current and future slaughterhouses should be banned in the city. 

Currently, there is only one slaughterhouse in Denver, employee-owned Superior Farms, which has slaughtered, processed and packaged lambs and lamb meat at its location near the Platte River and Western Stock Show complex since the 1950s. About 300,000 lambs are slaughtered each year at the site, which would be forced to close if the ordinance passes.

Here’s what you need to know about Ordinance 309. 

What are the economic impacts if Ordinance 309 passes?

The American Sheep Industry Association reports that Colorado is the third highest producer of sheep and lambs in the United States. The total capacity of Colorado’s 21 USDA-inspected facilities is 400,000 sheep per year. Superior Farm’s facility in Denver accounts for 15% to 20% of lamb processing capacity in the U.S.

A study by Colorado State University released in May showed the total annual output of animal processing in Colorado currently exceeds $382 million, provides nearly 600 jobs and creates nearly $45 million in employee compensation. That extends to animal production, animal food manufacturing, support activities for agriculture and forestry, grain farming, truck transportation and wholesale sectors such as grocery.

CSU’s study considered three possible outcomes of the ban. In the most extreme case — Superior Farms closes and leaves Colorado — 2,787 jobs and up to $861 million in economic activity would be lost. If half of the facility’s slaughter activity relocates to other parts of Colorado, those numbers reduce by half. And if businesses elsewhere in Colorado expand their capacity to 80% of the level once processed in Denver, Colorado may still lose 697 jobs and over $215 million in economic activity.

The report concluded the proposed ban “runs counter to demonstrated consumer preferences and choices,” would “reduce the resilience of the meat supply chain” and would make it harder for new startups in the growing local food industry.

What other effects would the passage of Ordinance 309 have?  

Pro-Animal Future, the group behind Ordinance 309, says CSU’s study ignored the potential health and environmental effects of banning slaughterhouses in the city. 

Those include ending discharges into the South Platte River as well as eliminating odors from the facility. They also say there would be a reduction in carbon emissions from raising and slaughtering lamb, though that assumes the facility’s production wouldn’t be moved elsewhere. 

Who is spending money to support and oppose Ordinance 309?

Pro-Animal Future Denver had raised almost $244,276 through Sept. 30. The largest donors are listed on Pro-Animal Future’s website and include the Craigslist Charitable Fund, Animal Charity Evaluators, and the Phauna Foundation founded by animal rights activist Owen Gunden, according to his bio on woodstockfruitfestival.com.

Stop the Ban, Protect Jobs — a group opposing the measure — had raised nearly $957,592 through the Sept. 30, much of it from contributions from Superior Farms. The group has also received money from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Colorado Livestock Association and the United Food & Commercial Workers International.  

What’s the national context for banning slaughterhouses? 

Voters in Berkeley, California, passed a slaughterhouse ban earlier this year.

That came even though there are no factory farms or slaughterhouses in Berkeley. One of the organizations behind that measure, Direct Action Everywhere, said the aim of the ban is to stop industrial-style livestock production preemptively with the hope that similar bans can be replicated elsewhere. 

In July, Direct Action Everywhere brought a measure prohibiting concentrated animal feeding operations in Sonoma County in California. The initiative is on the November ballot and is facing pushback from groups like the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, which says it would force California companies including Straus Creamery, Clover Sonoma and Petaluma Poultry out of business.

Berkeley was also among the first cities in the U.S. to ban the sale of new fur, which became a statewide policy in California in 2023. 

Pro-Animal Future, the group behind Ordinance 309, has a second measure on the November ballot in Denver, Ordinance 308, which would prohibit the manufacture, distribution, display, sale or trade of certain animal fur products within Denver city limits. 

The group opposing 308, Hands Off My Hat, said the ban would harm the National Western Stock Show where products with fur are sold along with retailers and small businesses that use fur in their products. Ernest House Jr., Ute Mountain Ute Tribal member and former executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, said Ordinance 308 “poses a direct threat to the cultural practices and economic opportunities of Indigenous and Native American communities.”