Free range animals are animals that are allowed to roam freely. The main goal is to allow the animals as much freedom as possible to live out their instinctual behaviors in a natural way, even if they are slaughtered for meat. There are few regulations that are imposed on what can be called free range animals. Free range may apply to meat, eggs and dairy products. In the United States, Free range may simply mean without a fence. In ranching, free range livestock are allowed to roam without without being fenced in. In many of the agricultural communities, free range livestock are common.

The United States Department of Agriculture requires that chicken raised for meat have access to the outdoors in order to receive the free range certification. Free range chicken eggs have no legal definition in the United States. The free range egg producers have no common standards to go by. Many farmers sell their eggs as free range simply because their cages are two to three inches above standard size, or because their is a window in the shed.

The USDA have no specific guidelines for free range pork, beef, and other non poultry products. All USDA definitions refer to poultry. There are no criteria about the size of the range or amount of space given to each animal are required before beef, pork, and lamb can be called free range. Free ranging or Pasture raised would be defined as livestock that have had continuous and unconfined access through out their life.