We are selling 12 acres (under contract) and just need some info so I can be prepared. The 12 acres joins another 12 acres owned by some else. There is no fence dividing the land and never has been, but the other owners have run cows on the land and currently have some there. Gentleman's agreement (not my doing). Of course the new owners do not want them there. The owners of the cows have agreed to remove them, but the topic of fencing WILL come up.

To throw another kink in it there is an easement that runs down the property line, with half on our land and half on the adjacent land. This means a fence on the property line is not an option.

Who needs to put up a fence? The person trying to keep cows on their land? or the person trying to keep cows OFF their land?

I do understand the concept of splitting cost, but the fence will not be on the property line. It will have to be on property on the other.

My personal experience is the rancher should build the fence on his side, his cost. If he is any kind of cattleman, there shouldn't be a problem

Both. IMO fences are as much to keep stuff out as keep in.

In all honesty decide whose side of the easement to build the fence on and split the cost. Or zig zag the thing halfway through the easement and put in a gate.

Is it an access easement or what?

Depends on the county. Some are fence in, some are fence out.

According to this site, these counties are open range which means you must put fence around your property if you don't want other peoples livestock on it.

quote:

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Andrews, Callahan, Camp, Childress, Collin, Cottle, Ector, Hemphill, Jeff Davis, Kenedy, King, La Salle, Loving, Midland, Navarro, Oldham, Palo Pinto, Reagan, Schleicher, Shackleford, Stephens, Sterling, and Throckmorton.

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A temporary electric fence will keep the cows in and not cause a lot of heartburn.

Access easement in grimes county. There are currently no problems but do not want this issue to screw up the sale

[This message has been edited by robk (edited 3/12/2013 10:05p).]

If your property is in an open range precinct of Grimes County, or if the entirety of Grimes County is open range, then you, as the property owner, would be legally required to exclude (read: fence out) unwanted livestock. Your neighbor would not be legally required to include (read: fence in) his/her livestock, and should they get out of his property and into yours, he/she would not be legally responsible for any damages they cause.

I'd say the new owners would need to build a fence if they don't want the cattle, but that's just my non-educated interpretation of the Texas Agriculture Code.

If its an open range county and not on a major roadway the guy with the cows doesn't have to build a fence at all.
The buyer could always build a fence while the cows are on his side... although as Woodrow said "you ride with an outlaw you die with an outlaw".
I know this doesn't help at all but personally I think it would be a good experience for someone buying acreage to ride some fence.

Ok, another question for yall. Would a cow on our property be considered estray if their was no fence?

PS. Pretty sure we are just going to fence it and be done with it, but now I am having fun with this.

For the neighbor's cattle to be legally considered estray, I would think you would need to give notice to cease grazing of your property given that you know an agreement to graze is already in existence.

Most certainly, then, the cattle would be estray if they are on your property, under the legal definition. Keep in mind that Texas Agriculture Code Title 6 Chapter 142 states that an estray is not herded with other livestock. However, the legal requirement still falls on you to fence them out, IMO.

If you're looking for the best recourse, I recommend informing the neighbor of your intent to sell and requesting to go halves in building a fence.

[This message has been edited by Todd 02 (edited 3/13/2013 7:57a).]

San Saba county is also open range. It is my responsibility to keep other cattle off of my land. However, I have had good luck having neighbors that share equally in building fences and monitoring the livestock on both sides.

Only in Texas: You are allowed to fence in the state owned deer, but you have to fence out your neighbors cattle.

Talk about land rights gone wrong.

Do you own the fence on the other side of your 12 acres. I would take that down and let them run wild. I bet the land owner would put up a fence quickly.

Gator has a point.

Really depending on where you are he most likely has to fence in his cows; you don't have to fence them "out" you could potentially fence them in or cut the other gate and the cows get loose.

When my family bought 20 acres in Montgomery county the cattle leaser didn't want to get his cows off the property. He had no problem getting them off the day we brought out a few other people and horses and a few trailers to take em to the sale barn though. Hopefully the neighbor/cattle lease guy isn't a dill-hole.

Why doesn't the new owner want them there? Does he understand Ag property tax exemptions? OR does he plan on putting his own livestock on the property, which would put some of the onus back on him.

New "ranchette" owner, I bet. Naive about real ranching, of course.

I have to agree with MouthBQ98.