Questions from Tiffany's Desk: What Is Happening with the Stock Law Election in Brazos County?

***UPDATE*** Brazos County voters voted 70% in favor of the stock law. However, the county announced shortly after election day that the stock law was on hold due to some questions about the process of the election. [Read more here.]

Question: What is happening with the stock law election in Brazos County?

TAMU AgriLife Photo by Steve Byrns

Answer:

This is a question I have gotten several times over the past couple of weeks.

Background

Brazos County voters will see two propositions on the ballot this November. Proposition A involves the adoption of a stock law to require cattle to be fenced in. Proposition B involves the adoption of a stock law to require horses, mules, jacks, jennets, donkeys, hogs, sheep, and goats to be fenced in.

Stock laws are already in place in many counties across Texas. These laws change the legal obligation or duty of livestock owners, requiring them to fence livestock and to prevent them from running at large.

Basic law

To understand the impact of this election in Brazos County, we first need to understand the difference between an open range area and a closed range area.

Open range means livestock owners are not required to fence their livestock in or prevent them from roaming at large. In other words, livestock owners are able to allow their livestock to roam free. Legally speaking, in an open range county, we would say the livestock owner does not owe any duty to fence his or her animals in. Instead, the duty is on the neighboring landowner to fence animals out. In other words, livestock owners are able to allow their livestock to roam free. The Texas Supreme Court described open range as, “if cattle of one person wander upon the unenclosed lands of another… they are not trespassers, and the owner is not liable for any damage that they may inflict.”

Closed range is just the opposite, meaning that a livestock owner has an obligation to fence animals in on his or her own property and prevent them from running at large. In a closed range area, the owner must fence animals in, rather than the neighbor being required to fence them out as is the case with an open range area. Although this duty exists in closed range counties, it does not impose automatic liability should animals get out of the fenced area. Instead, when animals get outside a fence in a closed range area, courts will analyze the fact-specific circumstances to determine if the owner violated his or her duty not to allow the animals to run at large. Generally speaking, pertinent facts include the condition of the fences, whether the gate was left open, how often the animals were out before, whether the landowner knew that the animals were out, and how long the animals were at large. Depending on these facts, a court will decide whether an animal owner should be held liable.

Texas

Texas is considered an open range state. There are, however, two laws that actually two exceptions to this general rule that make most of the state closed range. This includes a state statute making all properties along State and US Highways closed range, and a statute allowing for counties to hold elections where landowners can vote to change the county (or some portion thereof) from open range to closed range. Counties have the option of voting to become closed range by an election.

Brazos County

To date, Brazos County has not passed a local stock law, but that is what is on the ballot this November. Brazos County landowners will vote to decide whether the county’s open range status will remain, or whether the county will change to a closed range county for the identified classes of livestock.

This law will certainly have implications on Brazos County landowners if it passes:

Animal owners will have a new legal duty to fence animals in. Should animals get out, this does not mean automatic liability for the owner, but it does mean there could be liability under certain factual circumstances, whereas now, there is no liability potential (unless there is an accident on a State or US highway noted below).

With regard to neighbor relations, the Propositions passing would make a substantial change. Let’s consider a situation where two neighboring properties are not separated by a dividing fence and only one of the neighbors owns livestock. Under current law in Brazos County, there is no obligation on the cattle owner to build a fence to keep the livestock in. Instead, the obligation is on the neighbor to build a fence to keep the livestock out should they not want the livestock on their property. If the stock law passes, the obligations will completely change with the legal obligation to build the fence now falling on the livestock owner, rather than the neighboring landowner.

There are some things that will not change if the law passes:

Regardless of the results of the vote on Propositions A and B, keep in mind that all State and US Highways in Brazos County will remain closed range. This is true for every State and US highway across Texas as there is a statute in the Texas Agriculture Code providing that these highways are closed range and an animal owner cannot “knowingly permit” the animals from running at large.

All landowners in Brazos County should carry liability insurance for their property/operation regardless of the range status in the county. Liability insurance is a critical risk management tool for all landowners, regardless of the stock law status of a county and regardless of whether they own livestock.

Most landowners likely already have fencing and practices in place to contain their livestock in Brazos County. Despite there being no legal obligation to do so, most landowners do fence livestock to keep them safe and on their property and establish boundary fences.

Additional resources

We have a vast number of resources related to Texas Fence Law: