question on cattle exemption

[denowt]

Not sure if there is a written head of cattle guide line. I believe that the exemption applies if the land is used for utmost efficiency of agriculture use. If you have 100 acres of pasture and only 2 cows that probably won't meet the criteria. Someone else on here may have some more accurate info.

Depends on what else you do on the land.
If you are bailing hay on some of it, then you could reasonably have 2 cows on 100 acres.

You need to have 1.5 acre/head

It would be almost impossible to run that many cows on even the best hayfields.
I have 8 cows on 45 acres and I am overstocked right now.
On our other lease, we have 19 cows on 220 acres and that is pushing it if we don't get some more rain.
Both of these places have lots of brush, with minimal improved grass areas.
My dad runs between 15-20 head on 75 acres of land that has about 60 acres of improved grass that is fertilized at least once every year.

Either way, 1.5 acres/head is not going to happen without a lot of supplemental feeding.

[savin yours]

I had to wait 5 years before my ag exemption came into effect, this includes the time it took to get it ready. And I was told 1 cow/4 acres. And if you buy land that's exempt and you don't keep up with the exemption, you pay the last 5 years of taxes.

[txnduckhntr]

Wow I have never heard of such stocking rates. We have good fertilized coastal and we stock a little over 3 acre per cow. I thought that was good. I cant imagine the grass that would be need to sustain 1.5/ acre. I cant help but question this..

theres no way....i believe the 3 acre per hd but the 1.5 is ridiculous

[AndyRealtree]

theres no way....i believe the 3 acre per hd but the 1.5 is ridiculous

That's what the white collars say.. I don't run 1.5 / head EVER, that's just what I was told was the minimum.

[Bodey]

1.5 acres in central Texas would run head for a month or two if it rained. You will find it different throughout the state. Check with your tax man - he needs to know that you are making a diligent effort to make money and produce crops or livestock. If you are just stocking to get by the tax man, you are cheating real producers out of their future. The reason the government and taxing entities talk about removing ag exemptions, is because so many people are trying to cheat by. It is the same scenario with sales tax exemption. So many cheaters that the government had to crack down and make it tougher for real producers to operate.

[Todd-ty729]

You do not have to run livestock to get/keep an AG exemption.

We had a coastal field for years. Neighbor down the road did all the cutting and such for 1/2 of the hay produced.

We would sell the other 1/2 usually to the same person.

Our expenses were having the costal initially planted/sprigged and having it sprayed with weed killer and fertilizer each spring.

[ggreg02]

Here is a good article for you. I has some facts about am open space exemption.

http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1361.pdf

[Dusty Britches]

we don't have a stocking rate - we have to prove we are in production agriculture. So we produce hay and cattle. And our county appraisers come out every so often to see our production.

[Stan R]

I just grow hay. The exemption was there when I purchased the land

[Huntin Addict]

In Kerr County depending on the lay of the land, rocky, full to the hilt with cedar, open grass land. I would say 14-15 acres per head. I will use my place in Kerr as an example, we leased the property and he fella ran 8 head on two hundred acres.

My suggestion is lease the property for cattle rights for little to nothing and gain the AG exemption. Put a clause in the lease if you want the cattle removed for hunting season.

In Kerr at least on our place hay is not even close to an option.

[dustoffer]

1.5 ac per head would mean about 55-60 head on the 80-ac place I hunt, and I'm certain that there is no way it would support that many cattle. Landowner has 5 horses and maybe 5 donkeys full-time, and leases grazing once or twice a year for couple of months.

[cheez]

If the property is already ag exempt you can convert to a wildlife exemption. At least in my case, it was very easy to do.