Cows trespassing. What to do?

[Hocks & horns]

Two cows were found today. They were not able to find any others.

They'll turn up. If it's that thick they'll need dogs.

[Gbird]

In Texas it is your responsibilitiy to keep cows out, not the other way around.

Depends on the county. It changes as the county changes.


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[Laner7]

Just went through this problem with our neighbors. He leases his property out for cattle and the guy leasing had his cows get onto our property and messed our windmill up and said he wasn't going to fix it, so we called the landowner that this guy is leasing from and told him the situation and said if it isn't taken care of then we will be getting ahold of our attorney. He fixed it and patched the fence up. He argued with me for days saying that cows don't lean up against windmills and all that, it took threatening him with our attorney to get him to do it.

[Mohawkman]

23 of the 254 texas counties are "fence out" or open range. Most of those are far West Texas counties.

These counties are open range:

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.

All other counties are closed range.

Just went through this. Navarro county just voted to go closed. Before it was your responsibility to keep your neighbors cattle off of you. Now it is their responsibility to keep them off or you. The sheriff is supposed to take care of it. Either way they are responsible for the damage done. The determining factor is negligence on their part. If they get out once there is no negligence. If it is a repetitive thing and they know about it they can be found negligent. I am in insurance, and we just paid a farmer $50,000. In damages because a lady we had insured cattle kept getting out in to his milo.

[AntlerCollector]

They'll turn up. If it's that thick they'll need dogs.

They used dogs to find the two cows. If my hunters see anymore cows I will get in contact with the owners again. It seemed to me these folks don't know how many cows they are supposed to have on there place.

[COPPERHEAD]

Go fix the fences

Good advice here! Take care of the problem yourself. Find where there getting in and solve the problem.

[Winman]

In Texas it is your responsibilitiy to keep cows out, not the other way around.

I'll guarantee you,you don't want to shoot them....that is so illegal in Texas you will find yourself plumb underneath the jail. And paying top stock show winner prices for range cattle.

[BTLowry]

Older owner laid up in hospital I have sympathy and do what I can to help the old guy out. I.e. Try and get cows home and fix fence

Sorry rancher that does not take care of his fences or does not feed enough then I am calling sheriff

BTW my gates stay open all the time, not my fault if livestock gets out on public road/ROW. I will close gate if I happen to see cows

[bk913]

Might be cause I don't own any land, but I think some of y'all are being pretty unreasonable. A good relationship with your neighbor is worth a pretty penny. Help find the dang cows and fix the fence. You can play blame games all day, and I understand they aren't your cows, or you can fix the problem and establish a good neighborly relationship. Doesn't have to be a CSI episode.

Bottom line fix it right and it's a one time issue, you help out an elderly gentleman and maybe one day someone will do the same for you. It'd be the Texan thing to do.

[ramrod]

23 of the 254 texas counties are "fence out" or open range. Most of those are far West Texas counties.

These counties are open range:

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.

All other counties are closed range.

If you looked a little further down that page those are just the counties they had at the time. The full list of open range counties below the statement you copied and pasted.

http://equinelaw.alisonrowe.com/tags/open-range/

[BrianL]

If you looked a little further down that page those are just the counties they had at the time. The full list of open range counties below the statement you copied and pasted.

http://equinelaw.alisonrowe.com/tags/open-range/

Ones at bottom are ones they have researched and have closed range, and they have documentation on. Docs are available for $

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[Smithwr]

move your feeder to their side for a while then fix fence and move it back

[Truckville]

Fix the fence. Don't take someone elses word for it. Walk it yourself. Who is legally responsible doesn't get actual wire strung. Neighbors have already shown you what they are going to do.

[AntlerCollector]

I understand all the fix the fence and make nice with the neighbors comments. That was going to be my plan this weekend. I don't know these people. My side of the property is heavily wooded and impossible to walk the fence line. I can't even see a house from my side, only pasture. I was going to cross over and look for the owner. The sheriff told me it was a good thing I didn't because these are not good people to deal with. The sheriff said one of the guys that lived there is currently in prison for killing a man who was on his property. With that in mind all the fix the fence comments just won't work. I can't fix it without getting on their property to do it. If it was just a good ole guy I would gladly repair it for them. Seems like that's not the case. Anyway, they think they have all their cows back on their place. I've only spoke to a lady on the phone who is the daughter of the property owner. She has been very kind and apologize for my troubles. Hopefully this won't be an issue going forward. This is the first time cows have gotten out. I think it's because the old man just isn't there right now to watch over it. Thanks for the advice.

[MadHatter]

I understand all the fix the fence and make nice with the neighbors comments. That was going to be my plan this weekend. I don't know these people. My side of the property is heavily wooded and impossible to walk the fence line. I can't even see a house from my side, only pasture. I was going to cross over and look for the owner. The sheriff told me it was a good thing I didn't because these are not good people to deal with. The sheriff said one of the guys that lived there is currently in prison for killing a man who was on his property. With that in mind all the fix the fence comments just won't work. I can't fix it without getting on their property to do it. If it was just a good ole guy I would gladly repair it for them. Seems like that's not the case. Anyway, they think they have all their cows back on their place. I've only spoke to a lady on the phone who is the daughter of the property owner. She has been very kind and apologize for my troubles. Hopefully this won't be an issue going forward. This is the first time cows have gotten out. I think it's because the old man just isn't there right now to watch over it. Thanks for the advice.

Dang! So, no kill'em & grill'em ? Almost 3 pages, I thought we were getting close