Legal Services

	"We're seeing an increase of free-range animals other than cattle in parts of our county. We want to do what we can to help protect the ranchers' livestock. How do we go about implementing range restrictions in certain areas of the county?"

What is the process for enacting range restrictions?

Texas law authorizes a petition and election process that provides for local control on the issue of whether certain animals will be permitted to run at large in the county or an area within the county. Section 143.021 of the Texas Agriculture Code contains four types of authorized local option elections: (1) limited free range for hogs; (2) prohibition against cattle from running at large; (3) prohibition against domestic turkeys from running at large; and (4) local option to prevent “certain animals” from running at large (horses, mules, jacks, jennets, donkeys, hogs, sheep or goats). For more information, see our publication Short Answers to Common Questions: Stock Law.