Friday, April 19, 2024
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Not knowing where else to turn, the woman posted a plea on a popular community Facebook page asking for suggestions or an attorney who might help her.
Because Hood County is “open range,” the woman, who lives near Wolfe Hollow in the southern part of the county, was plagued by cattle that she said kept escaping a neighbor’s property via a downed fence and wandering onto her land.
A county is open range if voters have not voted to make it closed range through a local stock option election.
Chapter 143 of the Texas Agriculture Code allows voters to determine whether their county, or a portion of it, prohibits certain types of livestock from roaming freely.
According to Sheriff Roger Deeds, “old rules” about open range counties are as old as Texas itself.
Instead of livestock owners being required to fence their cattle in, other property owners who don’t want to deal with roaming cattle must fence them out.
In the woman’s case, the livestock that wandered onto her property allegedly broke bird baths, ate out of her peach orchard and from bales of hay meant for her own cows, and caused her 80-year-old parents to risk heat exhaustion trying to shoo away the four-legged trespassers.
The woman posted that she had placed 10 calls to the Sheriff’s Office and that the owner of the animals knew what was happening but had not corrected the problem.
Just days after that post, another woman posted on the same community Facebook page pictures of a lone, seemingly nonchalant cow with the message, “Loose cow just laying in the middle of meadowlark circle E.”
In that case, the cow would have been hard for any motorist not to see since it was loafing in broad daylight. But what about a black cow wandering on a dimly lit farm-to-market road in the dead of night?
Sheriff Roger Deeds said that, thanks to Hood County’s open range status, the county receives a significant number of “stock out” calls. The calls come to the Sheriff’s Office or to Animal Control, both of which fall under Deeds’ supervision.
Deeds stated that on weekdays Animal Control officers handle stock out calls and available deputies assist them if the animals are on roadways and could cause vehicle accidents.
He said that in rural counties, “people just live around the livestock.” But in urban counties, which Hood County has largely become, “there needs to be more restrictions on the livestock to protect them and people both.”
Hood County, one of the fastest growing counties in the country, boasts seven cities or towns (Granbury, Acton, DeCordova, Stockton Bend, Tolar, Cresson and Lipan) and 130 subdivisions.
Joshua Lane, a patrol operations lieutenant, and public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said that stock out calls are almost a daily occurrence.
He said that as of Saturday, Aug. 20, deputies and/or Animal Control had thus far responded to approximately 385 “stock out” calls in 2022, an average of about 48 per month. In 2021, they responded to 560 such calls, he said, which averaged about 46 per month.
Lane said that deputies and Animal Control officers try to get loose animals secured and back to their owner’s property, but that is pretty much all they can do since Hood County is open range, or free range.
HANDS TIED
Most of the time, the SO and AC have difficulty locating the owners of loose livestock because neither office has phone numbers or addresses for everyone in the county who owns cattle, Lane said.
Another issue is that some fencing cannot bear the size and weight of some livestock.
Lane said that in his experience, livestock owners do have fencing but their cattle get loose because part of the fencing is down or it is poorly maintained.
Lane explained that the county’s open range status makes it difficult to file charges when someone’s livestock damages someone else’s property.
“Those with damaged property could attempt to file some type of civil suit against the owner, but I’m not sure how or if the ‘open’ or ‘free’ range would hinder this also,” he wrote in an email to the Hood County News.
Lane said that in the case of the woman who posted on social media, drawing more than 400 responses, the SO advised her to contact her county commissioner and her justice of the peace for possible civil action.
The HCN reached out to the woman but she did not respond by press time.
A DIFFERENT VIEW
Some current and former county officials said that open range versus closed range has been the topic of spirited debate at times.
James Deaver, a Tolar rancher and former Precinct 1 county commissioner, said that although he sympathizes with the woman who complained on social media, he doesn’t think that Hood County should become closed range.
“I’ve got good fences. I’m a good steward of my cows, and there are a lot of farmers out there that are good stewards of their places,” he said. “But what if somebody leaves my gate open or somebody, just for meanness, opens my gate and a cow gets out? Why should I be responsible for what somebody else does?”
Deeds said that he called a public meeting about eight years ago to discuss open range versus closed range.
“There was a bunch of families that came that have been farming and ranching in Hood County for many years, and they were against closing the range,” he said.
Deeds indicated that on a personal level, he doesn’t have an opinion on the matter.
However, “my job is public safety,” he said. “And, yes, it would be easier and safer if the range was closed.”
