You have a fence on your property or you are planning to build a fence. Do you know what fence law applies in your situation? There are thousands of miles of fence across Texas.

“Five Strands, A Landowner’s Guide to Fence Law in Texas” is a new publication written by Tiffany D. Lashmet, assistant professor and Extension specialist; James D. Bradbury, partner with James D. Bradbury PLLC; and Kyle Weldon, student at Texas A&M University School of Law.

In this publication, fence law is broken down into liability for livestock on the roadway, liability for livestock on neighboring land, responsibility for fence building and maintenance and responsibility for fencing around oil and gas operations. This publication may not answer every question on fence law but it will cover most.

The information was designed to be short and easy to follow. This information could easily be placed in the glove box of the pickup truck and used as a reference when needed. This publication gives landowners a background on how Texas fence laws originated. It explains the current laws, giving examples of common fence dispute scenarios and solutions.

Under the section for liability for livestock on the roadway, topics include open range versus closed range, local stock laws, U.S. and state highways, landowners and emergency response and road/highway liability examples.

Did you know that stock laws were passed in the early 1900s through commissioners’ courts across Texas through local elections? There is not a consolidated list of Texas counties to determine if they are open or closed range. Stock law elections occurred between 1910 and 1930. For more information on these, contact the sheriff’s department or county clerk’s office in the county about which you are inquiring.

In the liability for livestock on neighboring land section, topics include dealing with neighbor’s livestock on my property, stray livestock or estray laws and how to the adequate fence standards of the Texas Agriculture Code apply.

Under Chapter 142 of the Texas Agriculture Code, a landowner who finds stray or estray livestock on his or her property should as soon as reasonably possible report these animals to the sheriff’s department. The sheriff’s department will attempt to contact the true owner of the livestock. If no owner is determined, the sheriff will impound the animal and follow steps under this code.

In the responsibility for fence building and maintenance section, topics include perimeter fence between a landowner and a state highway, building and maintaining a boundary fence between neighbors, clearing brush to build a fence on a boundary line, cutting down a tree hanging over a property line and adverse possession.

Many times, people share boundaries between properties. Questions arise as to sharing the cost of building and maintaining boundary fences. The publication discusses this and other landowner questions about fencing between neighbors.

Landowners should regularly inspect and repair fences. It is important to frequently check on livestock to be sure none have escaped or left the property. Get to know your neighbor. The old saying “good fences make good neighbors” still applies today.

A copy of the handbook is available for download from http://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/published-materials. Print versions of the publication can be found at http://agrilifebookstore.org.