TEXAS

[LMK17]

Hey everyone! We're in San Antonio.

We're in the process of purchasing property for our homestead. Question number one is, how much land do you all have? I'm having a hard time deciding the right acreage for us. Once we're all up and running, I'd love to have several garden plots, a small orchard, a couple large standard donkeys, a couple feeder pigs for part of the year, a beehive, chickens (layers + broilers), and a dairy animal + her offspring (for selling or the freezer)-- family self sufficiency (or close as possible to it) is the plan. Initially, I figured on approx 10 acres, minimum, but as we're having a hard time finding that, I'm wondering if we could make it on less? Do you think 5 acres would work? This will be right outside of San Antonio, probably to the east or north of the city.

Also, the TX agricultural exemption stuff is giving me fits! I've checked in 2 counties, Bexar and Guadalupe, and both tax offices say that hobby farms are specifically excluded from being ag exempt. In Bexar, they went so far as to say that my hobby farm would be subject to the roll back tax if we purchased ag exempt land. In Guadalupe, they said my farm couldn't remain ag exempt, but there would be no roll back penalty. In both cases, the issue is that they want a straight run of something (several beehives, 3+ acres in orchards, 4+ head of cattle) and won't let me combine different species/ventures to meet the required agricultural intensity.

Finally, what about mineral rights? Do you all have them on your land? DH and I went into this wanting mineral rights so that we could prevent anyone from drilling on our land without our permission, but the rights are pretty hard to come by, we're seeing! Are mineral rights a significant consideration for you all?

 

[Latestarter]

Most mineral rights are long gone. bought up by oil companies. Really, you shouldn't have to worry about anyone drilling on your land. They can access the oil under your property from a mile away if they really wanted to. They just drill at an angle. Wait until they find a way to buy up rights to sunlight, then charge you for using it

 

[LMK17]

Well, that's the truth about buying up rights to the sunlight!

I'm curious, what are you doing with your property? Are you ag exempt? How much land do you have?

I agree about the minerals. It's probably not worth worrying about... Still, it's a risk I hate to take. I'm thinking I'll probably have to get over that, though, in order to get into a place.

 

[Latestarter]

Fight the battles that need to be fought, but don't waste your time, energy and resources on the ones you know you can't win... Texas oil has been divied up since very early in the 20th century moving fwd, and I'm pretty sure most oil (fields) has been located/identified, owned, and already tapped. There may be smaller pockets of oil that weren't economical to tap way back then, but in the oil crisis of the 70's and since, I'd bet they're owned & have been been swallowed up as well.

If you can stay awake long enough, all my stuff is in my journal here on the site. www.backyardherds.com/threads/latestarters-journey-to-farming.33505/ Long story short, I have 19 acres in Titus county. 1 acre of that is the home, the remaining 18 are ~9 acres pasture & 9 acres heavily wooded. I am Ag exempt as the previous owner had been for many years. I chose both Ag and timber to cover the back forested area. I'm still working on infrastructure at the moment but intend to raise either a couple of cow/calf pairs or 4-6 steers on the front pasture. I expect to have goats, sheep and hogs in the back pasture.

 

[LMK17]

Yes, in my experience, maybe 1/10 small acreage tracts still has some amount of minerals attached. Minerals had been a requirement of ours, but we've let up on that.

So you're figuring on about 2 acres/steer for your land? I know around here, a friend of ours runs 1 head/5 acres for continuous grazing. I'm sure we could improve on that a bit with rotational grazing, but I'm not sure what the reasonable lower limit would be. If we get something ag exempt, that'll be an important consideration. If we're not ag exempt, then I don't see us getting into full size cattle.

 

[Latestarter]

We get (in my short experience) plenty of rain where I'm located and it's green. I need to have the extension service come out and help me analyze my pasture minerals/composition/needs as it hasn't been actively cared for for several years and at the least could use some re-seeding, fertilization and weed control through PH balancing. But I believe during growing season it would be 1.5-2 acres per adult cow. They would need supplemental hay in the winter at that stocking level. My idea is to get some weaned calves and put them on it over the summer and into early fall them sell all but maybe 2 to overwinter. Next year I'd get more calves and one of the 2nd year steers would be my freezer filler, the other sold to pay for everything else. If I can get it so I have 2 steers ready for slaughter/sale each fall, and just re-stock a few others for summer growth and fall sale, it should (I hope) pay for itself... more or less... In the winter I can rotate them through the back pastures as well to help with what the other animals don't eat.

 

[greybeard]

Yes, in my experience, maybe 1/10 small acreage tracts still has some amount of minerals attached. Minerals had been a requirement of ours, but we've let up on that.

So you're figuring on about 2 acres/steer for your land? I know around here, a friend of ours runs 1 head/5 acres for continuous grazing. I'm sure we could improve on that a bit with rotational grazing, but I'm not sure what the reasonable lower limit would be. If we get something ag exempt, that'll be an important consideration. If we're not ag exempt, then I don't see us getting into full size cattle.

(not sure why some of the below post came out bold font)
With some exceptions, the mineral rights are owned and belong to either the current landowner or a previous landowner (or his heirs) that have opted to reserve those mineral rights (or any % of them in 1/16ths) when they sold the property.
For the most part, petroleum companies just lease the mineral rights, usually for a term of 1-5 years, and only renewable if the owner(s) of the rights agrees to renew the lease.

Can and do companies actually buy the rights? Sure, just as an individual can, but the old adage in Texas is and always has been "Sell your cattle and land if you have to but hold and lease out your mineral rights". (when the mineral 'rights' are sold or leased, they are legally referred to as royalties)
I own some property that has private mineral rights owners strewn over 4-5 different states, going back over 100+ years. When I bought it, the previous owner only owned 1/2 the rights, and he opted to retain 1/4 of that, meaning I only own 1/4. The other 1/2 belongs to heirs of the original land owner--his great and great great grand children. Often, unless a business wants to lease the rights on any piece of property, the heirs don't even know they own those rights, and it can be difficult to track down who owns all the rights because of it. Ownership details are not spelled out on a deed--just the fact that a certain % of the rights are being transferred with the sale of the surface property.

 

[greybeard]

Also, the TX agricultural exemption stuff is giving me fits! I've checked in 2 counties, Bexar and Guadalupe, and both tax offices say that hobby farms are specifically excluded from being ag exempt. In Bexar, they went so far as to say that my hobby farm would be subject to the roll back tax if we purchased ag exempt land. In Guadalupe, they said my farm couldn't remain ag exempt, but there would be no roll back penalty. In both cases, the issue is that they want a straight run of something (several beehives, 3+ acres in orchards, 4+ head of cattle) and won't let me combine different species/ventures to meet the required agricultural intensity.

They are correct and it holds true for most counties in Texas as far as the stocking intensity or minimal animal unit calculation goes.
The reason for the rollback is usually because the land was part of a bigger parcel that did qualify for the ag exemption, but was divided up and sold in small parcels that can't support "ag production". Production means making $$ from the land. It can't be for home use (meat-eggs-dairy etc) or just for the enjoyment. When a big parcel is divided into little 'ranchettes', the small parcels are no longer capable of enough production to qualify either according to the state/county standards or even qualify as a true farm or ranch according to the IRS. IOW, when a hobbyist buys that little parcel, he has actually removed it from 'production', and since the taxes are back loaded in five year increments, the new owner can be responsible for the difference between market value appraisal and ag valuation appraisal taxes for the previous 5 years.

It may seem unfair, but Texas and other states decades ago realized we were losing true farms and ranches and that is something that the country can ill afford. Honestly, for the past few decades in Texas, the ag exemption has been abused greatly with an influx of city dwellers both from Texas and out of state that want to be farmers on small tracts, but have no intention of any 'production'. In the past, they successfully applied for the ag exemption because of a lax protocol in the appraisal district office, but that is coming to an end, as the counties are seeing too much loss of property tax revenues.

In addition, most counties have a minimum acreage to qualify. The state standard is 10 acres, but the state allows counties to make their own standard depending on the productivity of the area. The further west and south one goes, the more acres it takes to support a pair of cattle (cow and calf). County wide for my county, the minimum requirement is 20 acres.
There are ways around this. For instance, the owner of a small tract can opt to lease part of his land for grazing to someone nearby that already has the ag exemption. This allows a reduction in tax burden for the owner of the small tract--not as much as he would see if his whole property fell under ag (one cannot qualify the area their home and yard sits on) but still it's mejor que nada.

 

[LMK17]

It may seem unfair, but Texas and other states decades ago realized we were losing true farms and ranches and that is something that the country can ill afford. Honestly, for the past few decades in Texas, the ag exemption has been abused greatly with an influx of city dwellers both from Texas and out of state that want to be farmers on small tracts, but have no intention of any 'production'. In the past, they successfully applied for the ag exemption because of a lax protocol in the appraisal district office, but that is coming to an end, as the counties are seeing too much loss of property tax revenues.

I'm not sure abuse is the word. Some of the counties just have absurd regulations regarding the ag exemption. For example, in Guadalupe Co there's no actual intensity standard, as it has nothing to do with the amount of land one owns. There's an absolute number of animals you need to put on the land. I can't remember if it's 4 or 5 head for cattle, but it's something like that. Literally, a person can own 1000 acres, have nothing on it but 5 steers, and claim the ag exemption. If the county has a true interest in increasing productivity, then it's up to them to ammend their own rules.

By the same token in that county, I can buy 15 acres, live on it, have gardens and animals that are providing food for my family and maybe some others, as well, and the county won't let me have ag, even though I might be producing far more food/goods on my 15 acres than the guy with the 1000 acres and 4 cows. Whether it's fair or not it beside the point. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[Latestarter]

Hmmm sure you don't have time to invest in politics? Much of our political everything makes little sense.