Fence law book topic of March 22 webinar

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu

AMARILLO – A new book, Five Strands: A Landowner’s Guide to Fence Law in Texas, will be the topic of a webinar at 6 p.m. March 22, hosted by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers AssociationFive Strands: A Landowner’s Guide to Fence Law in Texas.

The book was written by Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agricultural law specialist in Amarillo, and Jim Bradbury and Kyle Weldon, both with James Bradbury law firm in Austin.

“All rural and agriculture law attorneys in Texas get a lot of questions from landowners related to fence law issues,” Dowell-Lashmet said. “Whether it be liability questions, like if a cow gets hit on the highway, or neighbor relations questions when it comes to maintaining a fence, this handbook aims to answer this type of real-world questions.”

Dowell-Lashmet and Bradbury will participate in the free one-hour webinar. The webinar registration page can be accessed on http://tscra.org/events/.

“This is an excellent new resource for landowners in Texas,” according to the TSCRA website. “This interactive session will not only give you an overview of fence law in Texas, but give you an opportunity to ask questions of the experts.”

The book was released in February. 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.

“An important goal in writing this book was to create a resource that is easily usable for landowners, so we really focused on toning down the legalese and writing it in practical terms,” Dowell-Lashmet said.

The book gives landowners a background on how Texas fence laws originated, explains current laws landowners should know, and details a few common fence dispute scenarios and solutions, she said.