If you're fencing acreage or running cattle, horses or goats around Amarillo, Canyon or anywhere in the Panhandle, the law on who has to fence what is older and stranger than most people expect. Here is a plain-English summary drawn from Texas A&M AgriLife's Five Strands landowner guide and Chapter 143 of the Texas Agriculture Code. It isn't legal advice; for a dispute, talk to a Texas attorney.
Texas starts as open range
Under Texas common law, livestock owners are not required to fence their animals in. In an open range area, a landowner who wants to keep other people's livestock off their land has to fence them out. Five Strands notes the Texas Supreme Court has reaffirmed that rule as recently as 1999.
Two things change that and make an area closed range, where owners must keep their animals in:
- Local stock laws. Texas lets voters adopt a stock law by local election, for a whole county or only part of one (for example, certain precincts). Each stock law names the species it covers, so an area can be closed range for horses but open range for cattle.
- U.S. and state highways. Land along U.S. and state highways is always treated as closed range. Agriculture Code § 143.102 says a person responsible for a horse, mule, donkey, cow, bull, steer, hog, sheep or goat may not knowingly permit it to roam at large, unattended, on a highway right-of-way. Numbered farm-to-market and ranch roads don't count as highways for this rule, so they stay open range unless a local stock law covers them.
Is Potter or Randall County open range?
There's no reliable statewide list. Five Strands says many stock-law elections happened between 1910 and 1930, and the records often sit in old commissioners court minutes. Its advice is to ask the county sheriff's office, the county attorney, the county Extension agent, or the county clerk (who can search election records). Ask which species the stock law covers and whether it applies to your precinct, not only the county as a whole. We haven't verified the status of any Panhandle county ourselves, so check before you rely on it.
What counts as a "sufficient fence"
In an open range area, Agriculture Code § 143.028 sets the standard a fence must meet before a landowner can recover crop or property damage from the owner of animals that get in anyway. The fence must be at least 4 feet high, and:
- a barbed wire fence needs three wires on posts no more than 30 feet apart, with one or more stays between every two posts;
- a picket fence needs pickets no more than 6 inches apart;
- a board fence needs three boards at least 5 inches wide and 1 inch thick;
- a rail fence needs four rails.
Five Strands stresses that this standard applies only in open range areas, where fences keep animals out. It isn't the test in closed range areas or for highway accidents. In practice, ranch fences built for cattle around Amarillo are usually much stouter than this legal minimum, especially at corners, gates and along highways.
Fences along a highway
If you keep livestock on land that fronts a U.S. or state highway, keeping them off the road is your responsibility, which in practice means a well-maintained fence and gates. The standard is "knowingly permit": courts have looked at things like known weak spots in a fence, earlier escapes, and whether the owner inspected the fence. A locked, chained gate and no history of escapes helped one owner in a case Five Strands describes. If you don't keep livestock, there's no separate duty to fence the highway frontage.
Shared boundary fences
A Texas landowner has no legal duty to share the cost of a boundary fence a neighbor builds, unless they agreed to. Five Strands recommends putting any agreement in writing, keeping a copy each, and recording it in the county deed records. A 1981 statute also says you can't remove a jointly owned dividing fence without consent, and requires 6 months' written notice before removing a fence attached to someone else's. Start any boundary fence with a survey. See our neighbor fence law guide for the residential side.
Stray livestock on your land
Under Chapter 142 of the Agriculture Code, if you find stray livestock and don't know the owner, report them to the county sheriff as soon as reasonably possible. Keeping or disposing of strays outside that procedure can be treated as theft. A 2019 Attorney General opinion cited in Five Strands says the estray law applies in every county, open range or not.
Oil and gas sites
Much of the Panhandle has oil and gas operations. Five Strands notes that, absent a lease clause, operators generally have no legal duty to fence their sites to protect a surface owner's livestock, so the lease or a direct agreement with the operator is the place to require it.
Planning a ranch or pipe fence
Before you ask for quotes, know which animals the fence has to hold, how much of it fronts a highway, where the survey puts the boundary, and where the gates go. Pipe fence, barbed wire and field fence each suit different stock and budgets; our material comparison covers the trade-offs, and building for Panhandle wind covers posts and bracing. Setting posts means digging, so call 811 first.
Getting a quote
This site is a free referral service, not a fence company. If you send a request and choose "Pipe, Ranch & Metal Fences", we pass it to one independent local fence contractor, who looks at the property and quotes you directly.
General information only, not legal or engineering advice. Rules change, so confirm with the agency linked below or a licensed professional before you start work.
Sources
- Texas A&M AgriLife: Five Strands, A Landowner's Guide to Fence Law in Texas
- Texas Agriculture Code ch. 143 (Fences; Range Restrictions)
- Texas State Law Library: Fences & Boundaries (Neighbor Law guide)
Last reviewed: October 2026.
Related: Pipe, ranch & metal fences · Fence material comparison · Neighbor fence law · All guides