DO WE HAVE TO HAVE LIVESTOCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY?
First, it was very cool to me when I first arrived in the Bayou City back in 2001. There were farm animals in people's front yards. You could find others riding horses down busy city streets. There were roosters in the neighborhood to wake you up. But now I think I've had enough of the livestock on every corner. I was getting off of I-45 at Rankin when I noticed a field full of cows. In the middle of north Houston. Let's keep our farm animals in the country people. We keep our alligators in the swamp back home in Louisiana!
It's about the money. If you have cattle on your land, it's a "ranch," and your property tax is reduced by 90%. It's an old trick - people do that on property that they've bought to hold onto for a few years until they decide to do something else with it.
ReplyDeleteThis WAS the country till the city came calling. The land owner gets an agriculture exemption on the land use. That means lower taxes. Maybe we need to stop urban sprawl and save our farm land.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Texas Ghostrider, the city expanded into the country, that's why you see livestock.
ReplyDeleteI looks weird, but it's also kind'a cool....
A lot of folks don't know that they do not have to grage livestock to take advantage of the AG exemption.
ReplyDeleteYou can also designate it wildlife habitat for migratory species (never thought of using it for Illegal Aliens, but it might work).
Royko