Info on interstate xfer of livestock? (Houston, San Antonio: attorney, house, tornado)

[writergrrrl]

When I move from Colorado to Texas, I hope to bring some of my animals with me. I have chickens, goats, sheep, ducks, guineas, a dog and some cats. Perhaps a llama or two, or an alpaca (I spin fiber & weave).

- Where do I find what the rules are for bringing in animals?

Thank you.

[Barn Babe]

We moved here from CA just over a month ago. I got health certificates for each of my animals, but nobody ever asked for them.

[fish2026]

Hey Writergirl - what a coincidence. I am trying to start a wildlife refuge on lake corpus christi - the north end. ITs 226 acres including the lake and water borders it on 3 sides pretty much. I need to put up more fence but the vegetation is lush- and both the Ag extension agent and Tx Parks and wildlife said its the perfect location. With TX Parks and Wildlife you get a mixed bag- the local jerk in Rockport actually tried to take our ( my two kids live with me) pet possum Alex from us. Lucky Im an attorney and told him he can stuff his "Fur Bearing Species Act" you know where. We didnt save Alex as a sick baby whos mom died so we could kill him and sell his fur (dumbass). The women who would have prosecuted the case was invited to my sons party and we made sure she got to hold Alex and pet him all she wanted.

Anyway writergirl if you help with the fence and a bit of clearing- youre welcome to leave some animals here.

As far as the Amarillo area ( a previous post) you cant do that to a pet if you love him. When I stayed in Hereford there were 17,000 rednecks and 656,000 cows penned around the town all downwind. At any given time 42,354 cows would be going to the bathroom and Im sure it was like perfume to the locals,however I got out QUICKLY. LOL

Steve

[writergrrrl]

Steve, thanks for the offer - now, if your wildlife refuge was just a TEENY bit closer to Amarillo, I'd come help build fences :-) But looks like 500 or more miles away, as the crow flies ...

A possum pal?! How fun! I've never seen one up close, and certainly not got to hold one. I did have a baby bear in my living room last winter though .. Nope, didn't even TRY to pet that one!

Best of luck with the refuge. The critters need people like you, more so than all those idiots trying to pave over everything and build bajillions more chain stores. Does this country REALLY need another Wal-mart??

[fish2026]

Looks like Im going to have to do some clearing and the lake levels are up because of the rain- so that puts a damper ( no pun) on some excavation work I was hoping for.

Why may I ask, are you committed to the Amarillo area? If you invested a couple of weeks driving around the state I'm quite sure you'd change your mind.

[writergrrrl]

Originally Posted by fish2026

Why may I ask, are you committed to the Amarillo area? If you invested a couple of weeks driving around the state I'm quite sure you'd change your mind.

I'm sure there are lots of wonderful towns around the state. I remember Austin 30 years ago, it was lovely. But for sure it's too crowded now!

I want to be in the panhandle area partly because I don't want to be near the gulf where it's so humid (I've been to Houston & Corpus Christi before, didn't like the humidity), I don't want to live in the main "tornado alley" section, and I really like being off the beaten track (to a certain extent). I'm not anti-social, just tired of living close to people. Amarillo is large enough to provide the goods and services I want, but it's not a major metropolitan area. And I can afford more land in less populated, less popular areas. I don't have any desire to go back to living on a postage-stamp sized plot with neighbors crowding me on all sides.

[fish2026]

There were some USDA auctions for land in the lubbock area - seems the land went for about 300 per acre. There are large tracts available on the Texas Oklahoma border -maybe 800 an acre with trees etc. This is one of my hobbies by the way. Do you know where the cheapest farmland is? Manitoba Sask etx where you can get 1000 acres and a fairly nice house for about $300. Remember the land in the panhandle is not near as productive as in most other places and youll probably need irrigation. In a sense you get what you pay for.

Another option for cheap land would be in the McMullan County area. Its certainly more humid than Amarillo but not near as much as the coast- yet its only a couple of hrs from the coast. Further west like Kinney County the land becomes more arid and cheap yet its still not far from San Antonio. Also the west portions of the hill country are inexpensive yet not as far away from civilization. One good thing ( I guess ) about the panhandle is that its losing population pretty rapidly - not many younger people want to live there. That makes land and housing cheap.

IF you do a search for Texas State Data Center- you can see all this.