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As with every county you will want to call and check to verify what you are looking at online is, indeed what the actual requirements are per the appraisal district's mouth. The appraisal district may change chief appraiser like what recently happened in Waller County a few years back, and the rules for qualifying for an Ag Exemption may change year-to-year and especially vary county-to-county. Most appraisal districts will ask that you apply for your Ag-Exemption the year you start keeping bees, knowing it takes 5 years to obtain the exemption. The districts may as you to apply for the exemption in order to "get denied" but during that process the county obtains official records from you the landowner and inputs these documents into their system. This is key, should requirements for the Ag-Exemption change during the 5 year period or the district gets a new chief appraiser who interprets the rules differently than the previous chief appraiser and make changes to degree of intensity requirement. The degree of intensity is applied to all agriculture exemptions, this number determined by the appraisal district, states how many cows you need in a pasture, how much cotton planted in a field, and how many bee hives needed to qualify for the exemption.
Please follow the link below for the degree of intensity.
http://lavacacad.com/data/_uploaded/file/taxinfo/2020%20ag%20use%20guidelines.pdf
Lavaca County Central Appraisal District Bee Guidelines: Acreage Requirements (Set by HB 2049) A minimum of 5 acres and a maximum of 20 acres are eligible to qualify for beekeeping as an agricultural use. Degree of Intensity (Number of hives per acre) Minimum of 6 mainframe hives at 5 acres. 1 additional mainframe hive for every additional 2.5 acres. Maximum of 12mainframe hives at 20 acres. Example: A property owner has 14.5 acres being used for beekeeping. How many hives are needed to qualify? First 5 acres 6 hives Additional 7.5 acres 3 hives Remaining 2 acres 0 hives Total hives required 9 hives Additional Information Bees can be used to establish history. Hives must be maintained and kept alive. The district will grant agricultural use on the total acreage, not just the area where the hives sit on a maximum of 20 acres.
Lavaca CAD
908 N. Glendale St.
Hallettsville, TX 77964-0386
(361) 798-4396