Hearing held on herd district expansion

The Hill County Commission Wednesday held a hearing to gather opinions on a proposed expansion of Herd District 12 near the the northern border, an expansion that has yet to draw any protest, including at the hearing.

Herd districts allow landowners in an are a shift the legal responsibility of fencing out other people’s livestock to the owners of said livestock.

Under normal circumstances it’s a land owner’s responsibility to set up fences to keep herd animals off of their land if they do not want them there, but in a herd district it becomes the herd owner’s responsibility to fence their animals in and keep them off areas owned by others.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said he sees no reason that this expansion, which will be done by annexing more territory into the district, shouldn’t be approved considering they’ve only had one person even inquire about it and they’ve not had anyone protest it.

Gerald Bohn of G & D Farms Inc., one of the people who petitioned for the annexation, asked how landowners would go about dealing with people who refuse to put up fences to keep their animals fenced in after the district takes affect.

Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong said that is a legal question she doesn’t have an answer to, recommending they speak to the county attorney.

The commissioners said they would vote on an ordinance to approve the expansion at today’s business meeting, and should it be approved it will go into effect June 1 of this year.