PlaceDossier / Questions
Do I have to fence out cattle in BC?
Cattle graze Crown land across much of the Interior under Range Act tenures, and they don't stop at a lot line. A report lists the grazing and hay cutting tenures within 1 km of the lot line on the Ministry of Forests' map, with the animal unit months each allows.
The Ministry of Forests maps 1,393 active Crown range tenures reaching into 126 places: 1,317 for grazing, licensed for about 789,187 animal unit months a year, and 76 for cutting hay, read 2026-10-07; a report lists every one within 1 km of a lot. The places, by name.
The report opens at this answer, with the lot drawn on the map and every other check alongside. A PID (on the tax notice or title) always finds the lot; an address works when it's an exact match.
What the answer means
- Open range
- Most of the Interior is open range: outside a pound district, the Livestock Act (s. 11 (4)) bars a claim for trespass when livestock strays onto land that isn't fenced, so keeping cattle off the lot is the owner's fence to build, and livestock on fenced land may be captured (s. 8).
- Pound districts
- Pound districts are set by regulation and aren't on an open map: ask the regional district whether the lot is in one.
- What the map shows
- Range tenures let a rancher graze livestock or cut hay on Crown land under the Range Act; they cover Crown land only, so one drawn over a titled lot gives no right to graze it (our reading). Under the Range Act an animal unit month is 450 kg of forage (dry matter), what an average cow with her unweaned calf eats in a month.
- Who to ask
- The regional district, about a pound district and any fencing or animal control bylaw; the Ministry of Forests' natural resource district, about the range tenures nearby and who to talk to about cattle and fences; the seller and neighbours, about where cattle come through and the state of the fences.
Our summary of the Livestock Act, ss. 8 and 11, read on BC Laws 2026-10-07. A tenure's mapped boundary is drawn over a whole range and can take in titled lots, which it gives no right to graze. Confirm with the regional district and the natural resource district before you buy or build.
Source: Range Tenure Polygons, Ministry of Forests (Open Government Licence – British Columbia); Livestock Act, RSBC 1996, c. 270, ss. 8 and 11 (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07).
By place
The active Crown range tenures on the Ministry of Forests' map in 126 places, listed by name: how many reach into each, the grazing they allow and how much of the place lies inside one.
From the Ministry of Forests' Range Tenure Polygons, read 2026-10-07: active grazing and hay cutting licences and permits under the Range Act. Areas are measured by us on the 2021 census boundaries. A tenure reaching into several places is listed in each, with all its animal unit months, so a place's figure can include grazing on its neighbours' land; overlapping tenures are counted once in the share. Under the Range Act an animal unit month is 450 kg of forage (dry matter), what an average cow with her unweaned calf eats in a month. A tenure covers Crown land only, though its mapped boundary can take in titled lots.
See also logging and Crown land use near a property, property lines and the farmland reserve.
Buying rural land? Before you buy rural land in BC: the nine questions that decide an offer, on one printable page.