Agricultural Valuation
Ranchers and farmers can get a big tax break through ag valuation
Land used for farming, ranching, or timber can be taxed on what it produces rather than what it would sell for, which often cuts the tax bill sharply.
Freestone County is cattle and hay country. It ranks among the top Texas counties for beef cattle numbers. If you own land used for grazing, hay, or timber, you may qualify for ag valuation. The formal name is 1-d-1 open-space appraisal. Instead of taxing your land at its market value, the appraisal district taxes it on what the land can produce. That difference can be very large in rural East Texas.
You apply once with the Freestone Central Appraisal District. The land must have been used for agriculture for at least five of the past seven years. If you later stop using the land for agriculture, you owe a rollback tax. That rollback covers the previous three years. Check the Texas Comptroller's ag-timber page for the rules. Also talk to the appraisal district about what qualifies in Freestone County.
Source to confirm: Texas Comptroller — Ag and Timber Special Appraisal