Bee Ag Exemption in Grayson County

What Grayson CAD requires

Grayson Central Appraisal District publishes its beekeeping standard in its Beekeeping Annual Report. The minimum is six colonies on five acres, then one more hive for each additional two and a half acres, up to twenty acres. The district's own example is 16.3 acres, which needs ten hives.

The bees have to be alive, maintained, active, producing, and on the land receiving the valuation. The district's guidelines also say land must be in active agricultural use for the bulk of the calendar year, which rules out hives that only visit in the spring.

Grayson Central Appraisal District beekeeping standard. A remainder under 2.5 acres does not add a hive.

What the valuation is worth here

Grayson values beekeeping land at its dry cropland productivity value. In the Texas Comptroller's 2024 study, Grayson reported that value at $147.52 an acre in Sherman ISD.

For 2026, the Sherman ISD, Grayson County and Grayson College rates add up to about 1.64% of value, so every $10,000 of market value on unincorporated land costs about $164 a year. Ten acres valued at the ag rate come to about $1,475 of taxable value, or roughly $24 a year. Check your own parcel's appraisal and taxing units for the real figure.

The paperwork, and how we help with it

The application is the 1-d-1 agricultural appraisal packet, plus the district's Beekeeping Annual Report. Grayson accepts agricultural applications in person or by mail only, at 512 N. Travis Street in Sherman, and the deadline is midnight April 30.

The report asks when the bees were received, who manages them, whether you use a third-party beekeeper, and how the colonies are kept: requeening, Africanized bee prevention, fire ants, winter care, disease control and expected honey. It accepts receipts, written agreements with the beekeeper and recently dated photos as evidence. We supply all three and go through the questions with you.

If the district asks for more information, you have 30 days to provide it. On the 31st day the application is treated as denied, so do not let a request sit.

Which Grayson County land fits best

Acreage already under agricultural valuation for hay or cattle is the strongest case: switch the use to bees, tell the district in writing before May 1, and the valuation carries on. A recent buyer of land that had the valuation needs to file a new application by April 30, and bees are a straightforward way to keep it.

Land with no farming history has to build five years of agricultural use first, and inside city limits the district wants those five years continuous. It is still worth starting, just with clear expectations. Grayson also allows wildlife management valuation on land already under ag valuation, with a 12.5 acre minimum, which is a separate conversation with the district.

Other counties

Land over the county line? See the Collin County and Fannin County guides, or how bee ag valuation works in North Texas.