Guides · Updated August 2026
What feral hog damage costs Texas landowners
USDA estimates feral hogs cause $3.4 billion in damage to U.S. farms and ranches every year, with Texas accounting for an estimated $871 million of that total.
A separate 2025 study from the American Farm Bureau Federation and Texas Farm Bureau put Texas feral hog damage closer to $1.6 billion. The range reflects different methodologies and years, not a contradiction to resolve.
Why the estimates vary
Feral hog damage estimates come from different methods. Crop-loss surveys, insurance claims data, and extrapolated per-acre damage models each capture a different slice of the real cost.
That real cost includes crop loss, fencing repair, pasture rehabilitation, disease risk to livestock, and road-collision damage. None of these methods counts every dollar — each under- or over-counts somewhere.
That's why credible estimates for Texas alone range from roughly $871 million to $1.6 billion, depending on the source and year.
What's actually in that number
- Crop and pasture damage: rooting through planted fields and pastureland, sometimes across dozens of acres per incident.
- Fencing: hog-proof fencing costs meaningfully more to install and maintain than standard livestock fencing, according to landowners tracking the expense directly.
- Water and livestock risk: wallowing contaminates limited water sources, and feral hogs carry disease risks relevant to livestock health.
Why this scale matters for documentation, not just awareness
A national or state figure this size explains why cost-share and damage-management programs exist at all. It doesn't get an individual landowner a dollar back.
Programs that offer cost-share support for feral hog damage management ask for dated, located evidence of the damage on a specific property. A reference to the national total isn't enough.
Those population-level figures aren't a prediction for what any one property will lose this year. What matters at the property level is dated, located proof of the damage as it happens.
Building that record from the cameras you already run
Rooting and wallow damage shows up on trail-camera photos before it shows up on a spreadsheet — if you can tell which frames actually document it. HogSight reads the sounder working your land, dated and sorted by camera.
See how HogSight reads your camera roll →
Go further
This guide is informational. Hunting and wildlife regulations change and vary by state and county — always verify current rules with your state wildlife agency (in Texas: TPWD) before acting. Content drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by the publisher before publication.