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Prairie View A&M expands extension services to Caldwell County; commissioners approve feral‑hog trap budget amendment
Summary
Prairie View A&M Cooperative Extension staff introduced expanded services for Caldwell County, including a feral‑hog trap lease program; the court approved a $1,283.92 budget amendment to cover existing trap-related costs and ended related software subscriptions pending further arrangements.
Prairie View A&M Cooperative Extension representatives on Jan. 14 told the Caldwell County Commissioners Court they are expanding services to the county without requiring new local office space or additional county funding, and they described plans that include agricultural economics programming, urban agriculture training and a feral‑hog trap lease program.
Wayne Morris, Caldwell County Extension Agent, introduced Prairie View staff. Ashley James, a Prairie View program leader, told the court that Prairie View’s state match expansion allows the university’s extension staff to serve additional counties while leveraging existing staff resources. James said the extension has a state‑mandated focus on limited‑resource and historically underserved farmers, ranchers and families, and that program services are open to all producers.
Peter Habuela (Prairie View) described his background in agricultural economics and extension and said Prairie View had procured seven new feral‑hog traps and requested one trap be made available for Caldwell County use as part of a trap lease program.
Separately, the court approved a budget amendment (Budget Amendment No. 4) moving $1,283.92 from contingency (00165104860) to a miscellaneous feral hog account (0011004850) to cover invoices related to existing traps and to terminate an ongoing software subscription tied to traps. County staff said the traps were holdovers from earlier feral‑hog programs and that Mr. Ramirez (contractor) currently holds the traps. The judge said he would pursue arrangements with the trap holder and Prairie View to continue local services rather than auctioning the traps.
Commissioner Westmoreland moved to approve the budget amendment; Commissioner Horn seconded. The court approved the amendment unanimously. County staff said further options include coordinating trap operations with the Ag Extension or Prairie View and clarifying whether to retain, repurpose, or auction equipment.
No policy or program changes beyond the budget amendment were approved at the Jan. 14 meeting; staff will pursue arrangements to operationalize the trap program and present options to the court if further county action is needed.
