WilCo man fights for 80 cattle seized from Liberty Hill property

Wednesday, legal teams discussed what will happen with the more than 50 cattle seized in late July. This comes after Williamson County deputies reported finding a cow boneyard on a rancher's land in Liberty Hill.

Deputy Johnathan Kidwell said it’s normal to find a boneyard on a ranchre’s land but not one of this size.

"What's alarming is typically when you see that bone pile and you see the volume of it," Kidwell said.

The Williamson County Livestock unit received a call about dead cows and found nine head of cattle, one cow trapped under a barbed wire fence and numerous other cattle emaciated. However, despite the way law enforcement depicted the cows, the property owner Howard Coursey’s attorney Austin Shell argues the animals were not neglected.

"Mr. Coursey's position is that they had feed they had hay and they were not emaciated as alleged by the law enforcement," said Shell.

Kidwell said it's rare to execute a search and seizure normally they give folks a warning. However, Defense Attorney Austin Shell said Coursey considered the $100-thousand dollar cattle his pets among other animals he owned.

"He has horses that law enforcement left at home and have not been seized so he has horses and dogs and now he's missing a large part of his family which are the 83 cows," Shell said.

A trial date has been set for august 20th, until then the animals are being kept in Milan County where they are undergoing treatment. On-going cruelty to live-stock charges against Coursey are still pending.