Cass County, MO Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)

Section 400.030(A)(23)(o)(2) of the Zoning Order is the county's only fence-material restriction: 'Electric fences shall be permitted on lots of three (3) acres or greater in size and must conform to Building Codes standards regarding electrical usages.' Read together with the height rule in the same subsection, that means a typical suburban residential lot under three acres cannot have an electric fence at all, while agricultural and larger rural-residential parcels, common across unincorporated Cass County's A, R-R and R-S districts, can use one if it also satisfies the electrical standards the County Building Codes Department enforces under Chapter 500.

The Zoning Order does not separately prohibit barbed wire, chain link, or other fencing materials for residential use; the acreage threshold applies specifically to electrified fencing, which is the material category the code singles out for its own standard. Any fence, including an electric one, still has to respect the eight-foot height cap and the setback placement rules of Section 400.030(A)(23)(o) that apply to fences generally. Because the electric-fence rule sits inside the same Zoning Order provisions as height and placement, enforcement follows the same path: the Zoning Enforcement Officer issues notice of a violation, the owner has ten days to correct it or apply for a Compliance Action Plan, and an uncorrected violation is referred to Circuit Court, where conviction is a misdemeanor with fines up to $1,000 per day under Section 400.030(A)(22)(e).