bad neighbor

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rblack21

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Dec 29, 2013
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City & State/Province
SW missouri
I share 1200' of fence line with a neighbor that has 70 head of cattle on about 35 acres of pasture. This 1200' is in an area with about 10 acres of pasture and 10 acres of woods. They are usually in this section. most of the summer and fall. I'm constantly fixing fence. Have given up on running cows on my 15 acres that adjoins it and just use it for hay. Got into a heated argument the other day. When I called the lady who owns it and told her the fence was about pushed over and her cows where fixing to be in my hay pasture that has not been cut yet. I'm sure someone in this forum has similar problems how do I resolve this. I could spend the money build new fence but its so overgrazed it wouldn't last. They don't care if cows or calves get in. They don't see a problem with the amount of cows they have, and think I should be helping them fix fence. Any ideas.
 
First off is the fence truly on your side their side or right on the line. If its on their side and you add fencing technically you are trespassing and if they dont like you or their is bad blood problems will ensue. Whenever I buy land their is always some kind of boundary issue because someone said their great grandpappy said property line is on the 3rd tree from the furthers most west corner bs I say that to say this on all my land I put the fence 1 foot off the property line so that I can do whatever I want to with the fence and wooded lines I clear enough that I can drive around it. I have a bunch of lawyer letters that I had to send to people over the years on land that I have purchased its a P.I.T.A. What type of fence is up now?
 
5 strands of barb wire. I could put up solar electric fence. The pesser of that is I would have to buy install and maintain it.
 
Run new fence. 1200' x $2.50 per foot is $3000. If your not in rock, probably done cheaper. I would do 6 line. Then sit back and quit worrying about it. Life is to short for that. Some people are just a$$holes. Besides that some day the place might come up for sale.
 
guy i leased land from once told me if i didnt want his cows using what i was paying for to fence em off..that sure stuck with me..he was a real pos then but has since turnd out to be an ok guy..i fenced it nd still use it
 
I had the same problem a few months back. My neighbor was the owner of the fence, I told him we can go halves and repair the fence. A-hole told me to go to he!!. I ran two hotwire strands about 8" away from his fence and haven't had much problems other than him still being an a-hole. Says he doesn't like his animals getting shocked. You can probably guess what I told him!
 
If you can get good anchors built and it's a straight stretch of fence, I really like high tensile.. 6 strands of that, a couple of them hot, will keep 99% of cows out for a good long time, and it's much easier to retighten than barbed... cows give 2 sh!ts about barbs.. it just tickles that itch.. certainly doesn't bother them any.. only cuts you up good!

If you put up a fence on your property, then they have nothing to say about it, which is the way it should be.
 
Write a letter requesting that he keeps his cow off your place. Make a copy of it, send it registered. Give copy to sheriff, then call sheriff when they are on your place
 
A friend of mine has the same issue with goats next door. He had filed a complaint or 2 with the sheriff's office the third time they got in his hay pasture and hay barn. they asked how much he estimated they had ate and made the guy pay him for the damages.
 
I assume your State has a fencing law. In Missouri a county may opt to implement the law in one of two ways. You need to find out what the law is first. You can get that information from the University Extension Center in your County. When dealing with an uncooperative neighbor, the first thing to do is schedule a visit with the County Sheriff and get his advice. Find out the proper way to handle trespassing livestock. Ask the Sheriff to visit with the neighbor, assuming you have already burned your bridges with the neighbor. The Sheriff should tell the neighbor that you are going to respond with the appropriate legal action the next time his cattle are on your property. That might mean a roundup and sale, a claim against the neighbor's liability insurance, a lawsuit, etc. If the neighbor does not respond proactively after that, you will have to follow through.

In my experience, neighbors considered the right half of the fence when standing on your property looking at the boundary was their responsibility. The left half was the neighbor's, unless it was spelled out differently by contract. In present times much of the land is getting bought by outside investors, who care nothing for fences and feel no responsibility to maintain them. When the neighbor's fence is poor, I use a single strand of high tensile hot wire to keep my cattle home.
 
NWMoAngus":1b6r14uv said:
I assume your State has a fencing law. In Missouri a county may opt to implement the law in one of two ways. You need to find out what the law is first. You can get that information from the University Extension Center in your County. When dealing with an uncooperative neighbor, the first thing to do is schedule a visit with the County Sheriff and get his advice. Find out the proper way to handle trespassing livestock. Ask the Sheriff to visit with the neighbor, assuming you have already burned your bridges with the neighbor. The Sheriff should tell the neighbor that you are going to respond with the appropriate legal action the next time his cattle are on your property. That might mean a roundup and sale, a claim against the neighbor's liability insurance, a lawsuit, etc. If the neighbor does not respond proactively after that, you will have to follow through.

In my experience, neighbors considered the right half of the fence when standing on your property looking at the boundary was their responsibility. The left half was the neighbor's, unless it was spelled out differently by contract. In present times much of the land is getting bought by outside investors, who care nothing for fences and feel no responsibility to maintain them. When the neighbor's fence is poor, I use a single strand of high tensile hot wire to keep my cattle home.
Click to expand...
The left right deal is what MO passed a couple of years ago so that it was consistant through out the state.
 
We have a guy that borders us who runs longhorns. We could not keep them off our place. He's always run scraggly bulls too and it was a constant struggle keeping them out. Luckily the guy got tired of us calling and invested in fence materials if we installed it. He bought 48 in cattle fencing. The cows worked hard to get through that and we eventually had to add a strand of barbed wire on top to keep them from trying.
Most times when my husband gets with a person whose land borders ours, he can talk them into buying the supplies if he installs it. Where we have the most problems are the owners who lease out the land.
 
Same here. Never had problems getting owner of adjoining property paying for half the price to replace it. Good investment for both of us.
 
After you get your hay cut and removed, wait until the cattle get in and then open a way for them to keep on going. When you call your neighbor and let them know their cattle were on your field and are now headed down the road they might get motivated to solve the problem! And keep doing it until the problem is solved.
 

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