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skyhightree1

skyhightree1

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 9, 2009
Messages
20,595
City & State/Province
Free Rent ,VA
Enviromental protection agency paid me a visit today... told me I was doing something illegal by letting my cattle and my neighbors cattle drink out of my pond and be able to get in the water... has anyone ever heard this before ? told me i needed to fence the cattle atleast 30 feet away from the pond and also install a watering system for them. Said this was to cut down on pollution. Is this true?
 
I would check on that before getting too concerned. To my knowledge Virginia does not require that they be fenced out. It is a suggestion for streams and can be cost shared through the local Soil and Water Conservaiton District and the NRCS. Might have something to do with the Bay act if it is flowing water in a stream but if it is a pond I don't believe they can do anything.
 
And to think.... we pay these people.

Ask for them to show it to you in the rule book.

And if you really want to have some fun with them, burn some scrap tires. :D
 
Well I had dug the pond out many years ago but it was being fed by a branch to fill it up. but once it was filled up I cut off the trench i dug to supply it and havent opened it since it was filled so the branch flows the way it had before i tied into it but they make it so hard for people these days.
 
With your current "situation" in Washington these people know they had better strike now.
They need to show just how "necessary" they are.
Be careful.

Do you have a rat in the area complaining?
 
AngusLimoX":31djpil3 said:
With your current "situation" in Washington these people know they had better strike now.
They need to show just how "necessary" they are.
Be careful.

Do you have a rat in the area complaining?
Click to expand...

Yea, I found out a neighbor whos teenage son was told numerous times by us local farmers to stop riding across our soybean fields and hay fields with his atv tearing stuff up called them. We warned the parents then had him charged with 9 counts of criminal trespassing and we are suing them for damages to our fields. That is the only new person in the neighborhood that isnt a farmer and owns 1.5 acres in midst of all our farms.
 
skyhightree1":1ao323t6 said:
AngusLimoX":1ao323t6 said:
With your current "situation" in Washington these people know they had better strike now.
They need to show just how "necessary" they are.
Be careful.

Do you have a rat in the area complaining?
Click to expand...

Yea, I found out a neighbor whos teenage son was told numerous times by us local farmers to stop riding across our soybean fields and hay fields with his atv tearing stuff up called them. We warned the parents then had him charged with 9 counts of criminal trespassing and we are suing them for damages to our fields. That is the only new person in the neighborhood that isnt a farmer and owns 1.5 acres in midst of all our farms.
Click to expand...

Many different ways to deal with rats.......
 
I'd talk to the NRCS about it to find out for sure. I don't trust the EPA folks as they seem to make up regulations as they muddle their way through life.
 
For what it's worth, if you've already got a lawyer, might as well let him or her in on your little visit from the EPA "experts."

expert - (noun) a person who carries a briefcase and travels more than 50 miles to tell you how to run things on your place
 
Yes, they do seem to make up rules as they go. I havent ever heard of that. I would understand more if it was like a river or creek that flowed to the chesapeake bay watershed stuff they have going on around here. But water is coming from underground spring on my land.
 
I deal with this type of stuff quite often and have to keep up to date on the ever changing regulations concerning some of our activities. In a normal year I'm officially checked about four times and can only guess at the number of unofficial spot checks they make on us. As a whole, most of the officials are very professional but there is that rare young whipper snapper who is on a solo crusade who can make your life miserable. Facts and info is the best protection from an idiot like this. It sounds like you may have met one. BTW - his name wouldn't happen to be Robert would it?
 
skyhightree1":22zfdeie said:
it was a woman she was young like 23 or something probably.
Click to expand...

Probably not the same but could be if she called herself Roberta. I got the impression Robert was pretty light in his loafers or maybe it was just the manly ear piercings that threw me. :???:

To cover yourself you might want to get a second opinion.
 
skyhightree1":ufv2v06t said:
yes, I am doing that now and calling lawyer.
Click to expand...

Just my opinion but I wouldn't worry with the lawyer until you get some other professional opinions on the matter. My suspicion is that this will blow away and this is just the opinion of an overzealous inexperienced official who got to drive her truck by herself for the first day. Good luck with it and let us know if there are some new federal regulations that we all need to know about.
 
skyhightree1":1a9mk7kh said:
Enviromental protection agency paid me a visit today... told me I was doing something illegal by letting my cattle and my neighbors cattle drink out of my pond and be able to get in the water... has anyone ever heard this before ? told me i needed to fence the cattle atleast 30 feet away from the pond and also install a watering system for them. Said this was to cut down on pollution. Is this true?
Click to expand...

Is your pond and cattle visible from the road?
 
I think if you calmly looked at the situation it might be more cost effective to put in a waterer than to pay lawyers.

There may be more to this than meets the eye also.

I have a dam which seasonally collects water behind it. I have a concrete waterer not more than 100 ft away with some of the best well water in the world. Where do the calves especially go for a drink??? You guessed it - the almost stagnant pond water! They wade out in the middle bend down to take a drink while at the same time often dropping manure out the other end and right into the same water they are drinking. This is a real source of potential parasite infections etc.

I now run an electric wire around the pond at the dam most of the year.

If you want to pay a lawyer and complain about "the current situation in Washington" by all means go ahead. Note that "Washington" will probably pay all or most of the cost of making the change, as pointed out above.

Personally I'd put up a single wire and put in a waterer. You likely will come out ahead cost wise and cattle health wise compared to complaining and lawyers. jmho.

Jim
 
SRBeef":1bjn16f7 said:
If you want to pay a lawyer and complain about "the current situation in Washington" by all means go ahead. Note that "Washington" will probably pay all or most of the cost of making the change, as pointed out above.

Personally I'd put up a single wire and put in a waterer. You likely will come out ahead cost wise and cattle health wise compared to complaining and lawyers. jmho.
Jim
Click to expand...

Big difference between complaining and having situational awareness.

The original drafts of our clean water laws prohibited ruminants from crapping on any open ground water source. After millions spent on that draft someone, likely a farmer, pointed out that snow was actually frozen water. Back to the drawing board.
These people are not there to serve or help you.

That being said, the rest of your advice is excellent. Can't forget lepto as well if you have any deer in the area. I am doing the same thing, except I won't take a penny from the govt.
 

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