jcummins
Well-known member
We started a cattle operation last year. We also was lucky enough to find a decent piece of property, that is just pasture, no buildings. This property is a little ways from our resident, so we don't see the cattle every day, nor every week. But we have many good neighbors that keep a watch on things….except one.
We learned early on that just about everybody has had a run in with this guy. His place is very trashy, and he's obviously one that is going to bend the rules to the limit. And this is the problem. Let me say first, I'm not even in Texas at the moment, so I have not seen this first hand. Nor has my son-in-law who is part of our operation, and who called me about the situation we just learned about.
What we learned. Some of the cows on our place and a very good bull belong to a friend of ours that has them on our place over the winter. This friend was there today and found neighbors cows in our pasture, not sure how many. But also the bull was penned with one of the neighbors cows separate from the rest…and they had no water to boot. Appears, this neighbor is using the bull to service his cows. This friend walked the fence…there are no breaks. There is a gate, and it was closed. This means to us this was intentional, not accidental.
First reaction…is probably like anybody's would be, but I don't want to go to jail over this, he's not worth my jail time. After giving a little pause and thinking about it, several ideas come to mind. We obviously have to personally size up the details before anything else. I've already told my son-in-law, get somebody, other neighbors etc….to personally see this, before getting these cows off our place. I know there is allot of experience on the forum. What would you do? What are our legal options? How much of a hurt can I put on this …less than honorable neighbor over this?
We learned early on that just about everybody has had a run in with this guy. His place is very trashy, and he's obviously one that is going to bend the rules to the limit. And this is the problem. Let me say first, I'm not even in Texas at the moment, so I have not seen this first hand. Nor has my son-in-law who is part of our operation, and who called me about the situation we just learned about.
What we learned. Some of the cows on our place and a very good bull belong to a friend of ours that has them on our place over the winter. This friend was there today and found neighbors cows in our pasture, not sure how many. But also the bull was penned with one of the neighbors cows separate from the rest…and they had no water to boot. Appears, this neighbor is using the bull to service his cows. This friend walked the fence…there are no breaks. There is a gate, and it was closed. This means to us this was intentional, not accidental.
First reaction…is probably like anybody's would be, but I don't want to go to jail over this, he's not worth my jail time. After giving a little pause and thinking about it, several ideas come to mind. We obviously have to personally size up the details before anything else. I've already told my son-in-law, get somebody, other neighbors etc….to personally see this, before getting these cows off our place. I know there is allot of experience on the forum. What would you do? What are our legal options? How much of a hurt can I put on this …less than honorable neighbor over this?