neighbors rudeness/cows (Craig, Delta: lease, home, inspector)

[freefeed]

My neighbors cows are always out on my land. he drives his truck across it to round them up 15 of them.It seems he does it on purpose . He has plenty of land of his own . My land is not fenced in but what bugs me is he never came over to ask if he could run his cows on my land drive his pickup on my land nothing. I dont call my self a cidiot but i would call this so called cowboy rude old country boy a few choice words . So is there any thing i could do to stop his total rudeness and disregard for others people property.

[delta07]

Colorado is a fence out state, meaning that if you wish to keep livestock off your property, you have to put up the fence. I imagine the cows end up on your land on their own. Doubtful he is purposely running them onto your land. The grass is probably greener. If you want them off your land, build a fence. That's the law.

[gmm_24]

Delta is correct, Colorado is "open range" and you have to keep them out. Horses and mules are not allowed to roam, but cows, sheep, goats and etc are.

Thankfully it is easier to fence out cows, they may push against the fence but they do not go over or under, two strands of wire should keep them out. Just the property line so they cannot get to your place. You may be able to find fence materials for less on Craig's.

If you cannot fence at this time or anytime soon, I would tell him to not drive on my property, that is trespassing and would annoy me.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by gmm_24

Delta is correct, Colorado is "open range" and you have to keep them out. Horses and mules are not allowed to roam, but cows, sheep, goats and etc are.

Thankfully it is easier to fence out cows, they may push against the fence but they do not go over or under, two strands of wire should keep them out. Just the property line so they cannot get to your place. You may be able to find fence materials for less on Craig's.

Those must be pretty mellow tame cows that you're fencing in with 2-strands. I've got several that don't bat an eyelash at 4 or 5 strands of barb wire and an electric hot wire at shoulder level. One steer is able to jump this type of fencing and we've had to pick him up more than several miles away where he jumped several more fences. As well, a cow or calf may lay down close to a fence and roll around a bit as they wake up, so they can find themselves through the fence without intending to do so. Put a calf on the wrong side and watch momma' cow want to hook up with it, fence or no fence; in short, cows can and do go over or under wire fences all the time. FWIW, two strands of wire doesn't constitute a "legal" fence, which is what you need to construct to have the legal right to a feeder's lien on your neighbor's cattle on your property. Check with you local brand inspector for what is a "legal" fence and what rights (and responsibilities) you may have to detain cows that are feeding on your property behind a legal fence.

If you cannot fence at this time or anytime soon, I would tell him to not drive on my property, that is trespassing and would annoy me.

If the cattle are on your property without the "legal" fence, your neighbor has the right and responsibility to come round them up by appropriate means. If a pick-up truck (or horse, or ATV or foot) is appropriate, then he'll be doing that. You could ask him to stay on established trails or roads on your place, but that doesn't obligate him to do so.

You might ask him to help (financially and/or labor) to erect a satisfactory fence to protect your property from the intrusion of his cattle and his driving on it. It's a common practice in the west to split the cost 50-50. But if he doesn't agree to this and you want his cattle off your land, you'll have to build that fence yourself, and I would then post your land. But keep in mind that the cows can't read property lines and may have already acclimated themselves to knowing that the better grass is on your place. I've watched more than one cow "work" a fence until a couple strands broke and then she wandered onto the other side. Consider, too, that you may have to fence out more than just the adjacent land as the cows may be able to escape and wander back to your place via a less direct path. Your neighbor isn't responsible for the fence except on the mutual property line, so the rest of it is all yours. Again, I've watched cows figure out the escape path on the land they are kept and head down a road frontage to an adjacent pasture where it was good eating ....

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

... I've watched cows figure out the escape path on the land they are kept and head down a road ...where it was good eating ....

Yes... the HABIT thiing is much harder to break with animals... THEY seem to have a real good memory when it comes to good eat'n.

MUCH harder to keep them out, once they have aquired a taste for your place.

Maybe you could just work out a 'trade' for some steaks. Or get a good cow dog.

[debbie at bouontiful]

I had to get rid of a bull once because I guess he preferred the girls about a mile away and after bringin him home for the 10th time we just got rid of him. He would jump fences! Sorry, about that but fences is the only thing possible and better be good fencing.

[Mike from back east]

Would it help if that neighbor graced you with a side of beef every year? Looking for the win-win and silver lining here....

[davidv]

You might try orange snow fencing. Of course, it is not strong enough to keep cows out, but it is not too expensive, and it might provide a suitable visual barrier to the cattle.

If they push on it, it's toast.

[oldtrader]

As someone that grew up on a ranch where we ran cattle on 100,000 acres plus of leased cut over timberland plus the home ranch, I am familiar with the problem you have.

You are responsible to keep them off your property by law as stated. If you allow the rancher to run cattle on you place by not fencing, you also must allow him the means to round up his cattle which is using his pickup. We had small ranch owners, who even put gates into our property so they could let their animals graze on our ranch. I had to go over, and put barb wire over the gate opening to stop this and we notified the neighbor if he cut our fence to let the cattle through we would just call the sheriff and charge him with trespassing to stop it.

It is your responsibility as it was ours, to fence your property to keep those cattle out, so you really have nothing to complain about till you do it. He is following the law, and you have to do the same.

The cheapest fence is an electric fence with 3 wires, set to give a strong shock (a good one is adjustable). Today you can get them with solar charger for the battery, so you do not even have to run an electric line to the charger or to keep changing batteries. You may want to run more than 3 wires where there has been a regularly used trail through your property. corner posts need to be stronger, but you can use cheap drive posts for the other posts saving a lot of money over what is required for other types of fences.

[CAVA1990]

Here's some good but succinct information on the topic:

http://www.sangres.com/rurallife/legals/conflict.htm

About Fences

Why not try to build a rapport with him? Maybe strike up a conversation and joke about how he needs to train those bovines better. You may actually learn some things from him more valuable than anything you're losing to his wandering herd.