Neighbor's cattle in yard

[ultrarunner]

Hot wire works well in Alpine countries…

Not expensive compared to other alternatives.

One day my brother wakes up and finds a happy herd of cattle on his back 40 and sends me pictures.

The cattle escaped from parkland where they do fire suppression but some don’t like and cut fences to make problems.

My brother called the rancher and he came right over with a quad and my brother saddled up and moved the cattle back.

Rancher fixed the breach in the fence but said it’s an ongoing problem…

 

[Hay Dude]

I am a township supervisor. We have a complaint from a resident whose yard keeps getting messed up by cattle from the beef farm across the road. We're not talking about a large farmer, about 20 beef cows and their calves. I've checked his fences and from what I can see without going on his property, they are very good meeting fence guidelines. That the cattle get out is no question. The resident complaining has called the county sheriff about it. The deputy who visited agreed, cattle from the neighbor, but there is nothing the sheriff's department can do about it. A little more about this farmer - he is in his upper 50s and lost his main job as an equipment operator due to a DUI. Last planting season, I was driving down the county road past his place and saw him lying in the middle of the road arms and legs flailing. His tractor was in the ditch alongside. I stopped to go help and he told me he was okay, go on. He had a 12 pack of beer in one had and a single can in the other, had fallen off the tractor which stalled in the ditch, and was trying to get up. Needless to say he has a bad drinking problem. My suspicion is he forgets to close gates when he feeds his cattle. The cattle go out across the road where although mid-winter, we still have no snow and the standing second crop is much better than the hay this cattleman is trying to feed them. Has anyone run into something like this before? The home owner (who also owns the hayfields around her house) has talked to the owners wife several times and has been told that that's the way it is. Does anybody have any suggestions?

He needs an intervention from his loved ones with a writ from the supervisors warning him that he will be fined or sued if he does not keep his cattle contained.

My neighbors cattle (and mine) have been in my front yard maybe 3 times in 15 years.
It’s always because kids let them out at night to be punks.

 

[Langanobob]

Depends on where you live. Here in Nevada the law states that if you want to keep livestock off your property then YOU need to put up a fence. One of the first things I had to do when I bought my place because I had cattle all around. Other people have problems with the "wild" horses:
View attachment 837965

We are probably neighbors. Years ago some of the Callahan’s cows would get loose and visit our garden, not very often though. Same case here, it is or was open range and my job to keep the cows out. I never complained and it didn’t happen often enough to be a problem. The old ranch area is now mostly a housing tract. I preferred the cows.

 

[John0829]

We had an issue with cattle about a year ago. Woke up one morning with 13 head roaming around our pasture. What used to be pasture before we took all the fences down after the last horse died to make mowing easier. Tried to locate the owner but after them roaming over the fields (mine and my neighbors) for a little over a week and with no one acknowledging ownership the county animal control, which we had tried to get involved, finally told a farmer he could have them if he would get them up.

What really PO'd me was I was the only one during that whole time they were roaming around doing anything. Animal Control never showed up, their involvement was all over the phone. Claimed they were to covered up since there were only two people that worked there. I was mainly keeping them off the road to prevent an accident since people drive the narrow, hilly, curvy county road like it is a race track. It is not unusual to see a car or truck pass doing 50 or 60 on a road barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other. Plus a black cow on the road at night...

I also wanted someone to pay for the damages the cattle did to my buildings.

Someone lost quite a bit of money and apparently didn't care although I have a sneaking suspicion they actually did belonged to the farmer they were "GIVEN" to.

 

[oosik]

LONG ago - neighbors cattle broke thru my barbed wire fence and caused damage. Easily got them back on neighbors property and repaired fence.

Contacted neighbors insurance company. Short discussion - they paid for all damages - no problem.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

If you have a fence, and they escape. You are not letting them roam free, they just got out.
I’d much rather have my neighbors cows get out in my yard, than the neighborhood kids on 4 wheelers riding on my property. Both has happened.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

When I see talk of cows getting out, and I see responses involving sheriffs, rustling, shooting, and insurance getting involved, I’m so thankful for the great neighbors I have.

 

[WM75Guy]

Good fences make good neighbors. Everyone with acreage around me have livestock. Occasionally some gets out, including mine. You work together to get them back in and repair the damage. Lately it is the herd of 9 Boer goats that cross 4 fences to get to our place. About sundown they head home through the fences to get fed.

 

[dodge man]

I remember one time the neighbors cows were in my yard. I did something to startle them, not on purpose either. They took off running like crazy. The last I could see of them after they crossed the road they were about a half mile away and still running.

 

[CliffordK]

It used to be that if the neighbor's cattle got onto one's property that one would find a coral or pasture and lock them up until one found the owner.

Keep them safe, contained, and out of trouble.

At my house, I no longer have fences that are secure enough to hold a herd of cattle. Mom has the fields, but she is too old to handle somebody else's cows on her own.

 

[oldballs]

In 50 years here, I've had horses stop thru my strawberries, cattle stray thru the muddy areas leaving deep holes, had some pigs wander thru and even several buffalo, and sheep on the loose. Overall I either tried to help round 'em up or just let the neighbor take care of the situation.

What really pizzed me off was no apology for damages done. Well ...some people are just butt heads.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[gsganzer]

I was working a power plant outage with a buddy late one night. He got a call from his neighbor who said my buddy's cows were out, but he was able to round them up and he put them back in my buddy's pasture. Just calling to let him know.

My buddy couldn't bring himself to tell the neighbor that he didn't own any cows.

 

[JethroB]

There are a few older homes in our little rural town with remnants of cattle gaps in their driveways. Goes back to the free range days, it was your responsibility to keep them out if you cherishEd your yard.

My BIL’s mom got a new car once because one of their cows got out and was hit on the road. Her old car was a quiet settlement to the fellow who hit their wayward cow.

 

[old and tired]

So I had two pregnant cows come over to my property to give birth. (before I knew this... I usually fire a bird screamer at cows to encourage them to go back...) So if they give birth on my property, do I own them?? JK, called the farmer and he said they will find their way back sooner or later.

Really, I don't have a problem with that...

We leave for 3 or 4 weeks, we come back and one pair is still hanging around. Don't get me wrong, I like the free fertilizer but the mother was pretty skinny and I worried about her. Called the farmer, same reply so I said I'm going to call animal control to make sure all is good...

You would have thought I called the farmer's mother a lady of the night. He flew off the handle and said WHY do you need to do that!!!!

Needless to say the cow and calf were eating at the next hay drop off... (winter time)

(I'll never say THAT again!!!!)

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Not being a cow person, I still found it odd that one was hanging out in one spot for days, instead of hanging with the herd.

Drove over to see what was, or wasn't, going on and there was a calf on my side of the fence, apparently unable to get back.

Now, I can only see the top of the fence in that area from the house or garage, so couldn't spot the little calf. But the neighbor has a clear view from his house.

Called the neighbor, who came and got the poor little thing. I'm sure it wanted some milk by then.

 

[Eagle1]

Not being a cow person, I still found it odd that one was hanging out in one spot for days, instead of hanging with the herd.

Drove over to see what was, or wasn't, going on and there was a calf on my side of the fence, apparently unable to get back.

Now, I can only see the top of the fence in that area from the house or garage, so couldn't spot the little calf. But the neighbor has a clear view from his house.

Called the neighbor, who came and got the poor little thing. I'm sure it wanted some milk by then.

Sometimes the little ones decide to hang out out side of the fence and only come in to eat. I called one Houdini because he was forever disappearing into the woods until he was like 3 months old. Mom would call when it was time nurse and he'd just worm his way through the fence to eat then go hide again...

 

[RjCorazza]

Interesting read...
I never really gave much thought to "open range" livestock and fencing in or out. We were surrounded by dairy cows growing up, but they never seemed to wander. We do get the occasional horse grazing in our small field.

 

[ponytug]

Sometimes the little ones decide to hang out out side of the fence and only come in to eat. I called one Houdini because he was forever disappearing into the woods until he was like 3 months old. Mom would call when it was time nurse and he'd just worm his way through the fence to eat then go hide again...

Calves can be real Houdinis. Our first born here disappeared a few hours after birth. We could find her anywhere, and we looked for hours, even checking outside the fence. After five or six hours, and this wasn't a big pasture, we were convinced that a mountain lion had bagged the calf. We were standing, quite despondent, at a higher part of the pasture, and I noticed that the mom had her nose point across the fence into the 3-5' tall grass in the adjacent grass lands. As they say, "Hope springs eternal", and we hustled down to where the mom was and I started tracking along the fence, finally finding a tiny trail leading about a hundred feet into the adjacent grass, where the calf was curled up, dozing. Being new to cattle, we had a heck of time getting the calf back across the fence. My wife got a severe burn from the electric fence wrestling the calf through.

Then the fun began. The calf was annoyed at having been disturbed and starting walking off. One of the other cows was following the calf, but not the mother. It was a three stooges / "Green Acres" act for about six hours with disappearing calves, mothers jumping fences that they haven't jumped before or since, blowing fog, (ever try to find a black and white cow in fog? You can't they are invisible until you are practically touching them), and a half mile trek by the calf across a 45 degree slope to its new favorite place to curl up. All in all it was a twelve hour saga that ended at two am.

Can you say total amateurs? You betcha. I will say that we did get better with experience, but when most of my cattle running neighbors have ranch sizes in the tens to hundreds of thousands of acres, I make no claims to any sort of true expertise.

We use our dogs now to find calves; the dogs love it, and seem to completely understand that the goal is to find the calf, and then stay behind while the calf gets gently steered back into the pasture. Once, one of our dogs found a calf curled up under a bumper pull trailer. I would not have thought that there was room, but apparently there was. Very cosy. I would never have found the calf.

Sixteen years later, we still have the mom. She is our favorite cow. She gave birth two years ago to a gorgeous bull, now standing stud for a new belted Galloway breeder. We think that she is at least nineteen.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Eagle1]

Calves can be real Houdinis. Our first born here disappeared a few hours after birth. We could find her anywhere, and we looked for hours, even checking outside the fence. After five or six hours, and this wasn't a big pasture, we were convinced that a mountain lion had bagged the calf. We were standing, quite despondent, at a higher part of the pasture, and I noticed that the mom had her nose point across the fence into the 3-5' tall grass in the adjacent grass lands. As they say, "Hope springs eternal", and we hustled down to where the mom was and I started tracking along the fence, finally finding a tiny trail leading about a hundred feet into the adjacent grass, where the calf was curled up, dozing. Being new to cattle, we had a heck of time getting the calf back across the fence. My wife got a severe burn from the electric fence wrestling the calf through.

Then the fun began. The calf was annoyed at having been disturbed and starting walking off. One of the other cows was following the calf, but not the mother. It was a three stooges / "Green Acres" act for about six hours with disappearing calves, mothers jumping fences that they haven't jumped before or since, blowing fog, (ever try to find a black and white cow in fog? You can't they are invisible until you are practically touching them), and a half mile trek by the calf across a 45 degree slope to its new favorite place to curl up. All in all it was a twelve hour saga that ended at two am.

Can you say total amateurs? You betcha. I will say that we did get better with experience, but when most of my cattle running neighbors have ranch sizes in the tens to hundreds of thousands of acres, I make no claims to any sort of true expertise.

We use our dogs now to find calves; the dogs love it, and seem to completely understand that the goal is to find the calf, and then stay behind while the calf gets gently steered back into the pasture. Once, one of our dogs found a calf curled up under a bumper pull trailer. I would not have thought that there was room, but apparently there was. Very cosy. I would never have found the calf.

Sixteen years later, we still have the mom. She is our favorite cow. She gave birth two years ago to a gorgeous bull, now standing stud for a new belted Galloway breeder. We think that she is at least nineteen.

All the best,

Peter

I remember the rodeos in the first couple of years. I'm sure you found that once the cows and you are on the same page life gets much easier. Now I can just call them from the main pasture and they'll come to get fed. The little ones will do all sort of crazy stuff but if I see them once a day (after the first 24--48) and they are alive I call it good.
I had my herd bull get sick and die on me, now to find a replacement Dexter and hope he will be half a docile as Norman was. You could anything with that boy with minimal effort.

 

[two_bit_score]

Does anybody have any suggestions?

Does your county or state have an Estray law?

Sec. 142.003. DISCOVERY OF ESTRAY; NOTICE. (a) If an estray, without being herded with other livestock, roams about the property of a person without that person's permission or roams about public property, the owner of the private property or the custodian of the public property, as applicable, shall, as soon as reasonably possible, report the presence of the estray to the sheriff of the county in which the estray is discovered.
(b) After receiving a report under Subsection (a) of this section that an estray has been discovered on private property, the sheriff or the sheriff's designee shall notify the owner, if known, that the estray's location has been reported.
(c) After receiving a report under Subsection (a) that an estray has been discovered on public property, the sheriff or the sheriff's designee shall notify the owner, if known, that the estray's location has been reported, except that if the sheriff or the sheriff's designee determines that the estray is dangerous to the public, the sheriff or the sheriff's designee may immediately impound the estray without notifying the owner.
(d) If the owner does not immediately remove the estray:
(1) the sheriff or the sheriff's designee may proceed with the impoundment process prescribed by Section 142.009; or
(2) if a perilous condition exists, the sheriff or the sheriff's designee may proceed with disposition of the estray under Section 142.015.



Regarding cattle on the roadway causing an accident:
There is no common law duty for Texas animal owners to prevent their animals from running at large. Instead, Texas is an open range state. There are, however, two statutory duties to restrain livestock. The first is under Texas Agriculture Code Section 143.102, which says that a person may not “knowingly permit” an animal to roam at large on a state or US highway. Liability is imposed if a person (1) owns or has responsibility for the control of an animal and (2) knowingly permits the animal to run at large on a state or US highway. The second is found in Texas Agriculture Code Section 143.074, which allows counties to hold elections to enact a local stock law that will prohibit owners from permitting animals to run at large in the county. In situations, such as this case, where both statutory standards could apply, the Texas Supreme Court made clear it is the higher “knowingly permit” standard under Section 143.102 that a plaintiff must prove in order to recover.

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