Fencing etiquette?

[paulsharvey]

So, if your neighbor had a fence, set 3 or 4 or 5 ft back on their property, is ridiculous to install your own fence, 5 ft away, 4 inches on your side? We are talking field fence/livestock fence, not privacy.

Thats what im going to do, but it seems kinda stupid too. With that, they didnt abandon that 5 ft on "my side" of the fence either.

If your neighbor has a fence all along your entire line, set back multiple feet, not 2 ft; but also not 20 ft; would you bother fencing your side?

 

[bcp]

I would be first be finding survey markers to verify for myself, then talking to the neighbor about the dilemma.

Bruce

 

[rontaki]

The space between the two fences might make a great hideaway for kids or critters.

 

[shooterdon]

I must not understand. There is already a fence and you want to run another one parallel to it? Why?

 

[jaxs]

Based only on what you've said here I consider it a waste to build another fence. Why don't you tell us the rest of the story?

 

[ultrarunner]

Some set fences back due to easements or to be able to clear a break outside the fence to the line…

 

[Furu]

My neighbor talked to me about sharing a fence build on our common line. They wanted a 4 strand barb wire for their cattle, I wanted field fence with a wire strand on top. They said that their cattle would not honor a field fence and that only a barb wire fence would work.
Well I have had cattle honor a field fence for decades in another location without an issue but that was the owner's choice and her foreman was just the middle man but he was of the same opinion.
My dogs will not be stopped by a 4 strand barb wire and I had no use for the barb wire fence. There was an old, 40- 50 years old, barb wire fence there already, just not on the property line. It was in real bad shape and would not stop any cow or any other animal. Since we could not come to an agreement to cost share they put the 4 strand barb wire 6 inches on their side and I am putting a field fence on my side. Seems stupid yes, but their needs were radically different than mine. Sometimes you just do what you have to do.

 

[alexpops]

Furu -- Who's going to mow/maintain the 1 ft swath between fences? Wouldn't it have been simpler to share the cost of posts on the line and each of you put the material of choice on your own side of the posts?

PaulHarvey: same question, who will maintain the 5-6 ft of No Man's land between fences? I think (if it were me and the fencing material wouldn't harm my dogs) I'd leave it alone & run an extra mowing pass on his land given that the fence is already there. Now ... If the fence is in bad shape & he won't repair ... that's a different story.

 

[lman]

When we moved here about 30 years ago there was a fence about 8 ft on the neighbor's side of the property line. Both sides are wooded with an open lane on my side. Part of the lane belongs to the neighbor. I have always kept the lane open, mowed and removed fallen limbs fro the top of the fence. The neighbor was a single older woman when we moved in so I didn't expect her to do much. I never thought about maintaining the property since the neighbor's woodlot wasn't maintained. I've eliminated the invasive honeysuckle on my property but it's a mess on the other side of the fence. When the new neighbor moved in there were no changes. I never saw any reason to object about the location of the fence or taking care of it.

 

[dodge man]

I’m a land surveyor and did a survey on rural farm ground, something like 80 acres. She intentionally built her fence offset, something like 10 feet. The adjoiner auctions off their land several years later and the surveyor doesn’t find the markers I set on the line but just uses the fence line. She talked to the auctioners and acted like it was her fault for not putting the fence on the line.

There is nothing saying you have to build a fence on the line. For the OP if you want to put livestock on the ground you should build a fence on the line.