Hay theft?

[D2Cat]

IF the guy is actually a thief, and you tell him to leave the bales and get off your property...the owners don't live there, so the thief will return when the owner's are gone and take the bales. Best to have the sheriff involved and set up some game cameras aimed at the stored hay.

Having the sheriff there is like receiving a letter with an attorney's letter head telling what is being done if you don't so something. Has a bit more pressure to get things done!

 

[Thomas]

Do you need the hay if so come to dollar figure,if hay not needed they take it all at your price and stern warning.

 

[boomer1025]

A relative of ours has 60 acres of relatively poor grassland. They have a cabin/ shed on it. A neighbor went in without permission and made about 50 bales off it. They were planning to leave it natural and uncut. What should they do?

Thank the neighbor for mowing and taking the little grass and weeds there was. If it's left uncut it's going to turn into 60 acres of high weeds an possibly become a fire hazzard. If your relative really wants to leave it natural and uncut have it planted with wild flowers.
Leaving it natural and uncut will turn into a big ugly mess that you or animals can't walk through and look like crap.

 

[Jstpssng]

Thank the neighbor for mowing and taking the little grass and weeds there was. If it's left uncut it's going to turn into 60 acres of high weeds an possibly become a fire hazzard. If your relative really wants to leave it natural and uncut have it planted with wild flowers.
Leaving it natural and uncut will turn into a big ugly mess that you or animals can't walk through and look like crap.

If he had asked first I would agree 100%. However, they didn't; and where I come from there's a word for taking things which don't belong to you. It's called "stealing." Those who do it are called "thieves".
This

They were planning to leave it natural and uncut.

tells it all. Isn't the the landowner allowed to do what they want with their land?

 

[scons]

Around here, this would not be accepted at all. People like that would indeed be called thieves. Best option for those thieves is the local police would be there before the land owner.
If someone would like to cut some grass of a field that looks like it is abandoned, the only option is to contact the owner and talk about it and reach an agreement, everything else is a no-no.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I would approach them, and record the conversation. If it was honest, work something out. If not, I would do my best not to let them benefit from it, and probably notify law enforcment. It also depends what kind of people they are. Some people have less to loose than you do, and it's never a good idea to piss them off.

 

[boomer1025]

This tells it all. Isn't the the landowner allowed to do what they want with their land?

No not really.

I would like to know why the neighbor cut and baled the fields. Has to be an answer and reason somewhere.
Might be more to the story then were hearing. How does the Op know they got 50 bales off the fields? Why didn't the OP ask the neighbor why he cut the fields?
Too many un-answered questions to judge if someone did steal the hay.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

They've owned it about six years. The neighbor has a much bigger spread.

He counted the 50 bales on his acreage. He caught them finishing the baling. I don't know how it came out yet. It's not abandoned. They are there every few days.

 

[CobyRupert]

Has anyone asked if this neighbor regularly cuts the field every year?
Sometime antisocial people assume everything is the same unless they hear otherwise.

 

[airbiscuit]

Baling hay without permission is bad.

Leaving it natural is bad.

Like Henry Kissinger said about the Iran/Iraq war - "I wish both sides could lose."

 

[Industrial Toys]

All someone has to say is it was a verbal agreement. Suddenly it becomes a CIVAL matter and would be of no interest to the POLICE. Scumbags know such things.

 

[4570Man]

If the guy had just bush hogged it would he still be a thief? The net result would be the same. Personally I’d send the guy a Christmas card for savings me the work and expense of doing it myself.

 

[Diggin It]

Leaving it natural is bad.

Disagree. Many, many millions of acres around the US are 'natural'.

 

[mad_planter]

adverse possession doesn't work like that.

 

[4570Man]

Disagree. Many, many millions of acres around the US are 'natural'.

Maybe if you want your “grassland” to be a patch of thorns and brush and eventually trees that’ll never amount to anything in your lifetime it’s alright. And that number is probably in the billions of acres. The National Park service alone owns over 84 million acres.

 

[airbiscuit]

Maybe if you want your “grassland” to be a patch of thorns and brush and eventually trees that’ll never amount to anything in your lifetime it’s alright.

:thumbsup:

 

[ovrszd]

There's not a single person reading and/or posting on this thread that would tolerate their neighbor deciding how their property is managed. Not one.

I have a neighbor similar to this one. He built a new fence joining us. He decided to move it 8ft over on me, 1/4 mile long. I firmly told him the fence had to be moved and gave him 3 months to do it. Two days before that deadline it still hadn't been moved. I firmly talked to him again and said in two days I'm going to crank up my tractor with grapple and tear out the fence. I'll pile all the wire and steel posts in my scrap iron pile. I'll saw the hedge posts into firewood. He said "I'd rather you didn't do that". I said "then move your fence". That afternoon he started removing it by hand. At the end of the deadline day the fence was relocated where it legally belonged.

This situation needs to be handled similarly. No need for the Sheriff or Lawyers. This needs to be a man to man settlement. How it's handled will have a direct bearing on all future interaction with this neighbor.

 

[Jstpssng]

<snip>There's not a single person reading and/or posting on this thread that would tolerate their neighbor deciding how their property is managed. Not one.

Amen! Based on some of the comments here, I was starting to wonder if the rules of property ownership have changed. Personally, I hate seeing old fields and farmland growing back. However, some of the best hunting this region has ever seen was in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when a lot of old farms were reverting back to their natural state. When I bought my place almost 20 years ago there was a big blueberry field against my back line. Over time it’s been changing back to trees. I asked the owner repeatedly to allow me to do something; he always said no. Now there are 20 foot tall grey birch trees taking over. Should I have gone against his wishes, and kept it mowed?

 

[airbiscuit]

.... This needs to be a man to man settlement. How it's handled will have a direct bearing on all future interaction with this neighbor.

I agree.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not only keep lawyers and the police out of it, but Egos too, if possible. Nothing good rarely comes of that.