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?
We were lucky it wanted to go home.