who is responsible for fencing?

kk23

i live in the country and my wooden fence is on a boundry with a cattle farmer, my electric fence cheeta is broken and the cattle are rubbing the fence as they do , and eating the trees on my side of the fence , i borrowed an electric fencer from the farmer for a few days while mine is away getting fixed , but hes asked for it back now, the post and rail fence is unprotected and under attack!
so, whose responsibility is it to keep the cows away from breaking thru the fence?

bbam

My parents sold two sites many years ago and there was a clause written into the sale that the house owner was responsible for upkeep of the boundary and any damaged caused as a result of
It's neglect was their own responsibility.

rancher

kk23 wrote: »

i live in the country and my wooden fence is on a boundry with a cattle farmer, my electric fence cheeta is broken and the cattle are rubbing the fence as they do , and eating the trees on my side of the fence , i borrowed an electric fencer from the farmer for a few days while mine is away getting fixed , but hes asked for it back now, the post and rail fence is unprotected and under attack!
so, whose responsibility is it to keep the cows away from breaking thru the fence?

Sticky one.......but a farmer is responsible for keeping in his stock so if they break in he's responsible.
However it doesn't need a very expensive fencer to keep cattle back on a short fence so for a quiet life wouldn't be as easy buy another fencer.
Who ever put up the fence the first day must have done a very poor job....for a site boundary

kk23

probably best to get a fencer and be done with it

bob charles

usually who erects the fence is responsible, but the farmer has to keep his animals fenced in aswell so go figure that one

Massey10

bbam wrote: »

My parents sold two sites many years ago and there was a clause written into the sale that the house owner was responsible for upkeep of the boundary and any damaged caused as a result of
It's neglect was their own responsibility.

If its being damaged by the farmers cattle its not upkeep thats needed and the farmer should pay .

Muckit

Hello? I've never heard such sh*te in all my life. Advising a non farmer to go out and buy a fencer to keep another man's cattle under control......go way from me!

brian_t

kk23 wrote: »

the post and rail fence is unprotected and under attack!
so, whose responsibility is it to keep the cows away from breaking thru the fence?

Why does a post and rail fence need to have further protection.

Why do you assume the cows will break through it.

rancher

Muckit wrote: »

Hello? I've never heard such sh*te in all my life. Advising a non farmer to go out and buy a fencer to keep another man's cattle under control......go way from me!

Well in a worse case scenario, a farmer neglects the fence, the cattle breaks in, all the farmer has to do is send for his insurance co. and the assessor takes the flak
The houseowner on the other hand has his place wrecked, there should have been a chainlink and concrete post the first day instead of poorly put up post and rail ( I have post and rail here 40 years..... never a problem)
He'd have the fencer bought for the price of the first appointment with the solicitor...which would you do

Jimmy Garlic

It is not your responsibility, it is the farmers. I assume he has an electric fence, all he has to do is run a wire around your property. Very simple, job done in 20mins.

freedominacup

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

It is not your responsibility, it is the farmers. I assume he has an electric fence, all he has to do is run a wire around your property. Very simple, job done in 20mins.

That depends. Most site transfer deeds have a clause where the householder/site owner is responsible for the erection and maintenance of a stockproof boundary around their site. Post and rail is not stockproof in fact as can be seen from the op cattle quite enjoy using it as a scratching post. If the op wanted post and rail for asthetic reasons he should have erected it a couple of feet inside the boundary line and put a stockproof fence up on the boundary line. This is all assuming that he has a normal deed of transfer. If his one says something else in relation to the boundary the everything I've posted here is null. If he has the standard clause in relation to boundaries and the cattle break through the fence he better hope they hang around wrecking his gaff as I believe if they go from his property onto the road or other property he has at least some liability for any damage they cause, if not complete liability. If they stay he'll only have the damage to his own property to pay for oh and the cost of erecting a stockproof boundary fence.

Massey10

freedominacup wrote: »

That depends. Most site transfer deeds have a clause where the householder/site owner is responsible for the erection and maintenance of a stockproof boundary around their site. Post and rail is not stockproof in fact as can be seen from the op cattle quite enjoy using it as a scratching post. If the op wanted post and rail for asthetic reasons he should have erected it a couple of feet inside the boundary line and put a stockproof fence up on the boundary line. This is all assuming that he has a normal deed of transfer. If his one says something else in relation to the boundary the everything I've posted here is null. If he has the standard clause in relation to boundaries and the cattle break through the fence he better hope they hang around wrecking his gaff as I believe if they go from his property onto the road or other property he has at least some liability for any damage they cause, if not complete liability. If they stay he'll only have the damage to his own property to pay for oh and the cost of erecting a stockproof boundary fence.

he better hope they hang around wrecking gaff, if you think that would stand up in court you live in dream land.

freedominacup

Massey10 wrote: »

he better hope they hang around wrecking gaff, if you think that would stand up in court you live in dream land.

If he signed a standard enough deed of transfer then he took reponsibility to erect and maintain a stockproof barrier. If he doesn't do this as he agreed and stock come through his site and into other property or on to the public road and do further damage then he has at least some liability if he'snot fully responsible. I'm well used to this. A section of land we bought 20 years ago has 5 sites on it all sold before we bought it all have the standard clause about stockproof boundaries. We erect a single strand electric inside this for our own peace of mind but nonetheless the property owners have primary responsibility for stockproofing their sites.

stoeger

I have a small fencer i got on ebay for around €50 and it works a treat to keep in
Pony and keep every thing else buy a fence job done not worth fallen out with farmer never no when you might need a favor

Massey10

freedominacup wrote: »

If he signed a standard enough deed of transfer then he took reponsibility to erect and maintain a stockproof barrier. If he doesn't do this as he agreed and stock come through his site and into other property or on to the public road and do further damage then he has at least some liability if he'snot fully responsible. I'm well used to this. A section of land we bought 20 years ago has 5 sites on it all sold before we bought it all have the standard clause about stockproof boundaries. We erect a single strand electric inside this for our own peace of mind but nonetheless the property owners have primary responsibility for stockproofing their sites.

The single strand of wire you put up keeps your cattle from the fence of what ever kind ,if the cattle are allowed at a chain link fence or any fence they will damage it and thats not a maintenance problem .

freedominacup

Massey10 wrote: »

The single strand of wire you put up keeps your cattle from the fence of what ever kind ,if the cattle are allowed at a chain link fence or any fence they will damage it and thats not a maintenance problem .

A chainlink fence is not a stockproof fence if it was cattle would not be able to routinely damage it. Neither is a post and rail fence. Therefore if a householder elects to put up such a barrier dealing with cattle damage is a maintenance problem. He has signed a contract to maintain a stockproof barrier and with chainlink or post and rail he's gonna be busy keeping it right.