| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 14 2007 : 08:58:18 AM
I'd like to be friendlier with the people who live on farms adjacent to mine, but they make it hard.
I have one neighbor who is an absentee cattleman. He rents pastureland for cattle and hogs he doesn't care for very well. He also doesn't tend to his low-quality electric fence, so the cattle (including a huge bull) often get out. I think they're looking for decent water to drink, poor things -- it's not their fault, but they've done a lot of damage. The guy has paid me for some of it, but not all. I've yet to be able to replace several newly planted evergreen trees his bull destroyed one day. =I only got reimbursement for what I spent on them, not what it would cost to buy new trees. Now it's too late for that. Next time his cattle damage anything on my property, he knows that's the last straw. The Sheriff's Animal Welfare/Control office is ready to pounce on this guy and close him down for treating his animals so poorly. (They have a network of people all over the county who will adopt the animals and give them good homes.) All they need is an excuse, and I will probably eventually provide it.
Another neighbor keeps wild turkeys (tame as kittens and very sweet -- I don't mind them) and peacocks (they'll eat anything with white flowers on it) but lets them roam all over other people's property. The turkeys are benign, but the peacocks, beautiful and quaint as they are, have eaten my daisies, the flowers off hostas, and so on. Honestly, anything white is a goner if they spot it. They're almost as bad as groundhogs!
Still another neighbor very close to us has about 6 cats that are terrorizing our birds now. I think she had them spayed or neutered, but I can't be sure, and I also don't know if they've had their shots. I hesitate to ask her because they are poor and it might embarrass them to say they couldn't afford it. (Our humane association will only partly pay for these things if you're needy. You still have to cough up the bucks yourself.) Other neighbors have cats that they let roam, but that's only one or two and they seem very housecatty. These others are nearly feral. Now we're overrun with cats.
And then there are the dogs. Dogs dogs dogs. And MORE dogs. One of them is a pit bull mix that barks ferociously at me when I'm out on the property pruning fruit trees or the big ol' pussy willow and he scares me to death.
I'm getting sick and tired of suffering all these incursions. Short of building a fence around our acreage, which we can't afford and which in any event wouldn't keep out some of these animals, I can't think of anything to do that wouldn't make me look like The Neighbor from Hell, with nothing but complaints to offer her fellow farmers.
Farmgirls, how do you handle things like this with your neighbors, or how would you advise me to handle mine? |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Libbie |
Posted - Dec 27 2007 : 09:30:01 AM
I LOVE natural fences!!! We have one of thick willows and wild roses along our property line that borders a big ol' irrigation canal. It's not to keep things OUT of our property, but it keeps my little ones OUT of the canal!!! ;)
XOXO, Libbie
"Farmgirl Sister #10," and proud of it!!! |
| Zahara |
Posted - Dec 27 2007 : 08:53:25 AM
leave food out. no, no, no.
I thought you wanted to get rid of the animals.
you want to make your property not frendly.
can not afford a fence, grow a natural one.
know where your property line is, go in about 6 feet on your property and start planting scratchy and thorny things and smelly plants (onion, garlic, skunkcabbage, stinkweed - what ever is native to where you live). As a kid running around outside you must remember weeds to stay away from. go get some, transplant them. plant a rose bush, here and there. What you doing -- oh planting roses, you want one?
go an get the cheapest, biggest bag of onions. get really hot pepper, the kind you have to wear gloves with. chop all of that up and put in a big container of water (maybe a watering can). let sit awhile and then go along the property line and pour out the water.
pour all around mail box, or any place the cats, dogs, turkeys seems to always be.
get motion detector lights or sonic motion detectors. adopt a skunk as a pet. put horse poop along the propery line. Or you got a zoo - get tiger or elephant poop. Dog smell tiger - stay away!
think how I make this unfriendly to them.
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| MasterGardener |
Posted - Dec 11 2007 : 2:53:04 PM
Well, Rosemary, is it any consolation to know you're not the only one? I am the neighbor in my neighborhood that gets the ugly looks, no one waves, ya-da, ya-da, because after about 7 yrs of other people's dogs pooing in my yard (no fence) I finally started calling animal control. I've called well, let's see...about 12 X's now. You have to call a certain # of times before Sheriff's dept. issues a ticket. I've called for 5 different neighbor's dogs. I'm not friends with any of my neighbors @ the moment, but thankfully, it hasn't changed my life much. For years I'd walk out to the mailbox to step in dog-poo, I'd go out on the porch in the morning for my cup of coffee to see the dog/dogs from across the street crapping any where they felt like it in my yard...so off I'd go, screaming like a banchee "Get outa here, go on, get. Nary a soul to come see what the fuss was about. I'd walk outside and one of their dogs would be in my yard & start barking @ ME. You've got to be kidding...oh, no,no,no,no. I've gone & knocked doors, made polite phone calls...they're sooo Neighborly on the phone, but nothing ever changed till I called A.C.
I found out in the nick of time that a person can be liable and/or arrested in Louisiana for shooting a neighbors dog/animal, even if it's in my yard, but not before I'd threatened 2 or 3 of my neighbors with the idea of it. So do be careful if you ever fire a weapon @ one. Unless of course you or your animals are being attacked.
I had a peacock for several years. He chose us & it was quite a site when we'd be sitting on the side porch with the dog and the cat and ooopppp...here'd come Horatio...he'd hop up on the far end of the porch, strut past us...realll slow, then go to his food bowl and eat. When it was mating season, he'd strut around and open his fan for me...so many funny stories. My point is that we left food for him. We only have red canna's, Louisiana iris, agapanthus, so eating our flowers wasn't an issue. He was such an oddity. Long story, but basically he just showed up. It took a while to coax him close enough that I didn't have to walk a full acre to get food to him, but in the end, he'd come twice a day & eat out of a bowl on the porch. If I hadn't put food out for the day, he'd walk back and forth on the porch, looking in the windows, stop & look in - with one eye pressed up against the glass. We're in a very rural area, many people keep chickens, etc. We were the envy of the neighborhood for years. One guy 1/4 up the road (I'm on the out's with him too) had done everything he knew how, to lure the bird to his property. It got back to me through another neighbor. Long story short...Horatio was with us for 3 yrs till he was killed by a car, but what fun he was while he was with us! Is there any chance you'd think of him as a pet and forgive the daisies? They love sunflower seed bird mix, cheap dog food for a snack once in a while.
I know none of this is about goats, but sometimes you just can't let your neighbors disrespect you or your property anymore. Use a legal third party like animal control & call three X's. In LA, after the 3rd call to animal control, the sheriff's dept. issues a citation. When it starts to hurt your neighbor's pocket books, they might do something about it.
.• ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.•´ .•´¨¨))
((¸¸.•´ ..• -:¦:- -:¦:- Chandra
-:¦:- ((¸¸.•´Farmgirl Sister #64
She considereth a field, and buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
Proverbs 31:16 |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 18 2007 : 09:16:34 AM
Oh Georgeann, how awful those neighbors from hell must have been! I'm glad you're rid of them now. Your story gives me courage. |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 18 2007 : 09:15:15 AM
Oh my, Cristine! The car! I have a friend in Vermont who had that happen frequently. They even got *into* the car one time. I'll bet you were plenty mad.
It was very nice of you to help get the goats back where they belong. Maybe this woman is making all those bad jokes because she's stuck in a situation she feels she can't get out of and is trying to make the best of it. It's not uncommon for women married to bullies to make excuses for them while they go on hoping they'll change. Her husband is a sheriff's deputy, right? Maybe he pushes her around and she's afraid to challenge him about the wreck of a place they live in. You might want to slip her a hotline number someday. Be discreet. Spray paint it on the side of a goat.
Just kidding.
Ha ha. |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 18 2007 : 09:11:17 AM
Aimee, yes we do have a similar organization. A close friend of mine is on their board of directors. They can only intervene if the animals aren't spayed or neutered, and the extent of their service is to help the animal's owners get a discount from one of the vets who've agreed to do the job for less than the going rate. They'd still be all over my place, killing the rabbits, birds, and other wild creatures for whom I've consciously maintained sanctuaries.
Perhaps I could ask these neighbors if they would like to take advantage of the service, which could at least open up communications. The thing is, these people put up with us for years not having the money to bush hog a big field right behind them, to which they objected because they feared snakes were having their way with each other in the tall grasses and they couldn't go on walks in the field without worrying they wold be bitten. OUR FIELD, mind you. Oh well. I guess I could see their point. But we spent a small fortune a few years ago having that field plowed under, graded and grass-seeded to get rid of invasive Japanese Honeysuckle and a lot of rock. (The field isn't large enough, only about an acre, to warrant making it a source of hay bales for local horse folks, by the way. I looked into that.) Unfortunately, this rough manicuring was at the expense of all the beautiful wildflowers I used to harvest there, but at least now the fruit trees remaining from when it was an orchard aren't being choked to death by the damn honeysuckle.
I guess I shouldn't be so timid now, huh? I'm sure The Cat People are enjoying the vast expanse of snakeless field. Maybe they'll bve more receptive than I imagine. |
| Aunt George |
Posted - Aug 17 2007 : 9:09:24 PM
I have to agree with the tough love principal here. Set the boundries on the goats (Christine), dogs and cats, peacocks and every other roaming critter. Possession is 9/10ths of the law. Get them cornered, secure them when it is safe to do so and call animal control. The longer it goes on the more the callous animal owners are going to be.
We had neighbors whom drove me insane. They were the neighbors from hell. Nobody liked them, but it came down on me to speak up, tell them what was what and draw that line in the sand. They'd walked on my good nature for 2 years and the children threatened bodily harm on mine....that did it, oh, and he was a police officer.....they finally moved...couldn't stand us anymore I guess, so life on this block has been so much better since their departure.....I digress...........Please Rosemary for the sake of all those critters......make the calls and make the calls everytime they come in to your yard. The squeeky wheel does get greased!
G
http://auntgeorgeshouse.blogspot.com/index.html
http://auntgeorge.etsy.com
"Made With Love" |
| aimeeravae |
Posted - Aug 17 2007 : 8:46:33 PM
Do you have an almost home society in you neck of the woods? They take in homeless animals. Ask how they take donations. Go to the neighbors, because they are such animal lovers, and ask for donations. Not only are you doing a good deed, you find out exactly which animals are theirs. Call animal control for the rest. It sounds cruel, but breeding cats and dogs multiply like rabbits. ha
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| jo Thompson |
Posted - Aug 17 2007 : 8:17:17 PM
Sweet girl Cristine............ I feel better now. jo
"life is drab without a lab"
http://web.mac.com/thomja/ |
| MsCwick |
Posted - Aug 17 2007 : 3:44:19 PM
I just went and did the neighborly thing and helped my neighbor get her goats back in their pen, and hopefully this time they'll stay in!
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| MsCwick |
Posted - Aug 17 2007 : 1:49:17 PM
The goats are sleeping and crapping on my front porch(the my DH just pressure washed), and they were on my car lastnight! ON MY CAR!!!! with hooves, on my car! Amanda hasn't been home for a week, and her dang goats are crapping EVERYWHERE! They smell, and, aaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!ON MY CAR!!!
u like the mens/womens restroom sign on our shed? DH put that there. that's the first time I laughed today!
C
ristine |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 17 2007 : 12:31:18 PM
Baby goats are called "kids".
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for typing, one hand to hold Nora!
http://home.test-afl.tulix.com/aleeandnora/ |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 17 2007 : 11:36:11 AM
Christine, I'd be afraid of using that pellet gun approach, especially if it isn't all that accurate -- and in my scaredy-cat hands, with a pit bull closing in on me, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be! A slightly wounded animal can be very dangerous.
Also, being on three acres and surrounded by other farmers means they'd hear the shots and figure out who'd nailed their dear little fuzzball in the butt. Pretty soon, they'd be coming after ME with pellet rifles! Anyway, I see no reason to harm the animals. They're not at fault. It's the owners I take issue with.
Those are beautiful goats, by the way. Such a shame, as you say. Let's hope the baby will be okay. Come to think of it, what are baby goats called?
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| MsCwick |
Posted - Aug 16 2007 : 4:33:20 PM
I like the idea of trapping them, and then calling the animal control.
You can get what the call a "soft air gun" from walmart for like 20 bucks, and they take little plastic BBs. You can shoot things with it and all it does is sting. (I was stupid enough to shoot myself because my husband said it wouldn't hurt) LMAO I would shoot my horse, in the butt, when he would chew on the fence. The guns aren't real accurate, but the little bit more expensive ones are good up to about 50 feet!
 This is what I have to deal with all day. My neighbor(not the one with the cows) Amanda, hasn't been home, and her dang goats hang out on the porch and poop, and try to get in my shed to eat the horse feed. That's the little boy goat, and his mother, whom he got pregnant :/ so sad
Cristine |
| Bonne |
Posted - Aug 16 2007 : 3:58:22 PM
A BB gun fired over the cat's heads or nearby them may make them think twice about coming back.
The pitbull worries me. They are outlawed here because of recurrent troubles ~ kids maimed, one lady was killed by her neighbor's dog in a more rural area.
I'd have a handgun or bear strength pepper spray on me when doing outside chores where it's been seen, for the time being. Better safe than sorry. Plus if you see it show up in the yard, I'd be firing a pellet gun at his haunches, so it knows your land isn't intruder friendly. There comes a time when you have to draw the line with any trespassers.
http://www.bonne1313.homestead.com/spiritspace.htmlSoap
http://groups.msn.com/spiritspaceCrafting Group |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 16 2007 : 11:56:59 AM
The only mice I ever see are in our house. I think they're trying to escape all the cats outside! Our inside cats occasionally catch one, but mostly, they do their damage unchecked. I've tried every kind of way to get rid of them that's not likely to harm the cats (or owls) at the same time. No dice. Every now and then, I lift clumps of pink insulation material out of air vents. I know they're dangerous and something has to be done, but I've given up trying. (And yes, all perceivable gaps where they might be getting in have been plugged up, except for the giant groundhog holes where THOSE varmints have had their way with us.
For them, I broke down two years ago and bought a rifle. A mighty nice CZ457 .22 calibre "varmint rifle." Haven't used it on any varmints yet. The only "sighting" I've had when I was anywhere near the rifle to act on it, was two feet from a propane tank and I was afraid what would happen if I missed my aim!
I dunno...this farmgirl thing is a lot trickier than it looks in books! ;-) |
| jo Thompson |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 10:25:49 PM
I'll tell you what we do with stray dogs in alaska, we put out traps from animal control. Then the dog goes into the trap, we call animal control or take the dog in. They get a ticket for an unlicensed dog, and a roaming dog ticket. It doubles the second time, triples the third.
I'd shoot the damn peacocks.
But that's in Alaska..........
I try asking nice the first time, I tell them the rules, and then take care of the rest.
We have tried over and over to explain to neighbors how it's not nice to let their dog poop, eat, dig, whatever is on your property. Apparently, if it costs them money, makes their life more difficult, it actually has an impact on their behavior......
People just aren't sensible anymore! jo
"life is drab without a lab"
http://web.mac.com/thomja/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/Anchorage/PhotoAlbum15.html |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 6:57:34 PM
Rosemary-
That is quite a few cats! Hopefully they at least keep the mice down! :) Hopefully the catnip will keep them away from your house.
I hope your cats calm down about the other animals around. Hopefully some of the "diversionary" tactics help! :)
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for typing, one hand to hold Nora!
http://home.test-afl.tulix.com/aleeandnora/ |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 5:04:46 PM
Hi, Theresa! In our state (VA), there's a program to encourage farmers to put fences or trees ("riparian buffers") along any creeks or rivers on their property to prevent soil erosion and downstream e coli contamination. The state pays farmers a reasonable sum of money to help them do this. (I designed the brochure, which is how I found out about the program.) Maybe your neighbor had that in mind when he blocked off his stream. Anyway, I'm glad you're not troubled by wandering cattle anymore. Wow! I didn't realize this was such a common problem. I'm learning plenty here!
Alee, about the number of cats? There are 9 all told (6 of them nearly feral), all congregating and hunting on our 3 acres. Our 3 house cats can sense all this new cat activity outside and are starting to exhibit stress behavior over it.
And that's just the cats.
*sigh* |
| sweetthunder214 |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 2:38:11 PM
I think the idea of seeding plants they like away from your area is a good cheap idea for the birds and cats but for the mean dogs I would think I would have to talk to the neighbor directly. We had neighbor dogs come onto the property and go right through the electric fence to chase our goats. Lucky enough we were out there at the time and got them away but now I have 2 pyrs in the pasture to watch over them and have never seen the neighbor dogs again. We also had cows coming onto our property but didnt know who they belonged too because they always came and went thru the creek but finally threw word of mouth to some other people in the area the owner came by and built a fence across the creek. I dont like that and I dont think you can legally do it but it stopped the cows from tearing up the creek bed and grazing on my land. I hope you get something worked out for the good of everyone and all the critters |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 11:47:56 AM
When my family lived in the country we would feed the local cats. They did end up staying around our place, but they didn't terrorize any local chickens or anything and they certainly kept the mice down! I guess it depends on how many cats you have. And the cats will probably keep most other species away. It would have to be a gutsy rat to go eat where cats are eating! Instead of putting out cat food which would attract the dogs if you decide you want to help feed them, I would put out cheap dog food, and not very much, but just a little.
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for typing, one hand to hold Nora!
http://home.test-afl.tulix.com/aleeandnora/ |
| Rosemary |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 11:13:06 AM
I'm so heartened by the responses I'm getting to my post on this thorny issue. Fencing isn't an option, really, even if we could afford it. Our old place has its original stone walls where there aren't outright woods, so it would either be a logistical nightmare that would probably kill off a lot of beautiful old trees (I won't risk that!) or, where the stone walls are, fences would just look ugly. BTW, the stone walls are no deterrent to anything but vehicles. They're only about two feet high.
I like all the ideas about diversionary planting very much. There are parts of our property where this would work; other parts, no so much, but it's worth a try.
Feeding all these semi-feral cats would be a long-term daily commitment that might do more ecological damage in the long run, and one I'm not sure I'm prepared to take on. Also, other animals would be attracted to the food, wouldn't they? I mean well-fed house cats out for a quick adventure, and perhaps other species (foxes, raccoons, rats, even dogs -- which I certainly don't need more of!) that could start to become a real nuisance. I imagine all these animals might wind up fighting. Has anyone here actually done this? With what result? |
| Sarah Blue |
Posted - Aug 15 2007 : 09:26:27 AM
I think there are some really good suggestions here, and yes it's a very touchy and difficult challenge when you have trouble with your neighbors. I live next to an absentee cattleman also and his bull used to break through our fenceline regularly. When I would call him to let him know, he either wouldn't answer his phone or he'd be hours away so I'd have to deal with the problem myself, knowing it was just going to happen again. Surprisingly, he finally brought a crew of workers and reinforced the fenceline himself, for which I'm really thankful. I make a point of being extremely friendly and cordial with him whenever possible.
I love the idea of throwing a harvest party because even though it won't solve any of your immediate problems, I think it would help open up the future lines of communication.
And, believe me, I know it's expensive, but I'm sure you've heard the saying, "Good fences make good neighbors." It doesn't prevent every problem, but it sure does help.
"i believe in god, only i spell it nature." - frank lloyd wright
http://www.myspace.com/svgrrrl |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Aug 14 2007 : 10:02:16 PM
Great suggestions Alee - we have good neighbors at our cabin in Montana, but I can see that if we weren't flexible people, we could have problems. We want to get a big dog when we move over there, in addition to our doxies, but the neighbors, about 1/4 mile away, have free range chickens, and that would not work unless we put up an invisible fence or something. Already there have been hunting disputes when we've been over there. One neighbor shooting a turkey on another's land, another one walking through the land and scaring off an elk, etc. Your issues with neighbors are definately different in the country than in town, but sometimes they can be potentially more serious. It's a tough issue. |
| Alee |
Posted - Aug 14 2007 : 9:19:16 PM
I don't know what you could do about the dogs, except maybe try to befriend them or get a guardian dog for yourself. The feral cats might be bugging your birds because they are hungry. Their owners might not be feeding them if they are poor, so putting out some cat food (at the gate by the catnip :) ) might help too. You could also plant habenero peppers along you fence line during summer :P They wouldn't come near that stuff!
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for typing, one hand to hold Nora!
http://home.test-afl.tulix.com/aleeandnora/ |
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