Question on fence line placement

This conversation amazes me. I do not understand why anyone would want to set back a fence in a rural area. The reasons given are all worst case scenarios. I have lived with good and bad neighbors across the fence all my life. Our bull actually crippled their bull when he got into our pasture through their part of the fence. (They had a better bull too.) Unfortunate. Sometimes on this site the mentality becomes the boogey man is gonna get me.

Some of us have lived with the boogeyman next door.

If I spend $x.xx per foot on a nice, sturdy, dog resistant fence for my goats I don't want a neighbor with goats (perhaps carrying diseases that could infect mine) or vicious pit bulls showing up and tying into my fence.

Also, even good neighbors can make boneheaded decisions. A neighbor just planted oleanders (WAAAAAAY poisonous) ON THE LOT LINE!!!!!! After I told her how toxic they were! (Sorry for the shouting, but this really ticks me off. If she wanted to put them in her yard, fine, but she planted them on the lot line and I have livestock ...) Her "landscaper friend" told her they "aren't poisonous" and she refused to believe anything different. I've personally seen a horse die of one bite of oleander leaves and that it was a very ugly death. She also indicated it wasn't her problem if someone else's animals got out and ate the oleanders and died -- that people should keep their animals locked up. (Which I do, but we all know goats ... *sigh*)

Fortunately, when I put my fence in, I was nowhere near that side of the property. If I had been, I'd have been putting up a new fence, in a hurry, and moving the goats.

Maybe because in some areas it may be the law??? Rural may mean less restrictions/laws... and in some cases may mean none. But... rural does not necessarily mean no restrictions/laws.

There have been enough people on here that have had to deal with the "boogey man" (whether it be the law or bad neighbors) to know that your experience does not necessarily equal mine. Nor does your experience mean that mine will end up the same.

note: "your" and "mine" is being used in a collective sense... not personally

The OP has a simple choice of checking and following the local laws... or not. If they do, then they can be reasonably sure of no problems. If they don't, then they may end up being forced to move the fence. Guess they need to decide if a potential visit from the "boogey man" is worth the time and expense.

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"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid".

I am thinking more about farming than homesteading. If one has lived on a farm for years many of the problems mentioned here have cropped up. If you have neighbors with livestock their idea of what to put next door may be different from yours. I think where I get lost in this site is because many people here are on small tracts near towns. Further away from town with larger acreage, problems are fewer. I get many good ideas from this forum on a variety of topics. It is like anything else, we must choose the information that works for us.

What does this have to do with the discussion of fencing in RURAL areas, or Indiana?

I think what is being said is that your DEMAND regarding your EXPERIENCE or OPINION, as in post #11, may not apply in all areas.

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"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid".

I would go back a foot or so. Also in some States, you can require the other Property Owner to pay for half the cost of the fence.

My father was a farmer in northeast Indiana. The rule the old farmers around here
used , was you walked to the center of your boundary fence and facing the fence , to
the right was yours , and to the left was your neighbors. But the local sheriff said they
don't go by that anymore , because to many people living in the country don't have animals.
You put your fence on the property line. If you want to check your fence , you walk on
your side of the fence. If you put your fence on the inside of the boundary , you just give
up part of your property.In this day and age , people are different in the way they do things.
There was a time when a handshake was a contract , but i wouldn't try that now. When land changes ownership you don't always get a good neighbor. Survey stakes can come up
missing , or be moved.


Max

The OP is from Indiana, the post about a suburban fencing law in Arizona is irrelevant to this discussion.

As was posted by others you should put that fence on the property line in a RURAL setting as the OP implies she is located, not withstanding all of the 'yeah but' and doomsday type responses.

Jim

Where can they require you to pay half for a fence not on the line?

Lazy J:

I'm sorry if I offended you. I did qualify my statement by beginning with "here in AZ".

Actually, these "doomstead" responses are most likely based in reality. There's been many long threads here on what to do with lousy neighbors over fencing.
Actually, I am in the process of trying to get a lady to remove her fencing where my fence & gate was (on vacant land I own) as I have legal DEADED access over her property. 'Tis expensive and an unhappy process. Maybe you'd like to take the fight on for me?

Homestead40: Thanks for clarifying my statement.

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Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible

I'm getting ready to put up fencing also and am going to offset. My reason is two of my neighbors spray their fence lines with a self-made cocktail of chemicals and I don't want my animals or children exposed to those chemicals. I also have a timber company on one boundary line and who knows what they spray. I'm even considering using the space between the actual property line and my fence to plant some kind of dense shrub to keep the wind from blowing the chemical overspray onto my land. Of course I will clearly mark the actual property line as was mentioned by a previous poster.