The Six Inch Question ?

Correct, a whole new set of problems.
State and Federal property is open to the public. If you own your own land, you prob. won't be hunting on government land. So, when your property line is next to government land, you get all sorts of city folk ready to kick up their heels and have fun. Like a young colt's first time in the pasture after a long winter. They shoot anywhere; get a summer's worth of use out of their Four Wheeler in a single weekend. Plus you get a new set of fools every weekend.
People that live on 50 by 75 feet lots have no idea how you value the acres you own. Heck, look at all those apples you have, prob. won't miss a few....
Nope, I'd rather have one knucklehead neighbor that I can sort of know where his mind is at, than to deal with some turned loose tourists.

We don't loose anything by putting the fence inside our line(TN), and trying to get someone around here to cover even a smidgen of the cost of repair is like pulling teeth, I am not saying we have crazy neighbors, they are just not going to spend any money trying to keep their animals in. And taking them to court would cost more than the repair or replacement of the fence. I care about my animals. One neighbor had two studs get loose and run with my mares fortunately they didn't get the deed done....we had to install all new fence at our cost to keep my mares protected. On another side bull came through, we had to cover the cost of repair to keep us being surprised by running into a bull if we were about on the property.

If we are going to have to pay every time...then why should we let anyone tie to OUR fence? I have plenty more examples!

Another reason why we put ours off the line is because it took us a year to get the property from the estate/siblings and knowing my SIL if she thought that that the fence was a millisecond on the other siblings side she would be fighting us to move it. 3 times a week they walked or drove the property line just checking our fence as we were putting it up. I do hope that when the remaining acres sell that we do have good neighbors. Would love to have people buy the place like yours Salmonslayer, but not everyone is fortunate as you were/are.

It gets back to the state laws. Here, if you put a boundary edge fence two feet onto your own property, and didn't have that description legally inserted into your deed, that two feet would belong to your neighbor after 10 years. I guess you could always move your fence in a couple of feet again then. Missouri laws (usually) work pretty good, and the specifics keep your neighbor for putting in a terrifically expensive fence and making you pay for half of it. The system encourages cooperation on both sides, and usually works great.

But on the other hand, if they aren't going to put up their own fence anyway, and their livestock is right on the other side of yours - why let them graze on your land? You're paying the taxes on it, may as well use it. Six inches isn't much. Six inches over 600 feet adds up. Why lose it?

I don't know if TN is a fence in or fence out state. If it is a fence out state, no reason not to fence them out at the line, and you can't get damages from them. If it is a fence in, you can sue for damages. No, you can't make the neighbor pay, but you can get a lien put on their property and you get paid when they sell it. You usually have to ask for a lien as it's more hassle for the court so they don't tell you that's an option.

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A ship in the harbor may be safe, but that's not what ships are built for

There is nothing for them to graze on....lol it is a gravel road(which is not ours) next to our fence separating their land from ours except for in the back forty of the property and if the the livestock can get to the fence back there, they are doing more than mine can....nothing but trees,rocks/boulders and sinkholes-barely any grass grows there. The only way that they could tie in would be to run a gate across the road and cross fence and pull from ours. We have hot wire strung across the top of the fence(and can always run some in the middle) so not to concerned about anything trying to graze over the fence.

The most that DH pulled off the line was a foot or two in a few places and the rest was only about an inch off the property line. We owned a fence company for 10 yrs and put up a lot of fence, he has always backed off the line about inch when installing fence whether privately or commercially. I don't know if TN is in or out and couldnt find anything stating.

I am really not to concerned about it right now anyway, because whom ever moves in has a lot more headaches dealing with the existing border fences if they have livestock because 3/4 of the remaining 60 acres has to be re-fenced and it will cost someone a fortune. Most of it has to be jack-hammered to install posts and unless they have their own jack-hammer and compressor like we do, they will be hiring someone to fence around the remaining acres. We did one section for my MIL years ago and it is still good, then we did a section where the neighbor's studs got out, but the rest is really really bad shape.

My horses will stay behind a piece of string so I never had to really worry about them getting out of MIL's fence when they use to run the property. One side that needs repairing 3 neighbors don't have livestock and I don't see them paying. I believe the burden of fencing will be all on the new neighbors for the 60 acres. The other 3 of the neighbors that it borders up to have livestock and they are not going to help pay for a fence. There are a total of 6 neighbors not including us that adjoin the 60 acres that is for sale from my MIL estate and you wont find any of them that will pay for the cost of a new fence. And we already have our new fence up.

OTOH, I do understand what everyone is stating and I do hope that if a situation arises it can be worked out. We all help each other out around here and we are all friends, in fact several of the neighbors were born on this land around us and grew up with DH and some are even related to him. So it is a friendly atmosphere....but their idea of fencing is to tack a piece of barbwire to a tree...and if one of their animals gets out....well it is no biggie, they just tack another strand...we're redneck Hillbillly's around this here land.

I know here you are obliged to maintain a fence on the right hand half of the line as you face your neighbour. If they do not you call the township and file a complaint. They send out fence viewers who assess the complaint and order the neighbour to bring their half up to the standard and if they do not the work is ordered done and billed to the person responsible for that fence. The most the fence can be (ordered built) is a basic page wire fence with a single strand of barbed wire on top. You must stay within a foot of the line except where building the fence is impossible then (preferred) the neighbours work it out. For example our neighbour refused to bring his fence up to the standard. The township ordered him to replace his old log rail fence. Obviously we weren't on the best of terms; however, my father approached him with a suggestion that if he wanted to leave the line of trees right on the line and he stepped the fence onto his side, then he could come onto our side where the land fell away anyhow to build the fence on easier ground. It was about half and half anyhow. He did and everything went back to normal and being good neighbours.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup........