bad neighbor thats not even a neighbor.

I think they are putting this fence up on the Canadian border. Canada is paying for it.

A fence that will hold water will also hold a goat.

Deer eat the very same thing as goats. He must have some very bad hay.

He is an idiot, and you cannot cure idiocy. Keep your goats in or buy him out.

I am the absentee landlord: I only get down their every week. I try VERY hard to get along with my neighbors, them living next to my land prevents MOST vandalism, but not everyone is of that attitude.

"This" is how it's supposed to work.

It certainly isn't a barb wire fence... unless it's 8 strand or more...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

You say he lives 100 miles away, comes to his property 2 or 3 times a year. Sets fires on his own property. Got upset with your goats trespassing. Heh heh heh.

You haven't thought this out very clearly. Your neighbour and his reaction to your goats ..... sounds to me exactly like somebody who has something illegal to hide on his property that he doesn't want your goats interfering with.

Maybe that hay he claims your goats ate is actually weeds of a different nature - that is, it might be pot plants planted out in those woods. Goats enjoy eating something like that which is not on their usual diet.



If he has pot plants growing out there he probably won't kill your goats for fear that you might go to the police about it because then the police might want to come inspect his property, and of course he can't have that happening.

However, if your goats are eating his profits - whether it's pot or hay makes no difference - they are not improving his property and he could make your life a huge whole heap of misery in other ways besides killing your goats. Especially when he sets those fires to burn off his stubble (whatever kind of stubble it is).

Be smart and be a good neighbour. Figure out some way to stop your goats from trespassing once a month on his property and save yourself and him a lot of trouble.

I don't get it.
Really.
How could anyone say a cross thing about the land owner who has suffered loss because another land owner (the OP) allows his animals to destroy his property?

NO amount of petty arguments, excuses, 'well he's' or lame dialogue can justify the fact that the OP's goats get on someone else's property and cause destruction.
I don't care if it's once, or once a year, or whatever.
IT HAPPENED.

Restitution, and restrain the goats, or get rid of the goats if you cannot be responsible.

This is so common.
Someone commits an act against someone else.
THEN THEY BLAME the 'offended' for THEIR offensive act?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

This is prevalent today.
What happened to people standing upright, and saying "I accept responsibility for my actions / inactions, I am sorry, I am willing to repay the damage, and correct the problem".
Instead they look for every way under the sun to push the blame off.....

Sheesh.

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I am sure of two things: There is a God, and I am not Him.
The movie Rudy

Laura, goats tend to dislike grass. Given a choice they will eat trees and brush leaves instead.

I stand by my advice: since the other property owner strongly objects to the goats being on his land, the OP needs to keep them off even if his goats did no damage.

A portable electric fence might do the trick: it could be moved to allow the goats to graze one area after another.

A lot of it depends on what is traditional and community acceptable in your area.

WHY does this make HIM a bad neighbor? Your animals on HIS land? Seems to me your the bad neighbor not him. Get your animals properly fenced and keep them on YOUR land. Sure it costs money but that is part of having animals. I can't believe you would even suggest HE is the bad person.

He's a bad neighbor, cause he came screaming and hollering! I didn't do that when the neighbors dogs came over my "goat proof, hog proof" fence and got after my sheep. I didn't find about 8 bred ewes till they floated up in a pond! I talked to my neighbor, and told him what happened, and what would happen if happened again.
He's one of these don't worry about it folks.......He don't have to worry about buying as much dog food anymore either. Getting all heated up about stuff, and the dramatics that go along with hissy fits seldom solve problems. Most of the time they cause more!

Seems to me that your goats are causing the problem and resulted in your neighbor having a fit. Did you offer to compensate him for the damage that your goats did to his field/property/hay?

If not, he has every right to be angry as you admit the goats do go on his property. If my animals ever damaged anything belonging to a neighbor, I have made it right by offering to pay for the damage and subsequently reinforcing my fences.

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Be yourself - no one can tell you that you're doing it wrong!

Well seems everyones missing something in all of this... Well the goats very well may have trespassed, it was never established that the goats did indeed do any damage. We shall never know because the OP did not ask the proper questions , see my first post to this thread. I can make assumption and accusations based on circumstantial evidence but that doe not mean they are true... could be completely off base. Animals do wander from time to time and thats even with all the proper infastructure to prevent them from doing so. If you make a claim you still have to back it with fact and again we shall never know the whole story here.

Wow, people are ----y this morning!
Respond pleasantly to the neighbor. IF your goats are getting onto his property it is a problem you need to address. IF they have been eating his hay it is a bigger problem. However those are both IFs. Apologize, tell him you were not aware that your goats had gotten over there and eaten his hay and ask how he knows they were responsible (pleasantly). Unless he saw the goats there (or brought you some goat berries...) it's speculation. One way or another you should begin putting up a more secure fence.

Addressing the situation with him NOW may prevent him from becoming a REAL problem down the road. Maybe introduce him to the goats, go walk around his hay field, try to get your neighborly relationship on cooperating ground. Even if he is absent most of the time you would be better off with a friendly neighbor than an angry goat hating neighbor!

I do not think this is a situation of Bad Neighbor versus Even Worse Neighbor- just Careless Neighbor and Easily Upset Absentee Neighbor.

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They shall all sit under their own vines and their own fig trees, and they shall live in peace and unafraid. Mica 4:4

The OP is in the wrong, of course: But when they come tearing you a new one without at least first trying to be decent and talk calmly about it, it gets your back up and at that point, it's never going to be pretty.

As I've said before, I live in a resort area. Cows being what they are, every few years the herd will get out and go touring the local cottage yards, usually when the ground is soft so they can punch up lawns to the best of their ability.

Cottagers come to me mad as soon as they find the damage the next time they visit their cottage, I apologize like crazy and get out the checkbook right on the driveway. Everyone calms down immediately when they see I am taking full responsibility for what happened and as a result, I have good relationships with the people there.

Good fences make good neighbors are words to live by. And if you get to the point you can't keep your animals on your own place, well, you shouldn't have animals any more. I hate saying that because every year it gets more and more difficult for me to do the fences, but you have to if you are going to keep animals.

I expect there are some people who will always throw a fit and scream and call the cops about your animals being on their place, and never let it go even when you apologize, but they have "outted" themselves to you as a real snot when they do it. Not much comfort, maybe, but there's a certain satisfaction in thinking that YOU would never act like that, and what their mothers must think of them!

In general, people are the worst livestock to deal with.

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-Northern NYS

People are something else, even here. We're not citiots living on lots. It is kinda like I posted about my dogs once. I was told I must have full control at all times. My dogs are now on chains on an acreage because my neighbor puts out his uneaten food scraps attracting all kinds of unwanted attention. Dogs love easy food. Then his horses come stampeding at the property line. A dog will naturally chase any running animal. None of this is my fault.

If the neighbor comes twice a year he isn't haying. It is another issue. Besides the goat owner has a 100 acres. He must have quite a large herd of goats and pristine pasture.

Wait. Are you serious or being facetious? I mean...you're not really comparing roaming, horse-chasing dogs with goats that escaped and ate someone's weeds, are you?

The minute your dogs chase your neighbors horses on your neighbors land it is your fault! It is your responsibility to keep your dogs under control, they should not be chasing anything!
Here the dogs would probably be shot--if not by the neighbor, they would be shot by state employees if they chase wildlife. The state will shoot dogs running deer ( or other animals) if they come across them.