Farmer tears up my lawn

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labman

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OK the grass out next to the road really isn't mine. But I am expected to maintain it. Yet, every fall the farmer runs his combine up a residential street it doesn't fit on to get to his field. There is a county road he could use, but takes a short cut through the lawns.

He leaves 3''-4'' deep tractor tire marks in the grass. Can you imagine trying to mow that?

Is it reasonable for me to expect him to keep it out of the grass? What should I do about it? I can't believe he doesn't realize he is ruining the lawns. I guess he just doesn't care.
 
He probably mows his yard with the combine and doesn't notice the tire marks. Remember the old John Deere ad that said something like, "...Cuts the average yard in 5.3 seconds..." Must have been his yard! ;-)
 
Kind of a grey area since it's out by the road and not really your lawn.

What would happen of you just parked a car out there and left it? I grew up in a rural area and the farmers would do similar things, I knew people to park a car and leave it where they didn't want the tractors to go.
 
Put up a cheap plastic white picket Fence let him destroy it then file charges against him in small claims court! He will use the other road from then own. It is said but true most Farmer's my Inlaws included are pig headed and sometimes ignorant! They do not care that other people have a right to share the road or that they might not want their yard to look like their fields!

I have always felt that Farmer's and the people that design gear for them should have to follow the same rules as the rest of us. A teractor and trailer have a limit to how wide and long they can be. If not they would have built them much larger and wider then they are. They have to fit in one lane in the USA due to Federal law! Their is no such law though on Farm implements. In fact having worked in the hheavy equipment and salvage industry for a year before going to work for GM when I graduated I can say with out a problem theat the engineers that designed farm implements where complete and under retards they must have been the C- engineering students! An old combine is powered by a inline 6 cylinder that is barely powerful enough to move a family car and had belts to power everything....Imagine a belt that is large enough to fit around 2-3 car's.....If they do not work well on a lanw mower you can guess how well they worked on combines. THey often over heated and caught fire and changine the heads was a pain in the rear that is why so many farmer's drive them down the road with them attached. Modern hydrostatic powered ones are much friendlier and many farmers will take the head off mount it on a trailer and pull it behind them so they fit in one lane then put it on when they get where they are going.

In fact a lot of old Farm equipment was like a Gold Ruberg device you used to see int he comic strips and where poorly engineered with no real thinking about how they might tear up residential area's or impede traffic flow.

Having grown up in Europe I can say with out any question they got it closer to how it should be with regard for equipment that folds up small enough to fit in one lane or 1 lane in the USA I should say. Their lanes are usu always bit smaller their and the farm implements still often stick out into the lane a bit but not like in the USA!!!!!

For the record I hate all farm subsidies and am against them no one should ever get paid not to grow something! Second I am against any form of renewable energy that use's food crops like corn,soy beans etc.....to ferment for fuels. THeir are plenty of non-food crops that are both better suited to fermentation and that do not impact food prices globaly. Hemp,Creasol Bush's,Castor BEans grass and a host of other things make far more sense as would sueing state or federal land to grow these crops on!Let Farmer's worrya bout food crops not Fuel! If they really want something great start growing Sugar Cane OPPs I forgot their are laws about that because sugar cane would hurt the sugar beet Farmer's!!!!! Do like Brazil does and limit how many spirts liqour makers can make each year but unrestrict what they can produce for fuel usuage already have the equipment and infrastructure to do the job!
 
You could be glad he doesn't breed roosters or animals that leave vats of manure! Or that he hasn't sold out to condos and then you'd have traffic all up and down your street.

I like the parking a car on the grass idea. Of course you have to predict when the farmer will be there.
 
I am shure the expectatien regarding maintennance is reasonible?? You having to spend your time and your Money to fix the damage done by the farmer is unreasonible!!! Contact the proper county office where they set and enforce the guide lines for the maintennance of county property and ask them to come up with a solutoin!! if that does not work sit out their in a lawn chair next time that Combine shows up!!! Maybe you could just get together with some neighbor's and you all send the farmer or the county an estimite what the nessesary repair will cost???


Originally Posted By: labman
OK the grass out next to the road really isn't mine. But I am expected to maintain it. Yet, every fall the farmer runs his combine up a residential street it doesn't fit on to get to his field. There is a county road he could use, but takes a short cut through the lawns.

He leaves 3''-4'' deep tractor tire marks in the grass. Can you imagine trying to mow that?

Is it reasonable for me to expect him to keep it out of the grass? What should I do about it? I can't believe he doesn't realize he is ruining the lawns. I guess he just doesn't care.
 
I can't quite figure out this "it's not really mine" thing. Are you saying it's some easement or right of way? That is, you do own it, but others have full access to it; like a sidewalk?
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
That is, you do own it do you pay personal property taxes on it, but others have full access to it; like a sidewalk?
 
Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
Put up a cheap plastic white picket Fence let him destroy it then file charges against him in small claims court! He will use the other road from then own.


Really. Put up a fence on property that isn't yours, and have no right to erect a fence on?

Is the goal here to make a judge laugh?
 
Around here property starts 10 feet back from the road. Power company came through trimming branches and all the wood was in the public right of way, so I helped myself.
wink.gif


Remember in Washington DC how one's driveway isn't theres?

If one's property ends ten feet sooner, but noone else can really enjoy/modify that property, I don't see it cutting anyone's value any, so they're paying the same taxes anyway. Or since it cuts everyone's land relatively equally and one has schools to feed...

My town actually does mow that ROW with a brushhog about once a summer if the property owner doesn't do it. We don't seem strict on making anyone mow their own lawns.
 
Originally Posted By: labman
OK the grass out next to the road really isn't mine. But I am expected to maintain it. Yet, every fall the farmer runs his combine up a residential street it doesn't fit on to get to his field. There is a county road he could use, but takes a short cut through the lawns.

He leaves 3''-4'' deep tractor tire marks in the grass. Can you imagine trying to mow that?

Is it reasonable for me to expect him to keep it out of the grass? What should I do about it? I can't believe he doesn't realize he is ruining the lawns. I guess he just doesn't care.


If it isn't yours but you are expected to maintain it, you should still have the right to complain (as it makes your job harder).

I'd tell the farmer "politely" before you go off and escalate the situation. Most people if communicated first can be easier to deal with, and the "authority" usually favors people who attempt to solve the problem politely first.
 
In Shingle Springs, CA they were going to put in an Indian casino without upgrading the local infrastructure sufficiently. The structure required large components that exceeded the width of the road. Homeowners in the travel path put large boulders on the edges of their property that negated the ability of the contractors to move in the modules. Worked as a delaying tactic for a while.

That is probably your property, but the county and the utilities have an easement. That doesn't mean a farmer can tear up your lawn. I'd contact him, and tell him if he want's to drive there, come back later and fix what he tore up. If he won't do that, strategically place some "nice" landscaping boulders in a pattern that prevents him from driving on the lawn.
 
Beyond the ambiguity of the easement, it might not be legal for him to drive that equipment down a residential street.

Is it really worth getting your hackles up over something minor that happens once a year on a piece of dirt that isn't yours?
 
Ouch, you guys are brutal. JohnBrowning, I hope you realize that generalizing that all farmers are pig headed and ignorant is as wrong as saying that all BITOGERs have OCD and are nerds.

I used to have a one sided opinion about truck drivers until I spent a few hours in my FIL's semi tractor and learned their perspective. Now, I understand their side of the situation and I am more tolerant.

The sensible thing to do is to find out what the local laws are regarding the ROW of your residential street. In Michigan, state and county road ROW is 33' on either side of the center line. That does not mean anyone can do whatever they want. I found this out while combating garage sale signs left everywhere. Residential areas probably have local codes.

Next, with information in hand, talk to the farmer first. You know the old rule about "going over the head" of the person whose behavior you are not satisfied with. It's tough to negotiate a solution if you don't communicate with the person in question. If he is unreasonable, then you have to take other action.

Finally, like my analogy above about the truck driver, today's farmers are burdened by government regulations as much (or more) as anyone else. If you were in their shoes, you might be more forgiving of them. Maybe there is a legitimate reason he avoids the county road. Maybe he doesn't realize the problem he is causing you.....I know that the dirt bikers that drag race a quarter mile away from me don't realize how much their noise annoys me....they're just having fun.

In my area, the suburbs are pushing into farm lands. Next thing you know, the people are complaining about the manure being spread on the fields. IMO, it's kind of like building your home next to an airport, then complaining of the noise. Was this farmer here before the residential area? Maybe he has an axe to grind.

I would talk to the county extension service or Farm Bureau Cooperative. They are supposed to be trained in dealing with the City/rural interface problems.

Yea, you have a right to be annoyed if this disrupts you from maintaining a nice lawn. I get annoyed all the time with people that turn around IN my lawn because they are too lazy to back up in the drive way. I feel your grief.

Good luck Labman!
 
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