tigger - 5/14/2011 15:07

The only reason you can say the fence is of value to the person without cattle for the purpose of keeping cattle out is because the very fence law we are debating makes it so by allowing the person with cattle to shift responsibility of cattle ownership to the neighbor who does not own them.  It's a classic example of peeing on the neighbor's leg, telling him it's rain, and now telling him how good it is for him.  If the person with the cattle was taking responsibility for the cattle in the first place, he would keep them contained at his own expense and bear the liability if they got out and damaged theneighbor's crops.  It was his decision to have the cattle in the first place and he ought to take responsibility for it in my opinion.  That's how it works in some other states, but not the case here in Iowa.  Perhaps the fence law makes some sense in your neighborhood, but it very seldom does here, and has not for a long time.  I just go along with it and smile because the law gives me no other choice.  That does not make it right.  Over the years it has taken a fair amount of time, money, and compromised the quality of my boarders without just compensation.   Good fences don't make good neighbors when the fence is for the benefit of one neighbor at the other neighbor's expense. 

Here, most of the time, if the person with cattle under Iowa law forces the neighbor to build a fence, it is a fence that otherwise would have been of no use, and is only of use now in the sense that current law forces the noncattle neighbor to take responsibility for cattle he does not own.  It forces a neighbor to build and maintain a fence he would otherwise not wish to have or to take on liability for cattle he does not own.  I don't know how you can think that is a good thing.  I do not think it is right. 

No one is in a better position to know what kind of a fence is needed, how soon it will be needed, and for how long it will be needed than the person with the cattle.  The person with the cattle ought to be the one to build and maintain the fence that is needed as a result of his activities and take responsibility for his own cattle should they get out.  That's not how it is in Iowa, but that's the way I think it should be.  It seems I'm not the only one who thinks that way.