How many of you...

Use county roads as headlands so you don't pack YOUR field, tearing up the road in the process?
Plant corn as tight as you can to an intersection, just to get that extra little bit?
Clean mud off the road if YOU leave an excessive amount on the road?
Have had to park at the end of your mile, and walk home because a 4X4 truck can't get down a road that a foreign dairy has been hauling manure on all day with a dualled up articulating Case IH?
Chisel plow a foot off the edge of the road to make your rows come out right?
Leave your chisel plow down when you cross a gravel road to your other field?

In defense of Goose a bit further down, I wonder how some operate and how conditions are in your locale. I'm a farmer, so don't call me a citiot, but here is how it is in MI. A farmer can haul full weight loads whenever he wants as long as it is a farm commodity, feed, manure, sand, etc. Most of the smaller guys around are a bit more respectful and DON'T do that, even though the right to farm act protects them. They know the roads weren't made for a set of super trains, they were made for smaller trucks, and they also know if they help tear up the road, it isn't going to help the township fix it, since they don't have to money to fix it anyway. I see lots of farmers that tear up a foot of the road on each side, what does it hurt to leave a foot or two of grass. I have also seen cars stuck in the edge of those fields where the gravel settles down and looks like road, but is just mush with no base. If a foot along a road makes or breaks you, you probably have other things to worry about. After I stuck the semi in a field last fall, and pulled out on the road, leaving mud all over, I went home and got a shovel and scraped it off. A young man near where onefarmer lives was killed a few years back at a 4 corn corner. I like to keep 15' of grass to mow at our intersection so that people can see oncoming cars. If I plant it too close, I'm not going to complain if the county mows it back, it's not worth it. I have seen many times in the northwest corner of my county, a farmer that leaves his chisel plow or disc down across the road. Oops, forgot to pick it up. Well, when you do it 3 or 4 times in a mile, maybe your memory isn't so good. I don't like to tear things up that other people use too, I don't turn every headland turn on the road. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have no use for the foreign dairies in this county. There is a road in Gratiot county called Buchanan Rd. Was a very nice paved road about 15ish years ago. It was an old paved road, but holding up great. Then along came a dairy farmer from Europe for the tax breaks. They haul more manure in the big tri axle tankers than with the semis. They can't get in trouble with a tractor drawn tanker, it can't be overweight. And even though they can still haul full weight loads when frost laws are on for everyone else, that's just not enough, and they don't want to pay overweight tickets for the trucks. They will use big 4 wheel tractors with those tankers until they have the roads so turned inside out that you sometimes can't get down them with a 4wd pickup, certainly not a car. Once the road gets so bad it slow down their process, they move to a different route, or a different field, then complain that the roads need to be fixed. That Buchanan road now has about a 10-12% crown to it as the tankers hauling down it have pushed the edge of the road down a foot or more, squeezing the base out from under it and making a berm equally as high along the edge of the road, now holding water. Take the berm off if you want, it'll be back in a few months. Pretty much everybody on that road and the haul routes to that road where there well before the dairy. When the farm owner kept complaining that the bad roads were slowing down his farm, the township asked if he would like to help pay to fix the road and make it a class A road. His response, "NO. I am entitled to use this road, you are responsible for fixing it". Wheeler Twp tried to fight a 10,000 head foreign dairy from being started there, after seeing what they do to the roads around the other ones, they knew they couldn't afford to fix the roads once the dairies destroy them. Even though the township voted unanimously NO in favor of allowing the dairy to build, they couldn't stop it, the right to farm act prevailed once again and they have been destroying things for about 4 years at that location now. This is a very rural location. Want to sell your home to get away from the farm? You can't, property values are down so far because of the bad roads, constant truck traffic, etc, you won't have much luck unless you give it away. So how would you like to leave for work in the morning, and when you get home you have to park at the end of your mile and walk home due to someone that came in after you were there? I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm just pointing out differences in my area. There IS a difference in being a respectful citizen and farmer, and NOT being respectful to others. I like to treat others how I would like to be treated, even if it does sometimes take a bit longer. I get along with pretty much all of my neighbors and I don't mind that. It would bother me if someone I knew wouldn't wave to me on purpose.

Well...I have to confess. There's just a little stretch here where I turn around with the corn planter,sprayer and chopper. I try not to get out there with tillage tools,but it seems kind of foolish to plant headlands in the corn along that little bit.

How big are your road right of ways? Around here a township road is 66 feet and they get to maintain that portion. The though being if you have farmers planting to the edge of the road inside the road right of way I would think a warning in the spring would be sufficient before the mower comes out to maintain your township right of way.

It really sounds like your state tried to to a good thing for the farmers with the right to farm act. That act probably needs tweaked but with the government we have now good luck. I know one local township posted no grain carts allowed signs due to one local guy ruining the roads with his cart in the fall. Most people know enough to not be on the roads with loaded grain carts. Here the local road commissioner has a good bit of power to do what it takes to maintain the roads.

If the county keeps the weeds and Rye out of the ditch, I won't farm the ditch!!

I know exactly where you are talking about.. The Dutch dairy by us in 2015 had the weight master writing tickets when frost laws were on. The tractors were over the speed limit..

In my neck of the woods the road ditches are deep and wide so nobody farms up to the edge of the traveled portion. If a farmer sneaks a row or two into the county right of way the county comes out and plants ROW signs in the planted rows. Next time that farmer sneaks into the ROW he is fined, period. If a farmer chews up the road he gets a visit from a sheriff's deputy or the county engineer. It is illegal to throw rocks in the road ditch too but a lot of lazy sloppy farmers get away with it. Our county is very serious about keeping the roads in good shape.

In Idaho I have hung the end of the header over the blacktop paving when combining wheat.

In my neck of the woods the road ditches are deep and wide so nobody farms up to the edge of the traveled portion. If a farmer sneaks a row or two into the county right of way the county comes out and plants ROW signs in the planted rows. Next time that farmer sneaks into the ROW he is fined, period. If a farmer chews up the road he gets a visit from a sheriff's deputy or the county engineer. It is illegal to throw rocks in the road ditch too but a lot of lazy sloppy farmers get away with it. Our county is very serious about keeping the roads in good shape.

In Idaho I have hung the end of the header over the blacktop paving when combining wheat.

(quoted from post at 18:35:28 04/06/16) If the county keeps the weeds and Rye out of the ditch, I won't farm the ditch!!

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Who's land is it? So within reason they have every right to let stuff grow that if they want too.

Rick

Our ROW's are same as yours 33' from center of the road. You're right, most people know enough not to do stupid stuff, but some aren't/don't care unfortunately.

Ross

I would tip over farming the side of the road here!

I sometimes will cross
the road and turn
around in our field on
the other side
(implement raised of
course), but going
straight across
doesn't really even
leave any marks in the
gravel, it's the guys
that get in the road
and stamp the steering
brake to pivot around
every time that grinds
me.

Ross

They can, we just try to
be a little more
courteous to everyone
else around this area.

Yes, those Fendts and Fastracs will really move!

Ross

Gratiot county mows paved roads twice in summer, 12' wide where possible, gravel roads once at end of summer 6'. Those are the minimums. Wider if time allows.

Ross

We have not had cows for a very long time so no manure on the road. The roads have ditches so no turning equipment on it as though it was a headland not that we would do it if the ditches were not there. Too much traffic moving too fast to think about doing stuff such as that. The bottom line is we think in terms of being respectful to public roads and traffic and are very liability conscience. The sheriff here will stop to talk to you if you leave mud on the road or do not have the soil saver locked in transport thus damaging the road. No matter what way you look at it being dumb or arrogant does not pay here.

The state forces the county and school board to charge me $47 an acre taxes.

I will plant my entire farm to crops to try to recoup the money I am charged.

If the township or county or state need more visibility on their roads, they need to buy a bigger easement from me.

That is not -my-responsibility to give up my land on my own. -They- have the engineers and data to design their road properly.

That is the only thing I take issue with on your list.

And in my case, the county takes a very wide easement, so there is no issue on my property.

Just saying, that point rubs me the wrong way.

Paul

Sounds like the Hutterites around here. Farm to the edge of the road, semi trailers loaded heaped from front to back on gravel roads, offer to take out line fences then keep squeezing onto neighboring land. Like the neighbor says, "they might be religious but they aren't Christian".

You won't get away with that here in Nebraska ....it wouldn't be possible to farm the ditches here anyway

I understand Paul, I have no problem with your way of thinking. I guess maybe I didn't explain fully either. Some farmers will plant in the right of way, on a corner, to the edge of the pavement, all the way around the approach. To be able to see if there is any oncoming traffic, the front end of your vehicle is fully into the lane of the crossroad. So the county will come out to the corner and mow 4 rows or so 100-150' long to allow people to see around the corner. Then the furious farmer calls in to the county saying that he is owed X amount for his corn that was destroyed, but this same game is played every year corn is grown. Usually the same farmer at the same spots each time.

Ross

Are Hutterites sort of like Amish? Have heard of them, but don't think there are any around here.

Ross

East Isabella county line rd just southeast of Shepherd...same thing. One or two years after the Dutch dairy moved in , the blacktop road disappeared. County graded it up back to gravel. They are hauling them big trailers of silage from clear up to Mt. Pleasant and as far north as Rosebush. Beating the crap out of Wise Rd. all the way from Blanchard Rd. up to M-20.

Have you ever seen anybody not raise an implement when crossing a public road ? I think that's a lot different than crying about a truck that has .3 more kernels on than somebody thinks it should

I know exactly where you're talking about. I thought I would take the "scenic" back road route to the MCS brine well one time last summer, what a mistake. Once I got within a few miles of that farm, I couldn't drive over about 6-8 miles an hour on the gravel roads leading to that farm. I hadn't been through that way before, but once I was there, I couldn't go any other route, they were all just as bad. They were hauling silage at that time and had absolutely destroyed every road near there.

Ross

FARMERS ARE VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE AROUND HERE TEAR UP ROADS,DITCHES CULVERTS AND YA BEST STAY OUTA THERE WAY, MAKE MORE MONEY SO THEY CAN BUY MORE LAND AND BIGGER EQUIPMENT GREED

Religion of the Amish and Hutterites may be similar but the Hutterites own many hundreds of acres and farm with new 4wd tractors and the latest and biggest JD combines. Big self propelled sprayers that reach over fences and spray your crop with abandon. Grain loading and unloading facilities that rival the biggest elevators. Sorry to say they farm next to me.

(quoted from post at 19:35:28 04/06/16) If the county keeps the weeds and Rye out of the ditch, I won't farm the ditch!!

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I agree with that! Around here they just claim the easement; it's lost to the landowner and if the landowner wants the weeds kept down he can mow with HIS equipment! If he replaces the fence he must give the county their un-fenced shoulder/ditch out to their 'easement' boundary. If it wasn't for that any field that has livestock turned into it would not need that kind of weed control on the owner's side of the fence and would need it only on the county road's shoulder! :twisted:

If a truck with five axles is loaded to 100,000 gvw and a truck with 3 axles is loaded to 60,000 which truck put more stress on the road

Take a drive down M57 over by Ashley and look at the damage the tractors hauling manure tankers have done to the shoulders of the highway. They haul them overweight pieces of crap up and down here all day and it's destroying the side of the highway. You can actually watch them sometimes as it's happening. The side of the road buckles like they're driving on jello. They need to be paying for it and not sticking the tax payers with this bs. I often wonder why the county and state cops don't pull them over and bring out a weighmaster and fine the sh@t out of them for the damage. It's getting beyond ridiculous. People should think before they sell their land to these mega dairies because it ruins the area for everyone. I'll pretty much see to it that any of our land turns back into a jurassic swamp for the next 10,000 years before I sell it to one of those outfits.

Yes it happens. I wonder if the taxpayers got screwed into paying for it?

Around here you would liable for damages like that to a road.

We have a lot of farmers here that plant right to road on secondary roads. But in a way I can't blame them because we pay property taxes to the middle of road.

Here in SC you don't have to worry about crops growing up to block the view at intersections, trees grow up and take care of reducing visibility. Incidentilly, if a tree grows up on the ROW on my land I assume I can harvest the tree. No problems with that so far. Loggers won't cut big tres at the edge of the road, afraid it will fall into traffic.

KEH

From what you have described in your first post, it sounds to me like the "right to farm" laws are allowing major abuses of roads and property.

Local laws are made by PEOPLE. You are a PEOPLE. Start a campaign to CHANGE those laws. At least to add some REASONABLE limits and liabilities to them. Like compliance with frost laws. Like liability for crossing a highway with an implement down causing major damage. Abuses like this that are apparently protected by "right to farm" laws need to be remedied. How long can folks tolerate the abuses? Who pays to repair the roads? Or do the roads simply stay impassable?

I grew up in farm country in upstate New York. None of the abuses you describe were allowed. They simply would not be tolerated!! Your legal structure is BROKEN!! This is one place where more government control could be a GOOD thing.

I've seen it happen locally. Usually it is older guys who are starting to lose it upstairs.

Yeah, if that happened here, you would be liable for the damages, and subject to further heavy fines and possibly jail time. But then NY has very few two track roads left. Most are mutli-million dollar per mile highways. But even where they are two track roads, you would pay for the repairs and be fined heavily to boot.

Yes, the state takes fairly wide right of ways here and the townships and counties do also. They generally will not allow anyone to tear up the right of ways. I do agree with you on that point. It's my land, I'm getting burned on taxes and I'll use it.

and then you have the other problem- idiots coming to the country for a drive. people that shouldn't be on a gravel road. I live a mile from Roseman Covered Bridge. You know the 1 Eastwood made the movie about. Tour buses destroyed the road going to it. It took our county several years to get the ruts out of it. I'll bet not 1 tour bus operator paid a dime in taxes to fix it. There is a reason these are called farm to market roads. How many times in the past 30 years have I been asked to take a tractor, in pouring down rain, and drive down a dirt road to pull some guy, not a farmer, out of the mud? How many times have I been ask to trespass on one of the neighbors farms-- to pull some idiot out who was trespassing on the farm, again not a farmer. Around here you cant farm up to the edge of the road. Most of the farms are still family owned and the guys and gals do their best to not destroy the roads, WHY because they have to travel on them and depend on them to get their crops in and out, their livestock to and from the point of sale.

Ross,I would have to question your 33' or 66'twp.right a way statement.If that is true,then 99% of power lines(on twp-county &state rds.) and in some places 80-90 or even 100% of houses-barns would have to be moved.Yes there are people that push it,but there are or seem to be a lot of people on here that think we should be farming with two mules and a 8N and stay off all roads when they are on them.The SMALLEST Combine you can buy today is over 12 foot wide and weights between 25,000 and 30,000 pounds without heads.

That looks like it would be a bit hard on the machinery. More likely the farmer got screwed on the bill for the patch job.


Then again how many times has the state or county gotten theirs when some dirtbag drives down the road on a rim or lets their POS burn on the road side ruining the pavement they are parked on?

Hi Casecollector , They must be related to the ones I'am dealing with right now, one got told the other day I don't know how some of you can go within 2 miles of a certain book or building without it catching fire. But in defense of some colonies They are not all bad, the guys before them were real top notch and couldn't fault them. I wish they would come help benefit my bank account again. All these others seem to want to do is give a $ and take $2.50 back the next year from my income, as they mess us around.

The state of Nebraska is trying to pass a "Right to Farm " law this year. On the surface it sounds like a good idea, but it overrides much of the local control that townships and counties now have. It's beginning to look like it could easily be used as a license to steal. I'm afraid it could attract much bigger thieves to the state without actually helping the folks who support the law now. Sometimes we have to be careful about what we ask for.

Yep, I see your point there too

Ross

I live about 6 miles from Ashley. The Dutchman that owns the first one on Buchanan Rd, also owns that other large facility on Buchanan on the other side of the county, they will be almost doubling it here soon when they are done with the addition to that East Buchanan Rd facility.

Ross

Yes it is 100% for certain 33' from center of road each way. I believe it is 125' from the center line of the highway, and 66' from the center of the ditch for the drain commission. I'm not trying to make everybody go back to using an 8n, I just wondered how things were in other places. I don't know about power poles, the ones across our property have an easement to them, they are in the middle of the field.

Ross

Well for what it is worth. It Think this is all a bunch of nonsense.
You obviously have not been to the good ole boys county of Shiawassee. They will and have ticketed farm equipment for being to wide on a county road. This was 20 years ago. It got dismissed after going to court on it back then.
According to Attorney General in his opinion implements of husbandry are exempt from weight, width,and length laws in MI. Now this was back in the 80's so it could have had a court ruling that has changed that since then.
An Attorney Generals opinion has the force of law till it is over turned in a court of law. That is in MI and could also have changed since then too. I did have a copy of his opinion at one time. I would have to either fnd it or get a new copy of it.
Now for the paying for the road damage it would seem to be pretty obvious who made the damage if it goes across the road by who is working the land on either side of the road. As for the paying for it. That would be done by their insurance company if you prove who did it. As for the wear and tear on a road it is paid by the taxpayers anyway.
I don't care for the county and their guy mowing hitting the fence and tearing it up and having to fix it since it was fine till they hit it. It is a fence that is on the back side of the ditch bank and has been there since Christ was a pup.

The attitude is, "I pay taxes, therefore the road belongs to me, and I can do anything I want with it." Easements are land that was "stolen" by the government, so they're going to take it back.

Most easements are purchased.