Manure and other Farm related road hazards

[bwv]

I want to start this by saying, I completely support farming, and understand that right to farm laws exist that protect farmers from ureasonable legal issues.

I have a farmer on the road I drive to work on every day, that has employess haul manure about a half mile to thier fields to spread it.

There are times when the manure and mud cover the road completely, and produce a very slippery road surface even for four wheeled vehicles.

Oftentimes it is 2-3 inches deep in all but the two tracks the equipment they haul it with leave in it... usually for 500 feet or more from where they leave the barn yard and return from the field.

Sometimes large rocks and debris are left in the roadway.

No attempt is every made to clean this up.

This isn't some dirt back road, it is a paved, striped, 2 lane county highway.

My question is... how much is too much? What are the laws?

All i can find is this kind of thing:

"Farm implements, vehicles or machinery are exempt from the reasonable or unavoidable deposit of nauseous or offensive matter. This means farm roads may have mud or even manure from the normal operation of adjacent farm properties."

I could care less about the smells, or the occasional pile of manure here or there... but there are times when 500 to 1000 feet of roadway is just covered with dangerous quantities of animal feces and mud.

Leaving this amount on the road is neither reasonable, nor unavoidable...

 

[ahchiu]

Contact DOT and report unsafe condition due to too much manure.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

If their DOT is anything like our DOTD there is too much manure there as well... Oops, hope that did not cross the line.

I thought that there were laws concerning tracking mud onto the highway. At least here in Louisiana there are signs, DOTD highway department signs that proclaim "Unlawful to track mud onto Highway" I have no idea if there is any exception for farm equipment or if these laws are in fact aimed at farm equipment. Of course, Louisiana law is somewhat different from the rest of the U.S. We are still operating under the Napoleonic Code.

 

[FJRay]

Here in central Oregon they still drive the cattle down the roads. You either wait or slowly make your way through. I've dodged shit for many miles. What you don't miss is a bitch to get off the exhaust once it bakes on. I've seen patrol cars dodging it like the rest of us so I guess it's legal.

 

[bwv]

I know in NY it is illegal for me to get snow on the roadway when i plow my driveway, but the "Right to Farm Laws" are in effect and protect farmers from odor complaints and complaints for things like mud on the road.

I dotn care about mud... but this is just total carelessness and disregard for anyone else.

It's an old family around here...they own half the surrounding land... If I aproached him.. the father would laugh it off, and likely tell me to go screw... the son who runs the farm would yes me to death then do nothing... and, is on the Board of one of the schools i work at...so that sucks...

They hire help that may or may not be US citizens, who simply dont care.

I'm often tempted to scrape some up with my forntloader and drop it off in the drvieway of thier cute little house in the village...

 

[Auburn]

Kind of like complaining about the railroad, they were there first. Most likely, the county road was built through the farms property. It does sound like they are being a little careless and a call to the county roads division might help.

 

[huron52]

Each area has there own type of law for this. Here where I am from you can not leave a harzard condition on the road whether it be snow, wood chips, dirt or manure. I remember when I lived in the country the neighbor had to get his loader tractor out and scrape the road where too much escape over the side of the manure spreader and on to the road. He wasn't asked.... he saw the problem and corrected before someone had a accident.

Good neighbors make more good neighbors.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Montana is a free range state. This sort of thing is not uncommon...

And it can make the road a mess.

If you hit livestock on the roadway then you bought it, but you don't get to keep it. We are surrounded by a cattle and bison ranch. A couple hit and killed four bison while driving a Jeep Liberty past our land, Vehicle totaled (no one hurt surprsingly) and they had to pay the rancher $2,500 a head for the bison. It was cold so the rancher had the bison to the processor within a few hours and got paid again.

 

[ionbeam]

I...understand that right to farm laws exist that protect farmers from ureasonable legal issues.
...There are times when the manure and mud cover the road completely, and produce a very slippery road surface...often times it is 2-3 inches deep...usually for 500 feet or more...Sometimes large rocks and debris are left in the roadway...how much is too much?

...but there are times when 500 to 1000 feet of roadway is just covered with dangerous quantities of animal feces and mud

[Friday]

Option 1: Have a Forum legal eagle send the farmer a letter with law firm letterhead explaining that the path of byproducts leads directly to his farm and should there be injury or death he had better have lots of settlement money and a lawyer fund in his bank account.

Option 2: Have someone in state government drive down that road in a convertible following a truck with mud/snow treads.

Option 3: Send a nice video to the local TV station, asking why NY DOT allows this to happen.

[/Friday]

 

[Fred W]

Best solution might be to find a different way to work?

 

[gumba]

There is a place for cow shit on the highway. We have bicycle races here in the Membres twice a year. They tie-up traffic for the whole weekend. Fred a local rancher is going to put a laxative in the stock tank and then move cattle from one pasture to another. We hope to see Lance A. axle deep in cow shit.

 

[bwv]

Best solution might be to find a different way to work?

Agreed, and this is what i do sometimes... when I know the "product" is there... but sometimes i dont know its gonna be a mess before hand... im'm in a rush.. in a cage.. just dont feel like it.. and the ride back around is ~6 miles longer

This is what I do with the Feej... Longer ride = larger smile. Less feces on the Feej = less frown... that works.

But ... both of my cars are covered in it now, my wife refuses to drive around (so my garage smells just delicious) and, I have a 17 year old daughter, in a 2 wheel drive ranger pickup, that i fear may slide on it. Calves often escape the barn.. and i can just picture the two circumstances adding up to a bad result...

Good neighbors make more good neighbors.

This would be my desired result. I will have to try to be a good neighbor first and hope I am not disapointed.

I think my approach may just be... "Hey Jimmy(farmer)... do you think we can fix this" .. and see what flies..(or what the flies land on...)

If that doesnt work... I'll start with the pictures and the letters to the County Highway department.

[Friday] I am frightened of the results of discussing this on friday, considering the subjest is already manure... [/Friday]

 

[wheatonFJR]

I think Alan is on to something there...

 

[lnewlf]

The entire state of Vermont has a right wheel track, a left wheel track and a brown center lane..

 

[BkerChuck]

This sounds like a pretty shi**y deal no matter how you spread it.

Here in PA we have a lot of Amish and they've forced them to put a "catch cloth" under the hindquarters of their horses to avoid that mess on the roads.Even though you don't anticipate much success with directly approaching the farmer, I'd probably still try that first. At least in this fashion you've given him the option to man up and take care of it.

I would probably take an approach of appealing to him the possible legal ramifications of an accident caused by this situation. God forbid if someone on a bike went down and suffered irreparable harm such as the loss of a limb! While you don't want to come across as threatening perhaps he just needs someone to open his eyes to his possible losses if/when this occurs.

I hardly think it would create a hardship for him to have the manure trailer followed by an irrigation truck to wash down the road behind it.

 

[Fred W]

The entire state of Vermont has a right wheel track, a left wheel track and a brown center lane..

Yeah, but it's legal to pass on the double brown in VT!!

 

[Bugnatr]

This would be my desired result. I will have to try to be a good neighbor first and hope I am not disapointed.

I think my approach may just be... "Hey Jimmy(farmer)... do you think we can fix this" .. and see what flies..(or what the flies land on...)

If that doesnt work... I'll start with the pictures and the letters to the County Highway department.

[Friday] I am frightened of the results of discussing this on friday, considering the subjest is already manure... [/Friday]

I like this idea best.

 

[HotRodZilla]

I think Alan has come the closest to what may solve this for you. You most likely have a littering law that says putting "dangerous substances" on the roadway is illegal. This looks like it might come up against the farmer exception thing, except 2-3" deep for 500-1000 feet is NOT reasonable. You probably also have an "un-secured load" law that says what people load onto or into their vehicles cannot excape onto the roadway.

You should make some calls to your county and see if you can't get a reasonable response.

 

[Chuck35]

You guys have more faith in human nature than I do. Are you often disappointed?

The farmer doesn't give a shit (no I didn't plan that one)

It's his road and you can all go screw yourselves (his opinion)

If you talk to him first, not only will he do nothing he will know who is stirring up shit (I planned that one)