People want to come and look, but not buy, I say no. Am I a jerk?

[redtailgal]

Yesterday a lady brought a kid w/ her that I had told her NOT to bring back 2 yrs ago b/c he poked through our fence w/ a stick at our barking LGD.

(Yes. Tried aggravating the already upset dog, even more....said he wanted to see if it could bite the stick in half.....grrrr....)

I thought, "OK, he's two years older, maybe he's matured."

HAHAHAHA

I told her he had to wait in her car after A) I caught him feeding a leaf to a bred rabbit....turned out to be harmless, but what if he'd grabbed the wrong 'green thing' to feed her? and B) after he kept repeatedly stepping over me (after I asked him to stop) while I was trying to disbud a goat. I literally grabbed his leg, told him to STOP and said, "He has to go to the car. NOW." We finished, she paid, and left in a hurry.

I doubt she comes back and that's fine 'n dandy w/ me.

If people and / or their kids are rude here, they get told not to come back. I don't need the business that bad.

here here..........well said!

 

[cluckfan]

You have more Patience that I would ever have. I love kids but out side people just don't understand that there are boundaries when it come to your farm and animals. I have had a lady show up to look at a mare only to over stay her visit by two plus hours. She is a dog groomer and offered to shave one of my minis that really need it. I agreed to that and at least got something out of her. I watched her closely and she did a good job. She paid for her visit by shaving the colt for me. Of course this was after she had to visit my mares out in the pasture and offer them treats. Well lucky for me she never showed up again. I dont know why I allowed her to talk me into such a long visit. she came to look at a mare for sale only to tell me that her husband would never let her buy one!

 

[Southdown]

Safety is certainly another issue because children don't know to stay out of pens with rams (and neither do their parents)! Sometimes kids like to aggravate the animals (as with your LGD dog story) and I'm assuming it's because they never grew up on a farm and were never taught. I'm not sure.

cluckfan: I would be so mad if people were coming over without asking first, especially when I'm not home. I would definitely speak to them about it. Like I mentioned before, I would never go over to someone else's house who lives in town and just go into their house/yard and do whatever. Why is it that if you live in the country, people think they can come onto your property? If I did that in town, I'd probably have the cops called on me. Geesh.

 

[elevan]

cluckfan: I would be so mad if people were coming over without asking first, especially when I'm not home. I would definitely speak to them about it. Like I mentioned before, I would never go over to someone else's house who lives in town and just go into their house/yard and do whatever. Why is it that if you live in the country, people think they can come onto your property? If I did that in town, I'd probably have the cops called on me. Geesh.

I agree. I would give one final warning about it and their next warning would come from the sheriff explaining what criminal trespass means.

 

[Siouxqie]

I just had another "cute" one this last weekend. I was out, came home to find some lady had come up onto my porch (which is gated on both sides because it leads to the yard), and through the gate on the OTHER side. Both gates were open, and she was letting her dog chase my animals. (I have my mini donkey, goats, and llamas free-roaming between the pasture and yard when we are not home). I didn't say a word to her, just padlocked the gate on the deck, and called the cops.

The officer explained to her that in Washington, a dog harassing livestock can be euthanized at the farmers request. He told her the next time she tresspassed on my property, she could be charged with breaking and enteringbeccause she went through a latched gate into our yard, and got into our barn.

I let the cop take her dog to the humane society for a 3 day hold. It'll cost her 90 bucks to pick her dog up. I didn't want him put down, it's not his fault his owner is a stupid, tresspassing (insert nasty name of your choice). I think this will be the end of it with her though. The officer also had me go through all my tack and supplies to make sure nothing was stolen, and check over all my animals to make sure none were hurt. It was nice to watch her sit in the back of the car for an hour and a half, while I took my time. Everyone was fine, but I REALLY wanted to smack her. I'm thinking I need to buy one of those signs that reads, "Due to increased ammunition prices, no warning shot will be fired."

Truth be told, I think part of it is that I don't look like a "farmer." I have tattoos, piercings, and a mohawk, so I guess people think it's ok to just ignore my rights and not be respectful of my property and animals.

 

[Southdown]

I think you did the right thing by calling the cops. I wonder what the laws are in MN. We have our neighbor's two black labs that they do not fence in or tie up and they have come over to our property a few times. Although we have an electric fence, the dogs can easily fit through our gates because our gates don't line up tight to the wooden posts. No one has ever been hurt, but I don't want to lose any sheep or chickens either. I could be mean and let my Great Dane out, then their little labs would be toast. However, I would not want to be inhumane like that either, but then again, losing my sheep would piss me off. I drove over to their house one day and told them their dogs were in our yard and to come get them. She was so nonchalant about it and told me to just tell them to go home. Ok lady, I already tried getting them to leave. It's not like saying "go home" to them is working. She was too lazy to come and get them so she just walked down the road 1/3 of the way and called them. What a joke. Husband thinks that if they are on our property near our livestock that we have the right to shoot the dogs. I wouldn't want to be that jerk of a neighbor though.

 

[swiss.susan]

I agree, if I were buying out of a herd or flock I would fully expect to see the whole herd or flock. I need to see overall health, look for any signs of CL or CAE. I ALWAYS bring the surgical booties when at another farm because i don't want to run the risk of bringing something home. If i am still not allowed to see the barn area I will leave, assuming they have something to hide. But to just come out and observe? No way. you aren't being a jerk at all. When prospective buyers come, they are met in the driveway and given thier very own booties I have never had anyone offended refuse to wear them.

 

[cluckfan]

Southdown & Elevan

Yep, sounds like a plan. I have been trying to go out of my way to be nice since we wil be living here for a long time and so will they. She has cattle, think that she would know better!

 

[Southdown]

What are the booties for? You can transmit diseases on the feet? If so, what diseases specifically? Sorry, but I am new to this idea, so I need to learn.

 

[elevan]

What are the booties for? You can transmit diseases on the feet? If so, what diseases specifically? Sorry, but I am new to this idea, so I need to learn.

A lot of illness / parasites can be tracked back and forth on the soil that collects on the bottom of your shoes. The booties are for that reason.

When I did a field day with our state's extension office at a local farm when we handled the sheep we had to wear paper coveralls and booties along with rubber gloves in order to protect the farm's sheep from things that we may have brought to their farm on our shoes / clothes / hands.