ditch mowing

[mikehaugen]

ok, so the "tired" thread reminded me of a question I have meaning to ask on here.

I live in quite a rural area. I am on 2.5 acres, my nearest neighbor is about 400 yards away with about 5 acres and this. Neighbor in the other direction is about 1000 yards away with about 3 acres, in the other direction probably close to 1/2 mile with about 5 acres. Between all of this is corn/ bean fields and we are all on gravel roads.

To get to the point, the ditches around here get pretty high sometimes and I have mowed half of a deck wide along the roads very near me. I have wanted to do more, mostly because it makes the roads quite narrow and if you encounter another car and you have to pull to the edge of the road or even off the road then you are driving through 3 of 4 foot weeds. So again, I just do about half of a pass with a 6' mower just to clean up the edges. Is doing this really going to bother anyone? I haven't heard anything yet, but don't do much yet. I could bug the road commissioner but it doesn't bother me to do this maybe twice a year or so. It is to my advantage as well. I don't really have a real close relationship with too many of the neighbors, they are friendly enough but most people around here just kind of keep to themselves, so I don't really want to go around and ask.

Does anyone else do this? Am I wrong to do this? There is also a pretty big maple across the street and about 100' from my property between the road and a cornfield that I have been eyeing (it was struck by lightning about 2 years ago and is dead), would I be wrong to cut this down?

 

[TripleR]

Sometimes I mow along the road, sometimes our renters mow and sometimes a neighbor mows, between us, we keep it mowed down reasonably well. I will also go down and mow around some storage bins as they look bad and it's on a 90 degree curve. The man that owns the bins will have someone mow all the roadway when he has the proper setup on site, but his shop is 8 miles away, it's all a collaborative effort.

EDIT: I missed the part about the tree, we use to cut firewood and never cut anything down without the permission of the land owner.

 

[xtn]

I think you better not just go cutting down someone else's tree. Just because a house isn't near by doesn't mean their isn't an owner.

 

[bigtiller]

Some farmers around here mow like you are about twice a year. It gives the area a "managed" look and they mow the field entrances at the same time.

 

[foreman Etexas]

I mow to my parents and back about a mile of county road,sometimes may go further. The reason for mowing is to see the deer hopefully before in the road,give alittle more time to get slowed down. Nobody cares around here,even the county just means they dont have to but I dont get to close to the other folks fences so my shredder doesnt accidently hit a post or catch the wirer. There is one section they cant get on with tractor,so I get it with my hay cutter but I know were everything is on sides of roads,were not to get but if someone threw wirer or something out take a chance of tearing my own shredder up....

 

[mikehaugen]

kind of my thoughts, just not sure if I was crazy. As far as the tree goes, the issue that I have I guess is who's tree is it really? It is in the ditch so it is the field owners, or the county's? Either way, I think they would both be happy that it was gone since I would bet that neither would cut it down for the wood- only to get rid of it, but you are right... I should probably ask first.

 

[xtn]

I don't know how it is where you live, but around here, at least on a country road, we own to the center of the road. So that includes the roadside ditch.

 

[sdkubota]

I don't know how it is where you live, but around here, at least on a country road, we own to the center of the road. So that includes the roadside ditch.

That is correct here in South Dakota and believe everywhere in the USA. The adjoining landowner owns the property to the center of the road in most cases. You pay taxes to the center also. The county or state has a Right of Way to provide and maintain a public roadway. I would leave the tree alone until you can talk to that landowner.

 

[bobm6996]

I mow the ditch well beyond my propery lines when I mow if it needs cut and the neighbors do it sometimes when they mow. I my area noone is going to get upset if you mow the ditch. The tree is another issue that should be discussed with the property owner.

 

[TripleR]

I noticed on my way out yesterday that my last neighbor at the end of the road had mowed both sides for a quarter mile out and almost a half mile on both sides of the main highway. That was a lot of mowing.