Herding cattle across the highway

[robbyr]

About a mile and a half from me on a state highway I致e seen a rancher several times move cattle from one side of the highway to the other. It痴 not straight across. They move them a couple hundred yards. There will be guys on four wheelers or atvs on each end with road flags communicating by cell phone. I致e come upon this a few times before they got started and once as they were finishing. They must wait til there痴 a break in traffic then get the flaggers out to stop any that comes along. I致e never had to wait and don稚 have a problem with it. Just curious if it痴 legal for a rancher to do this. As far as I can tell it痴 him and his employees and nobody from sheriffs department.

 

[Creamer]

Did that all the time growing up - never thought anything of it. Sometimes we herded them right down the road but never on a paved highway as they didn't like walking on it so we kept them in the ditch.

 

[MossRoad]

When I was a kid there was a dairy farm just north of here about 2 miles that had the barns and dairy on one side of the road and their pastures on the other. They milked twice a day, so counting the return trip to the pasture, they crossed 4 times a day. We'd just stop and watch. Of course, the thing I remember most, being a young boy, was all the cow poop on the road! :laughing:

 

[goeduck]

My wife’s dad was a true cowboy. He had cattle drives right through downtown, from mountain to river and back seasonally. If I were held up on the highway by a cattle drive, I would sit back and enjoy a bit of Americana and hope I had a full cup of coffee to enjoy the experience. Enjoy life!

 

[deserteagle71]

Happens all the time in most of the western states. As Goeduck says, enjoy it...it's a part of Americana.






If you see a sign proclaiming "Open Range", that means that livestock have the right of way; generally there are no fences at all in the area. Should you run into and kill a cow or horse in an Open Range area, YOU are liable for damages; you'll have to pay the owner of the cow or horse what he deems it was worth. It's the law!


I can think of at least two deaths this past summer in my area from someone running into a mustang (4-legged kind) that was on the road in the middle of the night yet the roads remain unfenced. This is the sign for free-roaming mustangs:


The Interstate Highways are the only ones you can generally depend on being free from livestock. Needless to say, we are VERY careful when driving the secondary roads at night. Kind of hard to see a black cow or horse!

 

[Wagtail]

It's quite common here on the Tasman Highway around Pyengana, a 100kph zone.

Usually it's just crossing the 2 lane road but sometimes it's a cattle drive of 5km along the 'long paddock' (the roadside) from Pyengana to the high paddocks.

Along the Midland Highway, they've built stock tunnels to alleviate this problem.

 

[rhunt]

A funny story I have to tell: My wife and I where driving on Rt 94 going out of Newton NJ towards Blairstown one early morning and came upon a trail of manure that covered our lane for about a quarter of a mile. My comment to her was: "The farmer probably said, **** city slickers, I'll fix them" and popped the lever and unloaded the spreader right there on the highway. We laughed so hard my wife pee'd her pants. Got to love country humor. Bob

 

[disney]

So if you drive a small red car, and a bull charges it, is the rancher responsible for the damage?

 

[LouNY]

It is still done around here both dairy cows and beef use the roads or cross them,
View attachment IMG_20171208_154849922.jpg

 

[oosik]

All the ranchers, in this area, use the county roads to move cattle from one grazing area to another. Some times the trip lasts upwards of three hours.

Very common occurrence in this neck of the woods. If you see steaming piles - you could be in for a surprise around the next corner.

Just remembered - I did, once, see cattle being moved ACROSS the interstate( I-90 ). That WAS with the help of the State Police. Lot of cows - looked like 500 or more - probably took more than an hour - there were "cow breaks" every 15 minutes to allow for traffic flow.

I bet there were a lot of upset city folks - delays, hot wx, and a lot of cow poo to drive thru.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

It's all up to state and local law. I just checked, here is my local law:

906. Droves of Animals on Streets
906.1 No person shall drive or conduct sheep, swine, beeves, or other cattle in herds
or droves through any improved city street, nor any densely populated suburban
street, nor on any suburban paved or board sidewalk, except as provided in this
section.
906.2 No person shall drive or conduct swine, beeves, or other cattle between the
hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.
906.3 No herd or drove shall follow a preceding herd or drove at a distance that is
less than one hundred fifty (150) yards, and no less than two (2) drovers shall be in
charge of any herd or drove.
906.4 Sheep driven or conducted between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.,
and when crossing a bridge, shall be in charge of at least six (6) drovers; and the
footway and not less than one-third (1/3) of the roadway of the bridge shall be kept
free of obstruction by the sheep.
906.5 No drove of beeves shall consist of more than fifteen (15) beeves.
906.6 Horses and mules shall not be driven loosely through any street under any
circumstances, but may be conducted in droves of not more than six (6) haltered
together and in charge of at least one (1) person holding the halter.
906.7 No horse, mule, goat, sheep, swine, bovine, or other cattle shall be allowed to
run at large in the District, and no person owning or harboring any of these animals
shall cause or permit an animal to wander, rove, or run at large unrestrained.
906.8 Horned cattle may be led singly by a rope or halter through any of the streets
in the District.
906.9 A cow and calf may be led together, if the cow is secured by a rope or halter.
906.10 No loose herd or flock shall be driven or conducted in the District, except with
a permit issued by the Chief of Police.
906.11 A permit to drive or conduct a loose herd of animals shall designate the route
and time the herd or flock may be driven or conducted.
906.12 No person under sixteen (16) years of age shall drive or conduct any animals
listed in this section.
906.13 No person shall wash or clean any vehicle; or water, feed, or clean any
horse, mule, cow, or other animal; within fifteen feet (15 ft.) of any public hydrant or
pump within the District.
906.14 No person shall bring into the District from any other state, territory, or
jurisdiction, on, over, or along any public street, avenue, highway, road, alley, or
place, any animal that is not fit for use or that is not free from lameness, sores, and
any vice or disease.
906.15 No person shall bring into the District any animal that is likely to cause delay
in traffic; or to obstruct any street, avenue, highway, road, alley, or place; or to
cause accident or injury to persons or property using those places.
906.16 No person shall drive or work any unfit or diseased animal on, over, or along
any public street, road, alley, or place in the District.
906.17 The owner of any diseased or unfit animal shall not allow or permit it to be
driven, worked on, or brought into the District along or over any street, avenue,
highway, road, alley, or place from any other chapter 27 of the Code.

 

[LouNY]

Fortunately we have what is called "Right to Farm Law" in our town and most of the towns and counties around here which allows common practices to be continued without having to worry about new residents throwing fits and stopping normal farm practices. That covers tractors and equipment on the roads, manure being spread in fields, mud being tracked from fields to roads, cows being moved on and across roads. And other practices.

 

[Bird]

I've not seen cattle, or other animals, being driven on, along, or across Interstate Highways, but it's always been fairly common on State and County Roads. It's been a long time since I was out in the western part of Texas and saw the "open range" signs along the highway and no fences.

 

[robbyr]

If it was a county road or farm to market road I wouldn’t think anything of it. This is a pretty busy state highway and about 3 miles from Bucee’s. Don’t ask about Bucee’s. I’m sure it only takes them a few minutes.

 

[deserteagle71]

To facilitate animals crossing Interstate 80 in Nevada land bridges (animal bridges?) were built across the freeway. These are primarily to accomodate migrating herds of mule deer and elk but of course cattle and mustangs use them too. These things are huge - much bigger than what it appears like in this picture. The orange barrels are not there because of the bridge - there was a highway crew doing some work about a half mile the other side of the bridge.

 

[4get gto]

A funny story I have to tell: My wife and I where driving on Rt 94 going out of Newton NJ towards Blairstown one early morning and came upon a trail of manure that covered our lane for about a quarter of a mile. My comment to her was: "The farmer probably said, **** city slickers, I'll fix them" and popped the lever and unloaded the spreader right there on the highway. We laughed so hard my wife pee'd her pants. Got to love country humor. Bob

Know the area well. Grew up in Newton. Farms were every 1/2 mile at one time.

 

[CWB Wyo]

I live on a county road, south of a national forest . The land on west side of the road is private and it's open range. The ranchers move livestock up and down the road all summer long. Wyoming is a fence out state, if you don't want them on your property you have to fence them out.

It's just part of living out here.
CWB

 

[Bird]

If it was a county road or farm to market road I wouldn’t think anything of it. This is a pretty busy state highway and about 3 miles from Bucee’s. Don’t ask about Bucee’s. I’m sure it only takes them a few minutes.

Don't ask about Bucee's. Why not; now I gotta ask. They wanted to build one about 3 blocks from my house, but our city council voted it down 3 to 2, so at the next elections, we voted those 3 out, but by that time Buccee's had already gotten approval to build in Denton, about 3 or 4 miles from here. It's been under construction a good while; may be the first of next year before they finish. The one of I-35W on the north side of Ft. Worth usually had the cheapest gasoline around this area.

 

[tcreeley]

Some years back, in Concord, Mass. my wife and I were headed in toward Boston on rt 2, a divided highway when we noticed the traffic on both sides slowing. As we approached we discovered that the local fox hunt club was crossing the highway, all mounted. The dogs were also crossing. They had a couple of riders giving directions and managing the traffic. It took just a few minutes, and then they were gone.

 

[mobilus]

Don't ask about Bucee's. Why not; now I gotta ask. They wanted to build one about 3 blocks from my house, but our city council voted it down 3 to 2, so at the next elections, we voted those 3 out, but by that time Buccee's had already gotten approval to build in Denton, about 3 or 4 miles from here. It's been under construction a good while; may be the first of next year before they finish. The one of I-35W on the north side of Ft. Worth usually had the cheapest gasoline around this area.

Bucee's is a tourist destination for those of us north of one. Every time we go to Ft Worth, we stop in. Who'd ever have thought a gas station/convenience store could be so big!

They've been building one in our county, on US287, for awhile now. Pretty much guaranteed to put a hurting on existing businesses.

Anyway, black cows in the road have caused a few deaths locally over the years. We nearly hit one one night, and found an open gate down the road. We herded the escapee back in to the pasture and called the sheriff's office to tell them that any fingerprints were due to putting the cow back, not rustling...just in case.