Pigs will drive the neighbors out. That's biological warfare!
Skip a day on the maintenance, people notice 🤣🤣
This is a bit of a long story, but I thought Reddit might appreciate it.
My godfather owns a small cattle ranch out in the countryside. About 20–25 years ago, he needed electricity to power a water pump for his cows. The nearest place where he could connect to the grid was on the opposite side of the ranch, probably about a mile and a half away, so he paid to have utility poles installed across his property.
It was a significant investment, but he figured that constantly running diesel pumps would eventually cost more than installing the poles and connecting to the grid.
Sometime later, a few neighbors who lived on the far side of the ranch asked whether they could piggyback off his electrical line. He agreed. They paid to install a few additional poles, and the electric company placed their meters on the other side.
So far, so good.
There were only a handful of small farmhouses, and the additional poles were located somewhere they didn’t interfere with the ranch. Eventually, fiber-optic cable was installed on the poles as well. Everything worked perfectly for roughly 20 years.
Then, about two years ago, a real estate developer bought the land on the other side of the ranch and began preparing it for a cottage development.
They didn’t exactly get off to a great start with my godfather. They complained about the animals, the smell, and the noise from tractors and other equipment. His response was basically: If you choose to live next to a working ranch, you have to accept that ranching will be happening there.
While planning the development, they discovered another problem. Two miles of 20-year-old electrical cable worked well enough for a few small farmhouses, but it wasn’t capable of supplying the 10–15 cottages they planned to build.
They approached the electric company about upgrading the infrastructure. That was when everyone apparently discovered—or finally acknowledged—that the poles crossing my godfather’s ranch were privately owned.
To avoid making this story even longer, lawyers became involved.
In the end, the electric company and the developer told my godfather that he had two choices: allow the electric company to replace his poles with concrete ones and grant them a permanent right-of-way across his ranch for maintenance, or remove the poles.
So that Sunday, my godfather got on the tractor they use for installing fences and pulled out every single pole.
He told me that when he originally installed the line, he had only about one-fifth as many cattle as he has now. His new plan is to install some solar panels, run a smaller pumping system, and make it work.
The development company, meanwhile, will probably have to install three or four miles of entirely new poles to bring electricity to the cottages—electricity that was apparently already included in what they promised buyers.
My godfather jokingly says it’s interesting how unusually hot this summer has been.
Fortunately, he recently brought in some pigs, and they require less water than the cattle, so they’re easier to keep hydrated and fed.
Purely a coincidence, of course.
Pigs will drive the neighbors out. That's biological warfare!
Skip a day on the maintenance, people notice 🤣🤣
Hogs have the added advantage of being highly odiferous, much more so than cattle. If I were the rancher, I would place the hog barn as close to the new development as local zoning laws allow.
Awesome. 😄
My thoughts exactly!! 😅
Godfather needs a boiler to burn up all thems telephone poles
Reuse the telephone poles as fence posts or for the new pig sty. The part of the pole that was underground could be burned.
That’s the funny thing about ultimatums.
I tell my younger relatives -- especially the unmarried ones -- that when confronted with a "My Way or the Highway" ultimatum, the better choice is the Highway option. Otherwise, the person issuing such an ultimatum starts every "negotiation" with one.
Kinda sad he couldn't just keep the poles he paid for to run his, and only his, power. Also, the fiber company should have been paying a lease to use the poles.
That was actually the first thing I asked him. Apparently, if he waited too long, the government could potentially claim something similar to eminent domain, and he thinks they were probably already working toward that. As for the internet, it's kind of funny—the local ISP is actually owned by one of his relatives (everyone seems to be related out there). As far as I know, though, they hadn't been using the fiber line for a while. Only one neighbor was still using it, and he switched to Starlink as soon as it became available in Mexico. The problem with fiber in rural areas is that you can have miles of cable, but it's pretty vulnerable to damage, so outages aren't uncommon.
I would have kept the poles and simply had the electric company disconnect the main line feom the first pole. Then he could use the poles and lines are on his land with his solar installation.
Beautiful.
Pigs also stink a lot worse than cows!!!
Way worse. At least the cows he has are in the open field, the pigs are in a fenced zone so they have to be close to the water which means they are close to the development
The smell of cattle can be nasty, but it is NOTHING compared to the smell of hogs.... Holy moly. Game, set, match.
If you're going to move next to a ranch, it is better to go up to the Rancher and be as kind and generous as possible. I don't fool around a farm folk.
I lived in a small town in Southern Illinois. They built a new subdivision at the north end of town that was just over a small hill from a large hog farm. Realtors would only show the houses and lots during cold weather, because in summer all it took was a slight breeze to make the place reek of pig shit.
..and then, there is a chicken farm...
I lived in NC for 15 years, and if you’re going to the coast, and not straight on I-40, then you will probably drive by some mega hog farms, which smell insane
OMG I would live ON a cattle ranch long before I ever lived near pigs ever again. Like, tent out among the grazing cows living on the ranch.
Funny how the pigs preferred having their stys adjacent to where the cottages are to be developed...
OMG! The smell of pigs! That developer be able to sell a single cottage!
They're probably already sold, if he's got neighbors complaining about the smell.
guess they really wanted to save on maintenance costs
By "they", I assume you mean either the contractor or the electric company. Both, perhaps?
The mention of the pigs reminded me of a situation in Southern California, near Santa Clarita. The entire area was (this was at least 25 years ago) still zoned residential and agriculture. Housing developments went up, some plots were still just separate. Guy buys a 1/2 acre and wants to drop a modular home on it. Neighbors complain it will lower properly values, even though there is no want to tell it wasn't built on site. This goes around and around for a while and he gets fed up. Since he is zones as agricultural, he buys 4 pigs which was the limit for that lot size. Makes them a nice slop area, gets garbage food to feed them that is stored properly onsite. Neighbors now have a fully legal mini pig farm in the middle of the neighborhood, wishing they had a nice modular home there. He kept it that way for about 3 years, then decided he didn't want to live there anymore, sold the pigs and the land.
I’d rather have pigs for neighbors than people. And yes, I am familiar with the scent of hogs.
Timing, indeed, is everything.
Never piss off a farmer. They can smell the best way to deal with neighbors.
Fallout:
"The development company, meanwhile, will probably have to install three or four miles of entirely new poles to bring electricity to the cottages—electricity that was apparently already included in what they promised buyers."
It is easy to infer from this that the developers will have to go over-budget to fulfill their contract, due to the godfather maliciously complying with the electric company's ultimatum -- just not in the way that the contractor and electric company had hoped for.
Bringing pigs onto the ranch was the chef's kiss.
Put the pens near the property edge where the cottages are going up for some extra kisses from said chef.
I love it. It doesn’t work to play hardball when technology has changed. They apparently didn’t do their research and understand that this was pretty much a losing proposition the second it caused any issues for your godfather. He should send the developer a letter every year, thanking him for forcing him to go to solar and calculating how much money he has saved by not having to pay for electricity.
Having lived near a pig slaughter house when i was in college (one of those good ol liberal arts colleges that just so happens to be smack dab in the middle of a conservative farmland/nowhere... it sucked on many fronts, not just the odor- the people were jerks to the "woke crowd" that kept their businesses afloat back then) man the occasional winds from that slaughterhouse to my apartment were *foul* and we were 10 ish miles away! Flat lands. We had good indoor filtration atleast and I mostly lived on campus cus of my major anyway. People who can't handle or work around animal smells have 0 right to move in and expect perfect "fresh" air. While the smells are foul, they're probably safer to breathe than pretty much any smelting plant, even if the smell of molten metal (and arsenic) doesn't bother you as much, pretty normal for humans, we're evolutionarily disposed to flinch from death, decay, and ammonia smells, but most metal and scentless poisons we have little response to beyond "this is bothersome" or pleasant (anyone, like me, who loves gas station smells).
[removed]
Speaking of someone who grew up by a smelter... I can only imagine how many kinds of cancer I'm going to wind up with.
I'm sure his pigs are also coincidentally kept on the developers side of his property too, right?
Imagine buying land next to a working ranch and then moan that there is a working ranch there 😂😂😂 makes you wonder what goes through developers minds sometimes (I mean we all know it’s only money they think about but still)
Developers don't care. They got their money and went on their merry way, leaving the suckers, er, buyers of the lots to deal with it all.
It’s a problem anywhere houses are put. I worked for the city of Dallas. A couple of urban examples I can think of, off the top of my head. People bought houses right on the edge of an entertainment district there, lots of bars and night clubs. Then would constantly call the police about noise from the bars late at night, drunk people wandering around, and parking. I’m not about to claim those aren’t legitimate concerns, but all of that was going on long before they bought their house there. The police department had their outdoor firearms range. It was originally built in a very rural area. 50 years later, developers build a subdivision next to it. People buy houses then immediately start complaining about the noise. Same thing with the airport. Buy a house near it and then start complaining about the noise and traffic. I would understand the complaining if the housing subdivision were there and somebody came in and built an entertainment district, firearms range or airport next to it. If you choose to move next to a place like that, I don’t think you have a basis to complain.
I am expecting he will build the pig pen by the fence, very very close to the new neighbors. Pigs make a great neighbor if you have no sense of smell and your hearing is not what it used to be.
I love your grandfather!
I love your grandfather!
His godfather sends his approval!
The ultimatum is so idiotic, there is hardly any upside for the owner (the little electricity for his pump) and an incredible high downside, the option was a no brainer
Maybe im missing something but if the poles on his land are privately owned by him how are they able to force him to do anything?
You know what is also great for farms? Bees.
If he didn't take those poles down so quickly they would have taken the choice away. Smart move.
What happened with the neighbors getting power now?
nd started building a large residential community. Suddenly, all these new homeowners wanted access to the electricity that was now running across my godfather's property. Instead of negotiating with him, the developer pushed for a lawsuit to force him to allow access. In response, my godfather found out that his easement agreement let him refuse any more lines being added, so he told the utility company to take down everything that wasn't part of his original agreement. They had to remove all the additional poles, leaving
The town of Carnation in Washington was named after carnation dairy farms. People would move out of Seattle and then complain about it smelling like cows. Surprise!
[removed]
They didn’t exactly get off to a great start with my godfather. They complained about the animals, the smell, and the noise from tractors and other equipment. His response was basically: If you choose to live next to a working ranch, you have to accept that ranching will be happening there.
I don't think people will EVER be able to grasp the concept.
Similar to a story I posted here a years ago.
[deleted]