It is said that strong fences make good neighbors. Iowa law provides for legal fences and tight fences. On Friday, August 10, 2007, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a decision describing what is a tight fence.
A five strand barbed wire fence may be a legal fence under Iowa law, but the Iowa Supreme Court finds that it is not the equivalent of a tight fence (For a discussion of the cost of fences in the state of Iowa, follow this link to the Iowa State University Extension Service.). The dispute involved a fence between the farms of Jerry Longfellow and Hal Sayler in Taylor County in southern Iowa. An agreement between Longfellow and the previous owner of the Sayler farm provided the boundary fence would be tight as defined by Iowa law. Sayler’s fence consisted of five strand barbed wire, which Longfellow argued was not a tight fence.
The Taylor County fence viewers and a district court judge found under Iowa law, the five stand barbed wire was the equivalent of a tight fence. The Iowa Supreme Court disagrees. The Court states that Iowa law requires a tight fence to have a physical barrier, such as woven wire. The Court finds that without an equivalent physical barrier, Sayler’s fence is nothing more than a lawful fence.
The case is returned to Taylor Court district court which is ordered to enter judgment giving Sayler 90 days to install a tight fence, and Sayler is ordered to pay all costs associated with the fence viewers proceeding, as well as the appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.
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