# Wasn't too happy coming home to this...



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

They are running power transmission lines for wind turbines near me. Came home to this. Heavy heavy equipment must have been on the flat piece. Compacted down 2" - 3" and rough as heck.

Got a little irate when they wouldn't give me a number to call, finally had someone come out and talk to me. They said they thought it was just wild land (I don't know what that is).

Had a long talk about compaction, crop damage, value. I know it was a small piece of land, but it is my piece of land. They said they'll, "fix it". I said no, I'll value the damage and you can pay me to fix it. They said no problem.

Still "grrrring" inside.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Geez! What a mess.

Around here they always contact the landowner before going onto the property or at least they have in the past.


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## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

I'm not sure how many of you have lived through wind turbine construction. I niether for or against wind, but it becomes quite a headache for those who have to live through the year-long construction of a 77 turbine project.

Eventually the work crews adopt a "ask for forgiveness later" approach. I get it, they are under the gun, the project is behind schedule, but now that we are out of winter and into cropping time they need to be a bit more careful.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Bishop said:


> I'm not sure how many of you have lived through wind turbine construction. I niether for or against wind, but it becomes quite a headache for those who have to live through the year-long construction of a 77 turbine project.
> 
> Eventually the work crews adopt a "ask for forgiveness later" approach. I get it, they are under the gun, the project is behind schedule, but now that we are out of winter and into cropping time they need to be a bit more careful.


Every season I'm yelling at an oil and gas worker several times a summer if I catch them in the act. Same thing. Driving in wet hay fields and saying they didn't think anyone would care for a couple of tracks.


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## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

Did you give them a right of way? If not could be some decent money in it for you.

Utility company here decided to move some power line that were in the middle of a field to the edge of the field

near the road, only problem was someone forgot to get with the land owner about moving the lines and securing

a new right of way. The utility company trashed about 10 acres of navy beans put huge ruts in that field got seven

or eight pieces of equipment stuck bad, cut down some huge pines trees that this sweet ninety year old lady's grand-

father had planted she was very upset and in tears. Long story short it ended up costing the utility company a couple of million dollars.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I have idiots drive into my fields just to joy ride. Caught some asshole driving a bobcat in one of my fields of nice 30" orchard grass from a neighboring construction site. He said to me he was "spotting deer". 
People are so dumb and inconsiderate in this country. They have no idea what we go through. They think it's just "grass". 
I had some fat ugly b*tch following me down a skinny back road in her 500 series Benz flashing lights and honking horn at me cause I was going "only 24 mph". Actually followed me into field and started screaming at me with a cigarette hanging out of her big fat mouth because I was "holding up traffic".

It's a shame we can't purge this country of liberals and dumbasses all with one big BOOM cause I'm about sick to death of yer fat, ugly tatted up ass with your nose ring, and eye lid piercings, boobs hanging out yapping your stupid "urban" slang on your 6+ in your starter BMW you bought with money you got from your parents.

Sorry for the rant!!! I feel better though.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

JD3430 said:


> yer fat, ugly tatted up ass with your nose ring, and eye lid piercings, boobs hanging out yapping your stupid "urban" slang on your 6+ in your starter BMW you bought with money you got from your parents.
> 
> Sorry for the rant!!! I feel better though.


I didn't need that picture right before bed...I gotta get up early and make hay tomorrow, and I will be having nightmares of her and her 38-longs tucked into her hot-pants.

...things that make you go "uuuuuuuuggggghhhhhh"

73, Mark


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## reno12469 (Jul 7, 2014)

Bishop,where are you located?


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## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

reno12469 said:


> Bishop,where are you located?


I'm in Ontario Canada, 45 minutes from Niagara Falls. If you are ever out this way just drive until you see the hardest crappiest clay in the world, and I'm right about there.

I'm surprised how much calmer I am now at 5:00am drinking my coffee, getting ready to go out and chain harrow some crusted corn. Asked for quite a bit to fix it. Probably deep rip the 1/2 acre later this summer, work it up and put down seed.

I told them 2 years of hay at 50 bales per 1/2 acre at $4.00 per bale + $1000 to deep rip it and fix it up and replant, so $2000. I think they might actually pay it. They drove a telehandler on it moving around cement ballast weights, you can see the weights in pic #4. That is where all the compaction came from. They actually set up in the wrong spot once, then had to move it all 50', all the while driving on wet hay ground.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I've been threw transmission line project and a windmill project,both in wet yrs.Ruts 2 ft deep!!They pd 150% of the crop damage.It's not enough!,.Takes a good 5 yrs to get it back in shape.Hauled a lot of manure on it and ripped it in.And a few yrs later seeded it to alfalfa so the roots will help with subsoil compaction.

A million pound crane driveing across wet soil isn't good for the soil.


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

I had some neighbors kids decide to go ATVing across our biggest field 2 days before we were to chop it. I was pretty upset and did some hollering and screaming, and not just at the teenagers, but at my drunk neighbors getting drunk on their porch watching it.

In retrospect however I was in the wrong.

The discbine did a good job of "fluffing" the grass up so it could be cut, and the ATV's were too light to make ruts in the hay field. In the end I lost credibility with my neighbors and caused bad feelings when really no damage was done. My mouth gets me into trouble sometimes and now I wished I had remained mum.

That being said however, the potential for damage is always there. A rock kicked up by a ATV went through the chopper one year and did $40,000 to the knives. Thankfully there was insurance for it.


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

As for utility companies, I have had it out with them before, but not from farming, but rather logging. Mostly it was for "encroachment" which is utilizing power line rights of way for logging trails and log yards.
But one year when I was a kid, my Uncle and I got into some real trouble. If you look on a map of Maine you will see two major road systems; the interstate system and Route One. We were on the edge of Route One in Belfast and about 3 poles down from the Sub-Station that feeds the City of Belfast.

We were cutting White Pine and it leaned back on the saw. We took the bulldozer and tried to push the tree over but it broke off the stump and tipped over backwards...right over the powerlines and onto Route One. The Utility companies main office was 1/4 mile down the road and they were not long in showing up. The entire city of Belfast was without power. They cancelled school. The jail went on lockdown and the Hospital was on emergency power. It was bad! And were they were really screaming too even as I limbed out the tree and pulled it off the wires and out of the road. They kept saying how much this was going to cost us, and that we would go to court and all this crap. But the whole time my Uncle was mum, which was a surprise.

When they finished running their skimmers, my Uncle just smirked and said, "You know when you added onto that sub-station a few years ago did you ever consider that the rock wall you bulldozed just might be a property line. I don't know how much this is going to cost me, but I know buying that land off me is going to be a whole lot more."

The Central Maine Power Company supervisor just said, "Well I guess we all make mistakes now don't we", and nothing more was ever said; no bill ever sent.


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

By the way, the utility companies don't care about costs for property damage. When I was on the railroad and worked on derailments the railroad figured they were losing $30 a second every second the railroad was out of commission. It does not sound like much, but added up it is a lot!

When Hulcher came in, they could care if its in someones backyard and a tree is in the way, they will cut it down and fix the damage later. Compared to $30 a second, landscaping is cheap.


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## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

These guys said that any stop in work costs them in the $1000's per hour. If they aren't done by August 1st they start to pay penalties for work not done.

So yeah, I guess driving on it is a lot cheaper for them in the end.


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## lcjaynes (Jul 25, 2014)

Sonofagun. Wow. Feelin' for you.


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## aawhite (Jan 16, 2012)

I feel your pain. My farmstead is in the middle of a 110 tower wind farm. I rent the section, and the owners leased the wind tower rights. It worked out okay, though. I lost very litle wheat ground, and have full access to the gravel service roads they ran to the towers, which is really nice for moving grain trucks in and out.

The construction company worked with me after they were done, ripped areas thay ran a lot of traffic, seedeed grass where we told them to, etc. All in all not a bad route. Just wish I was getting the royalty checks!


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## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

I was working for Davey Tree here in Michigan when the great ice storm of 1998 struck the North East and we were sent to Montreal in Quebec Provence to help clear the power lines of downed trees....We were told that Hydro Quebec had a million dollar deductible on their insurance policy that covered such happenings as major ice storms and that it took them a total of a minute and half into the storm to meet that deductible.

I most say we were treated very well by Hydro Quebec and the citizens of Montreal and surrounding environs. We were there for four months working sixteen hours a day seven days a week not one day off whew....


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## Dan_GA (Dec 29, 2015)

JD3430 said:


> I have idiots drive into my fields just to joy ride. Caught some asshole driving a bobcat in one of my fields of nice 30" orchard grass from a neighboring construction site. He said to me he was "spotting deer".
> People are so dumb and inconsiderate in this country. They have no idea what we go through. They think it's just "grass".
> I had some fat ugly b*tch following me down a skinny back road in her 500 series Benz flashing lights and honking horn at me cause I was going "only 24 mph". Actually followed me into field and started screaming at me with a cigarette hanging out of her big fat mouth because I was "holding up traffic".
> 
> ...


Shoot the first one. Word will spread fast.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Just got a new mower, new turtles, new blades, etc. mowing in a very clean dependable field. Driving next to a 2 year old home. New owner tossed a 15" round sandstone Boulder in my field. Hit it with mower after 1 hour of use. 
Got that field done, moved to next field. Started out well. Then made a pass along tree line. Nit a 12" diameter and 6 foot long piece of box elder. The branch fell into the field and the property owner had actually begun to saw it up and left a huge chunk in the field. More torn up blades. Surprised it didn't tear up the whole cutter bar.

I swear I don't know what the [email protected]$&!? is wrong with people. 
Schools teaching kids about transgender bathrooms and feeling guilty for having white skin because of slavery from 150 years ago.

We're circling the drain, and the circles are getting smaller.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

RuttedField said:


> As for utility companies, I have had it out with them before, but not from farming, but rather logging. Mostly it was for "encroachment" which is utilizing power line rights of way for logging trails and log yards.
> But one year when I was a kid, my Uncle and I got into some real trouble. If you look on a map of Maine you will see two major road systems; the interstate system and Route One. We were on the edge of Route One in Belfast and about 3 poles down from the Sub-Station that feeds the City of Belfast.
> 
> We were cutting White Pine and it leaned back on the saw. We took the bulldozer and tried to push the tree over but it broke off the stump and tipped over backwards...right over the powerlines and onto Route One. The Utility companies main office was 1/4 mile down the road and they were not long in showing up. The entire city of Belfast was without power. They cancelled school. The jail went on lockdown and the Hospital was on emergency power. It was bad! And were they were really screaming too even as I limbed out the tree and pulled it off the wires and out of the road. They kept saying how much this was going to cost us, and that we would go to court and all this crap. But the whole time my Uncle was mum, which was a surprise.
> ...


Lol, Sounds like one of my adventures.......was up in north Georgia running some communication fiber along the right of way. Was using a burnup witch (dozer with a static plow about 3' long), my brother was on the plow and he said he noticed the plow bogged for a minute so of course he "worked it" thru the 8" water main  we were plowing next to the main when it turned and went under the road......the road looked like "the highway of death" after the main broke, closed the road down and a subdivision about 1/4 mile down the road was without water......of course that was small cakes compared to the damage about 4 miles down the road at the chicken farm  think about 3k died that day, rest their souls.....


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I just had to put "No trespassing" sign on my hay barn. Caught some bozos in Jeeps parked in front of it, standing inside, having a beer and smoking!

Asked them what they were doing; said they were looking for a place to go off-roading.

Told them they were on private property and "politely suggested" they leave.

Ralph


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

JD3430 said:


> Just got a new mower, new turtles, new blades, etc. mowing in a very clean dependable field. Driving next to a 2 year old home. New owner tossed a 15" round sandstone Boulder in my field. Hit it with mower after 1 hour of use.
> Got that field done, moved to next field. Started out well. Then made a pass along tree line. Nit a 12" diameter and 6 foot long piece of box elder. The branch fell into the field and the property owner had actually begun to saw it up and left a huge chunk in the field. More torn up blades. Surprised it didn't tear up the whole cutter bar.
> 
> I swear I don't know what the [email protected]$&!? is wrong with people.
> ...


Yep...

I used to work for United Gas Pipeline Co., cutting rights-of-way through subdivisions around Katy (basically west Houston, TX). Most of our rights of way had actually been rice fields back before my time-- many still had rice levees across them in various places! But, of course, that was in the 50's, and this is now-- all that land has laid idle as low-rate cow-pasture for 50 years and finally sold off to sprout new urban (well, SUBurban, sprawl). It was AMAZING the crap we'd hit out there.

I ran a Ford 4610 with a 3 point six-foot bush-hog shredder on the back. One day I'd mowed the ROW from the far side, abutting a drainage "creek", up to the back fences of the subdivision, which are LITERALLY inches away from the edge of the ROW. It was grown up about six feet tall in johnsongrass and giant ragweed (horseweed to you northern folk, bloodweeds to us Texans) so I was shredding by "feel" as much as by sight. I was shredding along and suddenly everything starts shaking and shimmying and the shredder is making the most gawdawful noise you ever heard-- I thought it was the usual pile of bricks, or pile of lumber debris leftover from when the homes were built, which the builders ROUTINELY just "toss over the fence" in big piles... No, this time I saw the mangled remains of a PUSH MOWER roll out from under the back of the deck...

Some A-hole's push mower evidently died, so they TOSSED IT OVER THE FENCE onto the ROW for us to end up grinding up. Hope it sent some shrapnel through the fence on him... LOL

Later! OL J R


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