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169C.1. Definitions
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Aggrieved party" means a landowner or a local authority.
2. "Landowner" means a person who holds an interest in land, including a
titleholder or tenant.
3. "Livestock" means an animal belonging to the bovine, caprine, equine, ovine,
or porcine species; ostriches, rheas, or emus; farm deer as defined in section 481A.1; or
poultry.
4. "Livestock care provider" means a person designated by a local authority to
provide care to livestock which is distrained by a local authority.
5. "Livestock owner" means the person who holds title to livestock or who is
primarily responsible for the care and feeding of the livestock as provided by the
titleholder.
6. "Local authority" means a city as defined in section 362.2 or a county as
provided in chapter 331.
7. "Maintenance" means the provision of shelter, food, water, or a nutritional
formulation as required pursuant to chapter 717.
169C.2. Custody
A landowner may take custody of livestock if the livestock trespasses upon the
landowner's land or strays from the livestock owner's control on a public road which
adjoins the landowner's land. A local authority may take custody of the livestock as
provided by the local authority. The landowner shall not transfer custody of the livestock
to a person other than the livestock owner or a local authority, unless the livestock
owner approves of the transfer. A local authority shall not transfer custody of the
livestock to a person other than the livestock owner or a livestock care provider.
169C.3. Notice to livestock owner
1. a. If livestock trespasses upon a landowner's land or the landowner takes
custody of the livestock, the landowner shall deliver notice of the trespass or custody to
the livestock owner within forty-eight hours following discovery of the trespass or taking
custody of livestock which has not trespassed. If a local authority takes custody of the
livestock, the local authority shall deliver notice of the custody to the livestock owner
within forty-eight hours after taking custody of the livestock. The forty-eight-hour
period shall exclude any time that falls on a Sunday or a holiday recognized by the state
or the United States. The notice shall be made in writing and delivered by certified mail
or personal service to the last known mailing address of the livestock owner.
b. If the aggrieved party does not know the name and address of the livestock owner, the
aggrieved party shall make reasonable efforts to determine the identity of the livestock
owner. The reasonable efforts shall include obtaining the name and address of the owner of
the brand appearing on the livestock from the department of agriculture and land
stewardship under chapter 169A. If the name and address of the livestock owner cannot be
determined, the aggrieved party shall publish the notice as soon as possible at least once
each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in the
county where the livestock is located.
2. A notice required under this section shall at least provide all of the following:
a. The name and address of the landowner or local authority.
b. A description of the livestock and where it trespassed or strayed.
c. An estimate of the amount of the livestock owner's liability.
169C.4. Liability
1. A livestock owner shall be liable to the following persons:
a. To a landowner for damages caused by the livestock owner's livestock which have
trespassed on the landowner's land, including but not limited to property damage and costs
incurred by the landowner's custody of the livestock including maintenance costs. A
livestock owner's liability is not affected by the failure of a landowner to take custody
of the livestock. A livestock owner shall not be liable for damages incurred by a
landowner if the livestock trespassed through a fence that was not maintained by the
landowner as required pursuant to chapter 359A.
b. To a landowner who takes custody of livestock on a public road as provided in section
169C.2 for costs incurred by the landowner in taking custody of the livestock, including
maintenance costs.
c. To a local authority which takes custody of livestock for costs incurred by the local
authority in taking custody of the livestock, including maintenance costs.
2. An aggrieved party who fails to provide timely notice of a livestock's trespass or
custody as required by section 169C.3 shall not be entitled to compensation for damages
for the period of time during which the aggrieved party fails to provide timely notice.
3. A landowner is not liable for an injury or death suffered by the livestock in the
landowner's custody, unless the landowner caused the injury or death. The landowner is not
liable for livestock that strays from the landowner's land. An aggrieved party is not
liable for livestock that strays from the control of the aggrieved party.
169C.5. Satisfaction for damages
1. a. After receiving notice by an aggrieved party as required by section 169C.3,
the livestock owner shall pay all damages to the aggrieved party for which the livestock
owner is liable.
b. The aggrieved party or the livestock owner may bring a civil action in order to
determine the livestock owner's liability and the amount of any claim for damages. The
aggrieved party or livestock owner must bring the action within thirty days following
receipt or publication of the notice as required by section 169C.3. The court may join all
other claims arising out of the same facts that are alleged in the claim for damages. The
civil action may be heard by a district judge or a district associate judge. The civil
action may be heard by the district court sitting in small claims as provided in chapter
631.
c. If the livestock is in the custody of an aggrieved party or livestock care provider, a
rebuttable presumption arises that the livestock has trespassed or strayed from the
control of the livestock owner. The rebuttable presumption shall not apply if a criminal
charge has been filed involving the removal or transfer of the livestock. The burden of
proof regarding all other matters of dispute shall be on the aggrieved party.
d. The failure of an aggrieved party to provide notice as required by section 169C.3 shall
not bar the aggrieved party from being awarded a judgment, if the court determines that
the livestock owner had actual knowledge that the livestock had trespassed or strayed and
the name and address of the aggrieved party.
2. If a civil action is brought by the livestock owner or aggrieved party, the matter
shall be heard by a court on an expedited basis. The aggrieved party shall provide for the
transfer of the livestock to the livestock owner, if the livestock owner posts a bond or
other security with the court in the amount of the aggrieved party's claim. If a bond or
security is not posted, the aggrieved party or livestock care provider shall keep custody
of and provide maintenance to the livestock. However, the livestock owner shall post the
bond or other security if the matter is set for hearing more than thirty days from the
date that the petition bringing the civil action is filed. The court shall order the
immediate disposition of the livestock as provided in chapter 717, if the livestock is
permanently distressed by disease or injury to a degree that would result in severe or
prolonged suffering.
3. If a civil action is not timely brought as provided in this section, title to the
livestock shall transfer to the aggrieved party thirty days following receipt of the
notice by the livestock owner or the first date of the notice's publication as required
pursuant to section 169C.3, if the parties fail to agree to the amount, terms, or
conditions of payment or if the identity of the livestock owner cannot be determined.
Title to the livestock shall transfer subject to any applicable security interests or
liens.
4. A landowner is liable to the livestock owner for twice the fair market value of
livestock that the landowner transfers to a person other than a local authority in
violation of section 169C.2.
5. If the aggrieved party is a local authority, the local authority shall reimburse the
landowner for the landowner's damages from proceeds received from the sale of the
livestock, after satisfying any superior security interests or liens.
327G.10. Killing of stock--interpretative clause
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to relieve the corporation from liability
arising from the killing or maiming of livestock on said track or right of way by its
negligence or that of its employees, nor shall anything in this chapter interfere with the
right of open or private crossings, or with the right of persons to such crossings, nor in
any way limit or qualify the liability of any corporation or person owning or operating a
railway that fails to fence the same against livestock running at large for any stock
injured or killed by reason of the want of such fence.
359A.1A. Partition fences
The respective owners of adjoining tracts of land shall upon written request of either
owner be compelled to erect and maintain partition fences, or contribute thereto, and keep
the same in good repair throughout the year.
359A.2. Trimming and cutting back
If said fence be hedge, the owner thereof shall trim or cut it back twice during each
calendar year, the first time during the month of June and the last time during the month
of September, to within five feet from the ground, unless such owners otherwise agree in
writing to be filed with and recorded by the township clerk.
359A.3. Powers of fence viewers
The fence viewers shall have power to determine any controversy arising under this
chapter, upon giving five days' notice in writing to the opposite party or parties,
prescribing the time and place of meeting to hear and determine the matter named in said
notice. Upon request of any landowner, the fence viewers shall give such notice to all
adjoining landowners liable for the erection, maintenance, rebuilding, trimming, or
cutting back, or repairing of a partition fence, or to pay for an existing hedge or fence.
359A.4. Decision--deposit
At said time and place the fence viewers shall meet and determine by written order the
obligations, rights, and duties of the respective parties in such matter, and assign to
each owner the part which the owner shall erect, maintain, rebuild, trim or cut back, or
pay for, and fix the value thereof, and prescribe the time within which the same shall be
completed or paid for, and, in case of repair, may specify the kind of repairs to be made.
If the fence is not erected, rebuilt, or repaired within the time prescribed in the order,
the fence viewers shall require the complaining landowner to deposit with the fence
viewers a sum of money sufficient to pay for the erecting, rebuilding, trimming, cutting
back or repairing such fence together with the fees of the fence viewers and costs. Such
complaining landowner shall be reimbursed as soon as the taxes are collected as provided
in section 359A.6.
359A.5. Contribution postponed
In case a landowner desires to erect a partition hedge or fence when the owner of the
adjoining land is not liable to contribute thereto, the fence viewers may assign to each
owner the part which the owner shall erect, maintain, rebuild, and repair, trim or cut
back, by pursuing the method provided in sections 359A.3 and 359A.4; but the adjoining
owner shall not be required to contribute thereto until the owner becomes liable so to do,
as elsewhere in this chapter provided.
359A.6. Default--costs and fees collected as taxes
If the erecting, rebuilding, or repairing of such fence be not completed within thirty
days from and after the time fixed therefor in such order, the board of township trustees
acting as fence viewers shall cause the fence to be erected, rebuilt and repaired, and the
value thereof may be fixed by the fence viewers, and unless the sum so fixed, together
with all fees of the fence viewers caused by such default, as taxed by them, is paid to
the county treasurer, within ten days after the same is so ascertained; or when ordered to
pay for an existing fence, and the value thereof is fixed by the fence viewers, and said
sum, together with the fees of the fence viewers, as taxed by them, remains unpaid by the
party in default for ten days, the fence viewers shall certify to the county auditor the
full amount due from the party or parties in default, including all fees and costs taxed,
together with a description of the real estate owned by the party or parties in default
along or upon which the said fence exists, and the county auditor shall enter the same
upon the tax list and the amount shall be collected as other taxes.
359A.7. Service of notice on nonresidents
The notice by the fence viewers provided for in this chapter may be served upon any owner
nonresident of the county where the land is situated, by publication thereof, once each
week, for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper printed in the county in which the land is
situated, proof of which shall be made as in case of an original notice and filed with the
fence viewers, and a copy delivered to the occupant of said land, or to any agent of the
owner in charge of the same.
359A.8. Orders
All orders and decisions made by the fence viewers shall be in writing, signed by at least
two of them, and filed with the township clerk.
359A.9. Notice
All notices in this chapter required to be given shall be in writing, and return of
service thereof made in the same manner as notices in actions before a judicial
magistrate.
359A.10. Entry and record of orders
Such orders, decisions, notices, and returns shall be entered of record at length
by the township clerk, and a copy thereof certified by the township clerk to the county
recorder, who shall record the same in the recorder's office in a book kept for that
purpose, and index such record in the name of each adjoining owner as grantor to the
other.
359A.11. Record conclusive
The record in the recorder's office, unless modified, by appeal as hereinafter provided,
shall be conclusive evidence of the matters therein stated, and such record or a certified
copy thereof shall be competent evidence in all courts.
359A.12. Division by agreement--record
The several owners may, in writing, agree upon the portion of partition fences
between their lands which shall be erected and maintained by each, which writing shall
describe the lands and the parts of the fences so assigned, be signed and acknowledged by
them, and filed and recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds of the county or
counties in which they are situated.
359A.13. Orders and agreements--effect
Any order made by the fence viewers, or any agreement in writing between adjoining
landowners, when recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds, as in this chapter
provided, shall bind the makers, their heirs, and subsequent grantees.
359A.14. Lands in different townships
When the adjoining lands are situated in different townships in the same or
different counties, the clerk of the township of the owner making the application shall
select two trustees of the clerk's township as fence viewers, and the clerk of the other
township one from that clerk's township, who shall possess, in such case, all the powers
given to fence viewers in this chapter, but all orders, notices, and valuations and
taxation of costs made by them must be recorded in both townships and in the office of the
recorder of deeds of each county.
359A.15. Fence on another's land
When a person has made a fence or other improvement on an enclosure, which is found to be
on land of another, such person may enter upon the land of the other and remove the fence
or other improvement and material, upon the first paying, or offering to pay, the other
party for any damage to the soil which may be occasioned thereby, and the value of any
timber used in said improvement taken from the land of such other party, if any; and if
the parties cannot agree as to the damages, the fence viewers may determine them as in
other cases; such removal shall be made as soon as practicable, but not so as to expose
the crops of the other party.
359A.16. Right to build fence on line
A person building a fence may lay the same upon the line between the person and
the adjacent owners, so that it may be partly on one side and partly on the other, and the
owner shall have the same right to remove it as if it were wholly on the owner's own land.
359A.17. Fence on one side of line
The provisions concerning partition fences shall apply to a fence standing wholly
upon one side of the division line.
359A.18. Lawful fence
A lawful fence shall consist of:
1. Three rails of good substantial material fastened in or to good substantial posts not
more than ten feet apart.
2. Three boards not less than six inches wide and three-quarters of an inch thick,
fastened in or to good substantial posts not more than eight feet apart.
3. Three wires, barbed with not less than thirty-six iron barbs of two points each, or
twenty-six iron barbs of four points each, on each rod of wire, or of four wires, two thus
barbed and two smooth, the wires to be firmly fastened to posts not more than two rods
apart, with not less than two stays between posts, or with posts not more than one rod
apart without such stays, the top wire to be not more than fifty-four nor less than
forty-eight inches in height.
4. Wire either wholly or in part, substantially built and kept in good repair, the lowest
or bottom rail, wire, or board not more than twenty nor less than sixteen inches from the
ground, the top rail, wire, or board to be between forty-eight and fifty-four inches in
height and the middle rail, wire, or board not less than twelve nor more than eighteen
inches above the bottom rail, wire, or board.
5. A fence consisting of four parallel, coated steel, smooth high-tensile wire which meets
requirements adopted by the American society for testing and materials, including but not
limited to requirements relating to the grade, tensile strength, elongation, dimensions,
and tolerances of the wire. The wire must be firmly fastened to plastic, metal, or wooden
posts securely planted in the earth. The posts shall not be more than two rods apart. The
top wire shall be at least forty inches in height.
6. Any other kind of fence which the fence viewers consider to be equivalent to a lawful
fence or which meets standards established by the department of agriculture and land
stewardship by rule as equivalent to a lawful fence.
359A.19. Duty to maintain tight fences
All partition fences may be made tight by the party desiring it, and when that party's
portion is so completed, and securely fastened to good substantial posts, set firmly in
the ground, not more than twenty feet apart, the adjoining property owner shall construct
the adjoining owner's portion of the adjoining fence, in a lawful tight manner, same to be
securely fastened to good substantial posts, set firmly in the ground, not more than
twenty feet apart.
359A.20. Tight fence
All tight partition fences shall consist of:
1. Not less than twenty-six inches of substantial woven wire on the bottom, with three
strands of barbed wire with not less than thirty-six barbs of at least two points to the
rod, on top, the top wire to be not less than forty- eight inches, nor more than
fifty-four inches high.
2. Good substantial woven wire not less than forty-eight inches nor more than fifty-four
inches high with one barbed wire of not less than thirty-six barbs of two points to the
rod, not more than four inches above said woven wire.
3. Any other kind of fence which the fence viewers consider to be equivalent to a tight
partition fence or which meets standards established by the department of agriculture and
land stewardship by rule as equivalent to a tight partition fence.
359A.21. Duty to keep fence tight
In case adjoining owners or occupants of land shall use the same for pasturing sheep or
swine, each shall keep that one's share of the partition fence in such condition as shall
restrain such sheep or swine.
359A.22. Controversies
Upon the application of either owner, after notice is given as prescribed in this chapter,
the fence viewers shall determine all controversies arising under sections 359A.18 to
359A.21, inclusive, including the partition fences made sheep and swine tight.
359A.23. Appeal
Any person affected by an order or decision of the fence viewers may appeal to
the district court by filing with the clerk of said court a notice of appeal within twenty
days after the rendition of the order or decision appealed from and filing an appeal bond
in an amount approved by the township clerk. The township clerk, after recording the
original papers, shall thereupon file them in the office of the clerk of the district
court, certifying them to be such, and the clerk shall docket them, entitling the
applicant or petitioner as plaintiff, and it shall stand for trial as other cases.
359A.24. Certification of decree
Upon the final determination of said appeal the clerk of the district court shall
certify to the recorder of deeds the fact that a judgment has been entered upon such
appeal, with the book and page of such judgment, and the recorder shall thereupon enter on
the recorder's record a notation that a judgment on appeal has been entered and that the
same may be found in the office of the clerk of the district court, in the book and page
designated in said certificate.
359A.25. Record kept--fees of clerk
The township clerk shall enter all matters herein required to be made of record
in the clerk's record book, and shall receive ten cents for each one hundred words in
entering of record and making certified copies of the matters herein provided for, and
twenty-five cents additional for the clerk's certificate thereto when required, and shall
also receive the costs of recording in the office of the recorder of deeds of any
instrument required to be so recorded.
Amended in 1997, 2000.
Reviewed and updated by AAHS in December 2001.
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