Reply #22: Lots of farmland is being gobbled up near my dad's farm [View All]

[NickB79]

Up here in central MN, it used to be that there was maybe one neighbor every 1/4 mile, and they were farmers as well. Gravel roads, open fields of corn, alfalfa and soybeans, thick acreages of woodlands, pastures and windbreaks. Now where ever you go you see new houses set up on their 2-3 acres of land, nicely landscaped, mowed lawns bright green from being overfertilized. People don't care that they have to commute 30 miles each way to work, so long as they can get their little slice of land. A few sad ones try to hobby farm their land, with a horse here, a goat there, maybe a pot-bellied pig. It infuriates me to no end to see all this development, because 1) it uses up valuable farmland that should be used for crops, 2) it uses up valuable gasoline to commute 60 miles round-trip for work, and 3) it makes it all the more difficult for me to hunt and target-shoot without worrying about hitting a neighbor. A farmer down the road lost a calf to a pack of dogs last year, but he managed to drop two of them before they got away. One of them was a big German Shepard with a tag on it. The owners had just moved into their new house last fall and thought it was ok to let their dogs run and play in the woods out back. The owners were furious that their dog had been shot, and threatened to take the farmer to court. The farmer mentioned how he could call the police and have the couple arrested for letting their dog loose to kill his calf, and the subject was dropped.