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FENCES IN MONTANA
GOOD FENCES MAKE GOOD NEIGHBORS
 Fences and the State of Montana go back for over a century. When the first cattle were driven to Montana from Texas there were no fences. The cattle just grazed the grass that was owned by no one and was there for the taking. When people started farming the rich soils of Montana they quickly learned that fences were needed to keep the cattle from destroying the newly seeded crops.
We have all heard the about the conflicts between farmers and cattle owners of the last century. This conflict lead to some of the fencing laws that we all live with today. The majority of Montana is considered open range. Which means that if you do not want your neighbors cattle on your property you are responsible for putting up the fence. The other basic law states that neighbors shall help each other maintain an existing fence. The rule states that the neighbors shall meet at the center point of the property boundary and shall maintain the portion of the fence that is on their right.
The old saying is very true that good fences make good neighbors.
Montana law also states how a fence shall be constructed.
81-4-101. Legal fences defined. Any one of the following, if not less than 44 inches or more than 48 inches in height, shall be a legal fence in the state of Montana:
(1) all fences constructed of at least three barbed, horizontal, well-stretched wires, the lowest of which must not be less than 15 inches or more than 18 inches from the ground, securely fastened as nearly equidistant as possible to substantial posts firmly set in the ground or to well-supported leaning posts not exceeding 20 feet apart or 33 feet apart where two or more stays or pickets are used equidistant between posts. All corral fences which are used exclusively for the purposes of enclosing stacks which are situated outside of any lawful enclosure shall not be less than 16 feet from such stack so enclosed and shall be substantially built with posts not more than 8 feet distant from each other and not less than five strands of well-stretched barbed wire and shall not be less than 5 or more than 6 feet high. Any kind of a fence equally as effectual for the purpose of a corral fence may be made in lieu thereof.
(2) all fences constructed of any standard woven wire not less than 28 inches in height, securely fastened to substantial posts not more than 30 feet apart, provided that two equidistant barbed wires shall be placed above the same at a height of not less than 48 inches from the ground;
(3) all other fences made of barbed wire, which shall be as strong and as well calculated to protect enclosures as those above described;
(4) all fences consisting of four boards, rails, or poles with standing or leaning posts not over 17 feet and 6 inches apart, provided that, if leaning posts are used, there shall be a pole or wire fastened securely on the inside of the leg or support of such leaning post;
(5) all rivers, hedges, mountain ridges and bluffs, or other barriers over or through which it is impossible for stock to pass.
History: En. Sec. 1, p. 46, L. 1881; amd. Sec. 1, p. 76, L. 1885; amd. Sec. 1111, 5th Div. Comp. Stat. 1887; amd. Sec. 3250, Pol. C. 1895; amd. Sec. 1, p. 139, L. 1901; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 37, L. 1905; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 64, L. 1913; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 163, L. 1919; re-en. Sec. 3374, R.C.M. 1921; re-en. Sec. 3374, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 46-1401.
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