A dispute over a property line between two Southeast Michigan neighbors has led to one of those neighbors pettily constructing a 250-foot-long wall of manure. This wall, which the constructor dubbed a “compost fence” when he spoke to Fox 2 Detroit, separates the pair, and also makes life miserable for tenants in a nearby guest house.
Wayne Lambarth, the owner of the adjacent property, says that his neighbor usually spreads cow manure along his field. But he’s now changed that approach and instead stacks manure in a (successful) effort to convey his anger over a property line dispute that occurred last year. Lambarth’s grandfather reportedly developed the farm 100 years ago, but a debate over where each neighbor’s land starts and ends bled all the way into 2020.
This manure line makes life awful for residents of a rental house that sits next to the property line. Worse yet, local officials say there’s nothing that can be done since the turds lay on the disgruntled farmer’s property.
“It’s just a shit pile over there,” said Jaidyn Schwarzel, one of the people who lives in the guest house.
The other person who lives there, Coyne Gatto, explained why this is a problem, saying “It’s like you can’t leave the window open. The whole upstairs will smell like it.”
Fox 2 Detroit’s reporter also approached the farmer with his neighbors’ grievances. As they wrote of his reaction “he responded something inaudible about not liking the price of milk before he got back to work on his farm.”
