CHAPTER 90
FENCES
90.02 Legal fences; space between ground and bottom.
90.03 Partition fences; when required.
90.04 Effect of fences on action for trespass by animals.
90.05 How partition made.
90.07 Division of partition fence.
90.08 Partition of fences in water.
90.09 Partition when land bounded by water.
90.10 Compulsory repair of fence.
90.12 Apportionment of cost of fence.
90.13 Partition fence on newly-enclosed land.
90.14 Fence on town line.
90.15 Fees of viewers; neglect of duty.
90.16 Record of partition.
90.20 Fencing of farm-raised deer.
90.01
90.01
Fence viewers. The supervisors in their respective towns, the alderpersons of cities in their respective aldermanic districts, and the trustees of villages in their respective villages shall be fence viewers.
90.01 History
History: 1971 c. 304 s.
29 (1);
1993 a. 184.
90.01 Annotation
Town supervisors are not authorized by this chapter to settle boundary disputes. 70 Atty. Gen. 187.
90.02
90.02
Legal fences; space between ground and bottom. 90.02(1)(1) In this section, "high tensile wire" means wire with a tensile strength of 1,235 to 1,450 mega pascals or 179,000 to 210,000 pounds per square inch.
90.02(1m)
(1m) The following and none other are legal and sufficient fences:
90.02(1m)(a)
(a) A fence of strong woven wire not less than 26 inches wide with 3 barbed wires or 3 high tensile wires above.
90.02(1m)(b)
(b) A fence of strong woven wire not less than 30 inches wide with 2 barbed wires or 2 high tensile wires above.
90.02(1m)(c)
(c) A fence of strong woven wire not less than 46 inches wide with one barbed wire or one high tensile wire above.
90.02(1m)(d)
(d) A fence of strong woven wire not less than 50 inches wide.
90.02(1m)(e)
(e) A fence of boards firmly fastened to posts well set, not more than 8 feet apart, the space between the boards to the height of 30 inches to be not more than 6 inches and at no point to be more than 10 inches.
90.02(1m)(f)
(f) A fence of 2 boards with 3 barbed wires or 3 high tensile wires above, firmly fastened to sufficient posts well set not more than 8 feet apart, the space between the boards to be not more than 6 inches.
90.02(1m)(g)
(g) A fence of 3 or more wires not less than No. 12, with pickets not less than 4 feet long properly woven in or fastened thereto, and set not more than 6 inches apart.
90.02(1m)(h)
(h) All fences consisting of rails, boards, wires or walls, or any combination thereof, and all brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches, or hedges, which shall, in the judgment of the fence viewers, be equivalent to either of the fences before mentioned.
90.02(1m)(i)
(i) The following minimum requirements shall constitute a standard electric fence and shall be a legal fence when agreed to in writing by the adjoining property owners. Such a fence shall consist of 2 strands of strong, tightly stretched wire, charged by a standard approved electric or battery fencer, and the top wire not over 36 inches and not less than 34 inches from the ground, measured at the post, and firmly fastened with insulators to sufficient post, firmly set, and not over 2 rods apart.
90.02(1m)(j)
(j) A fence not less than 48 inches high of 4 or more barbed wires or high tensile wires spaced evenly on a steel post of any diameter or on a wood post at least 3 inches in diameter. Existing fences of a lesser standard are legal until they are rebuilt, repaired or replaced.
90.02(2)
(2) The strands of woven wire shall not be smaller than No. 12 wire and the cross wires shall not be smaller than No. 16 wire; the strands shall not be more than 8 inches apart, and the cross wires not more than 12 inches apart. All wires must be tightly stretched and securely fastened to sufficient posts firmly set not more than 16 feet apart, except as provided in
sub. (1m) (f) or
(i) and except that the posts may be set not more than 20 feet apart if the wire is high tensile wire. The space between barbed wires or high tensile wires shall not exceed 8 inches; and the space between the top board or upper edge of woven wire and the bottom barbed wire or high tensile wire shall not exceed 6 inches.
90.02(3)
(3) Fences shall not be less than 50 inches high, and the bottom of the fence shall be not more than 4 inches from the ground, measurements to be made at the posts.
90.02 History
History: 1995 a. 41,
225,
417.
90.03
90.03
Partition fences; when required. The respective occupants of adjoining lands used and occupied for farming or grazing purposes, and the respective owners of adjoining lands when the lands of one of such owners is used and occupied for farming or grazing purposes, shall keep and maintain partition fences between their own and the adjoining premises in equal shares so long as either party continues to so occupy the lands, except that the occupants of the lands may agree to the use of markers instead of fences, and such fences shall be kept in good repair throughout the year unless the occupants of the lands on both sides otherwise mutually agree.
90.03 History
History: 1995 a. 41.
90.035
90.035
Public fences. Where the 2 parties, one of whom is the state or a subdivision thereof, agree that a fence is reasonably necessary, the duty to erect and maintain partition fences shall apply equally to the state, as provided in
s. 90.03, and its subdivisions as occupants of lands whenever such lands are bounded by privately owned agricultural or grazing lands.
90.04
90.04
Effect of fences on action for trespass by animals. Owners of lands who do not maintain and keep in repair lawful partition fences may not recover any damages for trespasses by the animals of owners of any adjoining lands with whom partition fences might have been maintained if such lands had been enclosed; but the construction of such a fence does not relieve the owner of swine, horses, sheep or goats from liability for any damage they commit upon the enclosed premises of an adjoining owner.
90.04 History
History: 1995 a. 148.
90.05
90.05
How partition made. 90.05(1)(1) Every partition of the fence or of the line upon which partition fences are to be built between adjoining owners, made by the owners thereof in writing, signed, sealed and witnessed by two witnesses, or by the fence viewers, in writing under their hands, in the cases and in the manner hereinafter provided, after being recorded in the town clerk's office, shall oblige such owners, their heirs and assigns, so long as such adjoining land on each side respectively shall remain in the same ownership, and after a severance of ownership until a new partition of such fence shall be made, to build and maintain such fence agreeably to said partition. But neither the owner nor the owner's heirs or assigns shall be bound to build or maintain any part of such partition fence during any time when none of such adjoining lands shall be so occupied.
90.05(2)
(2) If a fence is constructed by a subdivider under a town ordinance adopted under
s. 60.23 (19) and the land adjoining the subdivision is not subdivided, the partition under
sub. (1) shall require that an undivided one-half of the fence be maintained by the owner of the adjoining land not subdivided and one-half of the fence divided into equal shares be maintained by all of the owners of the adjoining subdivided land.
90.06
90.06
Removal of fence. When any owner or occupant of land shall build a fence before the location of the boundary line between such land and any land adjoining the same and the location of such line shall establish the fact that said fence is on such adjoining land, the ownership thereof shall be in the person who built it or that person's grantee, devisee or heirs, but such fence shall be removed to the boundary line within 30 days after the location thereof and the service of written notice upon the person who built it or who has acquired that person's rights, by the owner or occupant of the land upon which the fence is situated; such notice shall be served personally or by leaving a copy thereof at the usual place of abode of that person with some member of that person's family of suitable age and discretion who shall be informed of the contents thereof; if the removal is not made within 30 days thereafter the party who served or caused such notice to be served may remove the fence to the boundary line and set it up there and recover the expense of so doing from the other party; provided, that no such fence shall be removed by the party giving the notice during a time when annual crops will be damaged unless by agreement of the owners or occupants of the adjoining lands.
90.06 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
90.07
90.07
Division of partition fence. 90.07(1)
(1) A division of a partition fence, or the line upon which a partition fence between adjoining lands shall be built, may be made by fence viewers in the following cases:
90.07(1)(a)
(a) When a division of a partition fence, or the line upon which a partition fence between adjoining lands shall be built, shall not have been made in the manner prescribed by
s. 90.05, either of the owners of adjoining lands may have the line between that person's land and the adjoining land of any other person divided, and the portion upon which the respective owners shall erect their share of the partition fence assigned, regardless of whether that person's land be enclosed or not and regardless of whether such adjoining land be enclosed or not.
90.07(1)(b)
(b) When any lands belonging to different persons in severalty shall have been occupied in common or without a partition fence between them and one of the occupants shall be desirous to occupy that occupant's part in severalty, and the other shall refuse or neglect, on demand, to divide with the desiring occupant the line where the fence ought to be built or to build a sufficient fence on the part of the line belonging to the other occupant, when divided, the occupant desiring it may have the same divided and the share of each assigned.
90.07(1)(c)
(c) When any controversy shall arise about the right of the respective occupants in partition fences or their obligation to maintain the same, either party may have the line divided and the share of each assigned.
90.07(2)
(2) In either such case application may be made to 2 or more fence viewers of the town where the lands lie or to 2 or more fence viewers of 2 towns, if the lands lie in 2 towns, who, after 8 days' notice in writing to each party to be served as a summons is in a civil action in a court of record or by registered mail with return receipt requested in the case of a party who does not reside in this state, shall, in writing, divide the partition fence or line and assign to each owner or occupant that party's share thereof; and in each of said cases they shall also therein direct the time within which each party shall build or repair, as may be proper, that party's share of the fence, having regard to the season of the year, and shall file such decision in the town clerk's office, who shall record the same. If either party refuses or neglects to build or repair within the time so assigned that party's part of the fence the other may, after having completed his or her own part, build or repair such part and recover the expense thereof as provided in
s. 90.11.
90.07(3)
(3) Whenever practicable, in determining the division of a new line fence, when facing a farm, going around the farm to the right, the first one-half of the line fence belongs to the farm faced.
90.07 History
History: 1991 a. 316.
