The fertilizer isn’t the weird part of this, it’s the herbicide.
Fertilizers can be foliar or ground absorbed.
Herbicides are all foliar, to my knowledge (other than preemergent-type, but those aren’t considered herbicides).
That said, most herbicides dry within 2-4 hours.
From what you’ve shared, to me it sounds like he was being an ass on purpose.
He knows he has no contract to hay there. You told him you’re bringing horses home. He says it’s no good for hay anyway. Then shows up before the crack of dawn, makes a big mess of your markings, and supposedly sprays it. Seems pretty spiteful, to me.
That was my thought too, @Mosey_2003. That is why I originally suggested the lawyer route.
Why would someone come spray a field that they just told the owner that they were glad to not have to deal with it anymore.
With the talk of taking it to corn, I almost wonder what he sprayed on it. I sure hope it was not something to kill off everything.
It rained huh… is there any way to still take a sample from the field? some place to have it tested to find out what was sprayed? Fertilizer or herbicide?
I’m on the side of not all sounds right. It was done so deliberately.
You could go to your USDA Farm Service Agency in your district and ask them about this and how to test to see what he sprayed, if any other than water?
It may take some soil and plant testing, or they may tell you he has to disclose what he sprayed?
Better get as much information up front before you can decide where to go with this.
You need to do something about this, so he knows what you will do and don’t keep trying to shoehorn in your land with any other pretext.
Wow. I think OP’s solution is nicer than what I would do. He had no right to be there. He told you he wasn’t interested in the land any longer. The land belongs to you, not to him. And then he showed up, unannounced, and destroyed work that you had done – and clearly intentionally?
I think in my discussion I’d be taking the more aggressive route and say you won’t charge him for the cost to redo the work that he destroyed, and he can just walk away.
You do NOT owe him that $1000 he claims he’s out. Don’t offer to pay it. Don’t even offer half. He was trespassing on your property, and he caused destruction on your property. He should owe you for whatever you have to pay to have that area re-measured and flagged.
I would absolutely get soil and plant samples, and take them to your local Extension Office to get tested. You really should know what he was putting on there before you do much else.
I agree with your analysis and I sympathize with your solution, but, but, but…
this board is FULL of threads of people not getting along with their neighbors and it interfering with the enjoyment of their property and horses.
It’s a question of whether you want to be right, or want to be happy.
I vote for doing something to pacify the neighbor to preserve peace in the neighborhood AND set clear boundaries. I’d want to see the receipt for what he sprayed, and then I’d offer to pay half and take hay off the unused 4 acres. Then I’d get him to sign an agreement for the 4 acres, with language that made it clear his use of the land was restricted to the 4 acres and for this year only.
I am in an idyllic neighbor situation, where everybody helps everybody else out, and we all have permission to cross each other’s land. But every single one of us has been annoyed at one of the others at some point or another: at dogs, at kids tearing up grass with ATVs, getting equipment stuck, interfering with hunting, fertilizer run off causing an algae bloom in a pond, loose horses (that one’s me. 
), etc. It’s never all the same annoyer or all the same annoyee. But to a person, we all suck it up and deal with it because it’s not worth blowing up a relationship with a neighbor when we’re in such a great situation.
Now, the farmer’s behavior in the OP’s story was WAY more egregious, but still…I’d rather set some boundaries and preserve the relationship.
No matter what you do, OP, go out and get photos of the damage he did.
Better to have photos of what he did and not need them, than not have them if you need them.
I don’t think he’s actually OP’s neighbor though, I feel like she hasn’t said that? Specifically that she wonders if coming all the way over for 4 acres would be worth it.
I say burn the bridge, nicely if necessary, but…
Can OP padlock the gate(s) to the field(s)? Is there fencing and gates already? I’d lock him out and tell him he’s lucky he’s not being prosecuted for trespassing and damage to property, myself. But I’m a bit hot-headed, especially about trespassing.
you got a guy like that, yu won’t make points by being a doormat
The boundaries had already been set. Trespassing was done. Damage to land and possibly worse since we don’t know what, if indeed anything, was sprayed on the OP’s land. A verbal bill was presented rather than any sort of contrition for the damage caused.
That sort of relationship is not worth preserving. It won’t bloom into anything lovely. The OP will get run over and stomped on again and again.
He’s a 3 mile drive from my house. So a neighbor in that he lives in the same area as me, but he doesn’t live in my immediate area.
The fencing is going up tomorrow, as as of tomorrow he won’t be able to come onto the property. The only gate is in a location that is inaccessible without me being there to open it for him.
Also, uh, the saga continues. Turns out I do know someone who knows him. Essentially, this appears to be par the course for him. The feud that I know about with the other farmer isn’t the only one he has.
I’m going to go out and get soil and grass samples tonight. I’m not sure if my local ag extension can tell me what he sprayed, but it’s worth a try I guess.
Ask your ag extension person if it is normal to for your area to need to plant corn after several years of haying while you are talking to them. I’ve never heard of needing to de-grass and plant corn, even after 10+ years of haying a field. Yes, weed, seed, and fertilize, but planting corn or some other crop is not anything I have seen in my area. It makes me wonder if he purposefully did something to damage your property to force you into allowing him to do corn. Can you ask around and see if he’s going to be doing all corn instead of hay this year on his other properties?
You’re being way nicer that I would be. If he’s not your only option for hay, which it definitely sounds like he is not, I’d tell him that you were sorry that he feels he wasted the chemicals, but you did not have a contract for field use this year and had NO intention of contracting with him for haying. I’d point out that he was costing you money to remeasure and stake the field that he destroyed when he entered the field without permission and is causing you extra expense in delayed construction costs. I’d also say to him that you’ll need to know what fertilizer and herbicide he used so you can be sure that it will not have any ill effects on your property for your intended use.
Unless there are some weird local ag laws in your area, he’ll likely have no legal leg to stand on over the money for the chemicals. He has no contract with you or the previous land owners, and the one with owner A had expired and probably was not written with a conveyance that would supersede a sale of the land even if had not expired.
I would contact the extension office and see what they know about any weird regs and whether plant/soil samples could be tested to determine what he used on the field.
Glad you are getting a history on him. I hope he did not kill your whole field.
It would be fun to send him a bill for the damages to your stake out.
I might have been somewht inclined to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, except for the fact that this was not an “honest mistake”.
The guy had an actual contract with the previous owners, so he knew he wasn’t just entitled to continue. He has a rudimentary understanding of contracts/agreements.
Furthermore, he had a conversation with the OP. He could have made an offer to work out a deal then and there, but he did not.
He’s a jerk.
Make sure you get photos of everything. I recommend outside cameras too. Amazon has amazing wireless Blink ones that work well.
I am curious if you can clarify from your first post about who paid who previously. He paid the old owner the $500 to use the land or the owner paid $500 to have the hay taken off?
I would also be weary of listening to farm neighbours. I once had a local horse person tell all about how horrible their new neighbour was based on stories they had heard…they had no idea that person was a very close friend of mine and they were none of those things at all whatsoever. Someone with an axe to grind was just starting them out on a bad foot for no reason.
Ok, just got home and ran out to take a few soil/grass samples. Sadly I won’t be able to get them to the ag office until Monday, but I figured it’s better to take them and let them sit inside where whatever was sprayed can’t be washed off.
It smells very, very strongly of 2,4 D in the field. I’ve used that product and am pretty familiar with the smell. I’m still getting it tested if possible though. If he used fertilizer it must have been chemical as there’s no smell or particulates. I’d really prefer to not have chemical fertilizers on my fields, but I’m not going to gripe too much about that.
Also, it looks like he may have sprayed about half of my daffodils 
I’m hoping they don’t die completely.
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