Loose cattle in Adams Township revive months-old issue
Months after a contentious supervisors meeting led Adams Township to strike down a controversial proposed noise ordinance, the township is facing the same issues regarding farm animals impeding on residents’ private property.
According to Russell Ford, supervisors chairman, township residents have repeatedly been bothered over the last few months by a group of eight cattle who routinely escape from — and then return to — a local farm.
Another supervisor said some of the loose cattle have been spotted on residents’ doorbell cameras.
One of the cattle was recently captured and taken to a butcher, leaving seven problem cows for the township to deal with. Of those cattle, four are bulls.
“There is a plan put in place to attempt to take one of them out every few days until we can resolve the problem,” Ford said during the supervisors meeting on Monday night, March 25.
The “problem” in question, according to Ford, centers around a farm on Three Degree Road which, in the past few months, has had trouble keeping its livestock under control.
“We’ve been talking with the farmer, and he's willing to get rid of the cows one by one,” Ford said. “It’s just that he’s going a little slower than we’d like, and the weather hasn’t been really accommodating either.”
Despite the board’s frustration, there was no discussion of potentially reviving the controversial noise ordinance, which was near-universally condemned by township residents at the December meeting. The proposed ordinance would have found any resident liable for causing a nuisance if they allowed one of their animals to create excessive noise or trespass upon others’ property, among other offenses.
Instead, Ford said the township has committed — in this particular situation — to working with the farmer to send any problem cattle to the slaughterhouse for processing.
“We’re allowing the cattle to be sent to the meat market ... so that we can help the township resolve the problem, because the problem wasn’t going to go away,” Ford said.
Ford also asked township residents to step forward and help offset the cost of the butchering by purchasing the resulting meat once it arrives. Those interested can contact the township office at 724-625-2221 for more information.
“We're trying to take the bulls out one by one, and we’ll try to figure out if we can do something with the other cows,” Ford said.
