In Slope County, in a pasture south of Amidon, there's an old stove with the door hanging open and a sign that reads "open range."

It's good for a chuckle, but some ranchers are pretty serious about it.

They've asked the Slope County Commission to designate some parts of the county as open range, though technically in state law it's called a grazing area.

Slope County Commissioner Mike Teske said it's a huge decision, one that will affect land use for future generations. Teske said he's trying to learn all he can so he's more prepared when the topic is aired publicly at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the courthouse in Amidon.

The request comes from ranchers in western Slope County, out where the land is beautifully carved by the Little Missouri River and people are interested in buying small pieces for cabins and recreation.

If the land is open range, people who buy some acres and don't want cattle grazing would have to fence the cows out.

As it stands now, the ranchers have to fence the cows in on their side of the property line if there's no livestock on the other side.

Fence isn't cheap. It can cost up to $5,000 a mile in labor and materials, and even a piece as small as 40 acres adds up. Out in the Badlands, the cost isn't always the worst of it. The terrain with ravines, creeks that wash out and looming clay cliffs makes fencing a logistical nightmare.

Slope County Commissioner Mike Schneider said he favors the "you neighbor me and I neighbor you" way of dealing with fence together.

The idea that a landowner would be on his own to fence off grazing is a "completely new idea" for Slope County, he said. Schneider said he didn't think it would affect too many people, although with the Badlands property going for $1,000 an acre, some people are selling off small tracts.

Schneider said the request is for a fairly large area west of Highway 85, but his inclination would be to deal in small areas, perhaps the size of a township.

Teske said the declaration involves more than fencing. He said the commission will have to think about property rights, traditional use of the land and water rights.

Teske said he wants to be forward-minded, "but I don't know what the answer would be."

People and fences have a relationship that's as prickly as barbed wire.

Up in McKenzie County, most land was declared a grazing area, or open range, under a 1961 state law that accommodates the mix of federal grasslands and private pastures. That declaration was apparently not made for private acres in Slope County, Teske said.

McKenzie County State's Attorney Dennis Johnson said otherwise, state law generally requires ranchers to fence their cattle in.

Where adjoining landowners both have cattle or livestock, the right-hand principle applies.

Under that principle, the ranchers walk to the middle of the fence and, facing each other, each takes responsibility for the fencing running in his right-hand direction.

Township boards used to serve as "fence viewers" to settle disputes when one guy's right-hand share ran across a river and up a wash and the other's right-hand share was straight and simple, for example.

Johnson said county commissioners sometimes serve as fence viewers now, but largely those complaints come into his office, or into district court.

State law gives county commissions the authority to designate grazing areas, or open range. Besides providing that property owners fence cattle out if they don't want them on their property, the designation also limits liability if someone strikes a cow on a roadway in an open range pasture.

In a situation where small subdivisions spring up in the Badlands, like around Medora, the "you pay half, I'll pay half" could get to be very expensive, Johnson said.

Merle Clark, a Slope County rancher and former county commissioner, said there are two sides to the issue, some having to do with viewing the new land purchases as the outcome of free enterprise, or an intrusion onto traditional use.

Clark said he questions whether a requirement to fence cattle out, as opposed to in, is fair to both property owners.

"I'd say, 'Sure, go for it,' but it might end up in court," Clark said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com.)