This is the scoop! I got a letter that stated our homeowner's was being cancelled due to underwriting reasons. I called the agent and he didn't know anything about it! We recently refinanced our home for a better rate and switched insurance at the same time for the same reason. I talked to the agent again a few days later and he said, "Do you have live fowl on your premises?". I said, " Yes, what does that have to do with anything?".

In a nutshell, this insurance company doesn't insure farms. I have less than an acre of land. They are afraid that one of my neighbor's children may get hurt and children aren't responsible no matter what precautions you take. It sort of made me laugh as I envisioned my very gentle girls as killer hens.

So now I have to be insured as a farm with another company. After that I told him that I raise broilers and turkeys in the spring and summer. I told him I raise hogs and larger animals down at a relatives farm. He said what I do down at the relatives is up to their insurance company.

This man really thought I was nuts! I could just tell. He even questioned whether I was running a business to be raising that much food. I assured him I wasn't. I t was for our own consumption and an occasional gift. Most people are accepting and just think I have some strange hobbies. This guy just didn't understand at all!

I just wanted to share because I thought it was sort of funny!

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), December 13, 2000

Answers

Just goes to show, mosst people think their food comes from the back of the grocery store!!!! If something happened to the stores, they would starve!

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), December 13, 2000.

Denise: Our insurance company doesn't insure farms, either. I just tell them we have the animals as a hobby. They haven't asked about the tractors, etc! They do list our barn as "additional seperate building". Not our idea, but the underwriters. So far, they have always covered our losses. Just curious, was insuring as a farm more expensive? Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), December 13, 2000.

I dont know the price yet. He said it probably wouldn't be that different. Let's hope! I told him it was a hobby. He said this company had no way to rate such a thing. I'm a hobby farm!

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), December 13, 2000.

Name em and say they're pets.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 13, 2000.

I have a nutty neighbor who claimed his chickens as dependents with the irs .Not kiddin they found out he was a few short of a six pack and did not press any charges.So being a pet isn't that far out .

-- Patty (fodfarms@slic.com), December 13, 2000.

Perhaps you should have tried the "Don't ask, don't tell" theory of insurance. Mine was cancelled one time because they drove by and I had my tractor parked about 10 feet from the house. They claimed it was a fire hazard.

-- (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 13, 2000.

My orginal insurance company didn't mind the animals but I switched to Farm Family because of all the additional coverage they offer to farms. For example, if my horse gets out and damages a neighbors property or car; it's covered. If dogs kill my goats; it's covered. If I go to a show and my horse kicks someone in the head; it's covered. They also cover up to 5 horses. The barn and ATV had to be written up seperate though. (ATV was more then the barn) And it's additional if I decide to board horses.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), December 13, 2000.

I didn't tell until he asked me. To be honest, I didn't think it would make a difference, so I never thought a thing about it anyway until this came up. It came up because they did a drive by to take pictures of the house. I didn't know they were ever here!

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), December 13, 2000.

Denise you aren't alone. My inlaws had their insurance canceled because of their dogs! They ran a small gun shop in a separate building close to their home. The insurance company didn't have a problem with the gun shop....they were more than happy to charge them a small fortune to insure it. What they did have a problem with was the 5 large german shepherds they kept. If they hadn't of had these dogs to patrol the well fenced in area around their home and the gun shop the shop would have been robbed repeatedly. They had the proper signs up and they confined the dogs to pens during business hours. The dogs were healthy, well fed and obedient. I nearly had insurance canceled on a house because I had a fireplace hearth (no stove or fireplace...just the brick....long story..lol). The insurance company told me they would be doing a physical inspection of my home before renewal to make sure I hadn't installed a wood burning appliance and if I did I would be cancelled!

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), December 14, 2000.

We have to have homeowners ins. now because of the mortgage, but when we are mortgage-free, and living in a home we've built ourselves, that is one of the things we will do without. If we built it in the first place, we could re-build it if anything happens to it, and if we are robbed, well, we don't own much that a thief would want (probably not anything but the computer and a couple of firearms). And with dogs on the place, that is less likely to happen, so I'm very thankfully going to do without homeowners! We'll have to consider liability insurance, I suppose, or refuse to let people on the place -- which would really get us a strange reputation!! :-)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), December 14, 2000.

I have insurance on my place even though it's paid off because there is no way I could replace everything for what I paid if I had a tornado or a fire, and you can't control fence hopping kids who might brek their arms climbing "your" tree. It's my nod to the establishment, if you will.

My agent is predominately a States Farm guy and big on the 2nd Amendment, which makes me feel better about giving him his cut. He was also very helpful to me early this year when he agreed that I should raise the coverage and switched to a company that specializes in farms and ranches both raising my coverage AND dropping my premium. Crazy, huh?

I agree with Jay that you should name them and then they are pets. Heck, some people have snakes for pets and I have never heard of them being dropped for it.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), December 15, 2000.

Don't you just love the insurance people? Worthless unless you need it. We can't get liability insurance because of the wife's dog. Seems as though he is on the "banned" list. I would suggest that you check with your agent before getting farm dogs. This would save a lot of grief.

-- Bob M (rmaples@pan-tex.net), December 15, 2000.

I tried to approach this from the pet angle. And even if I consider them pets, the insurance company considers them farm animals. I'll probably be better off with a small farm policy anyway because you never can tell what I might start raising here.

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), December 15, 2000.