How do you fence goats without breaking the bank?

i dont know what the problum is i just ran 1- 12 ga. 11 in. of the ground then another one 14 in. above that a few zaps and they wont go within 3 feet of the fence

__________________
Don't complain, just do it

holleegee, thanks for the links! But what do the edges of stock panels look like? Is it just more wire, or pipe or ? I couldn't tell from the pics. Are they just attached to each other and the ground by t-posts and wood posts?

There was also some ominious wording on the first site: "not available in all locations". I looked in the TSC catalouge here yesterday and couldn't find any type of panels similar to those you linked to. Maybe I'm one of those locations. I need to get fencing up by this weekend, I have at least one goat coming if all works out.

DD

__________________
"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap."

There is nothing at the end, it is just cut at the end of the square. I use t-posts, you could use wood posts but I don't have any.

I attach them to the post with wire but I have also used those plastic zip ties.

I just put up 4 rolls of goat fence. It is like the red top field fence except it is 4" squares instead of 6" squares and the wire is a little bit heavier gauge. It is a bit tighter wound mesh than the regular field fence. We got it on sale for $199.00 a 330' roll. That is roughly 60 cents a foot for the wire. We stretched it tightly and used 4.5" top, 8' long, treated posts spaced every 50' with 5 t-posts in between them. The treated posts were $6.50 each. It made for a nice tight fence and holds the goats well. We got ours at McCoys Building Materials. We live in Texas.

__________________
Christine Edwards
New Waverly, Texas
www.freewebs.com/cottoneyeddoes
www.freewebs.com/texstarboers

Mtman no way would that keep a buck in rut out of the doe pen, or keep kids in...I could fence my adult doe pen in that way, they have no reason to want to leave home

Your first goats you buy will really test your fencing skills, after that when you are milking or breeding your own stock you raised, there are alot less problems with break outs...except during breeding season! Vicki

__________________
Vicki McGaugh
Nubian Soaps
North of Houston TX
www.etsy.com/shop/nubiansoaps

A 3 decade dairy goat farm homestead that is now a retail/wholesale soap company and construction business.

My husband keeps saying "Horse high, bull strong, sheep tight, and the goats will still get out." He's probably right, but if I can manage to keep them in, I'll have you all to thank!

__________________
Peace, tremulous, unexpected, sent a taproot out of nowhere into Morgon's heart. -Patricia McKillip, Harpist in the Wind

Ack, I would be afraid of the plastic being chewed or becoming brittle from the cold way up here!
Thank you for posting this! I have decided to use goat fencing, 50ft lengths corner to corner for the time being. I was going to put a wooden post at each corner, maybe five t-posts in the middle of each side. I thought I may be using a few too many t-posts but I was concerned about sagging if the goats decided to put their front feet up on it.

There is a choice of 4' goat fencing or 5' No Climb horse fencing at TSC, both have 2" X 4" squares. I think I may go for the taller fence, just to be safe. A little costlier here though: I believe it was $229 for 100ft rolls.

__________________
"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap."

Electric is what keeps my goats in, and is the *only* way I can afford to fence in the 100 acres I have fenced for goats. If done properly, electric *will* work. Now, I can see that it might be a consideration for some folks with the heart problem mentioned before, but if that is not a problem, I HIGHLY reccomend electric if your fencing large areas. I do not reccomend it for keeping bucks separated from does. To put it simply, its worth the pain in their minds.

__________________
Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

" I have decided to use goat fencing, 50ft lengths corner to corner for the time being. I was going to put a wooden post at each corner,..."

You need to brace those corners with other posts. Look at some fencing on-line sites like Kencove & Premier. We have found that the "H" corners are the strongest and there isn't anything for the goats to walk up on like with an angled post. I am always trying to cut costs but when fencing it really pays to do it all the way. We do use landscape "timbers" for the top of the "H" though to save a couple of $'s.

__________________
Goat milk soap & Wool products
www.littlemeadowsfarm.net
http://littlemeadowsfarms.blogspot.com/

You may be spending more than you have to. Tractor Supply should have common field fence that has 4X4 squares at the top and 2X4 squares at the bottom for somewhere around 130 bux for a 330' roll.

__________________
"They laughed, because he was different"

"He laughed, because they were all the same"

[QUOTE=ailsaek]Neither of those chains are in my area that I now of, but I checked one that is, although I had to find a store that is near farms to find anything useful (Lowe's makes you put in a ZIP code). Would this work?

I would not use WELED wire with goats; they can pop the weld sososososo easily; I use woven field fencing; the horned goats cannot get their heads caught as easily as in that open wire fencing(field fencing just has 2" by 4" openings all the way up). I have slowly added fencing over the past 4 years, learning as I go...PS DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT attempt to fence on a hot day after having a margarita or two. THAT section of fence looked great until the next day!

__________________
Joan Crandell
Wild Iris Farm
"Fair"- the other 4 letter F word." This epiphany came after almost 10 days straight at our county fair.

I am using field fence, have done so for 17 years now. Fencing off a large section now. It's field fence with one strand of barbed wire on top. Wooden corners, but T-posts in between. I don't own a tractor-mounted hydraulic driver ($$$). The added labor of drilling all those holes for wood posts has a cost, and with our clay soil, T-posts are handy and easy to use.

Too much work in maintaining electric, and my goats just find a way to hop over it or defeat it anyway.

Red Brand 1047 or equivalent field fence will run you $110-120 a roll here. If you go to the Red Brand site or your farm supply and look at a roll of 1047, THAT is what is known as "field fence." T-posts are $3.18 each at the cheapest place. (Fortunately, I had some new ones stored in the barn from back when I could get them for a dollar a holler.) Wood posts run generally $5 to $10, depending on what type you select.

I set all my wood posts in dry concrete and cross brace them with high-tensile fence wire. Concrete adds $3 a hole, but is crucial to a fence that lasts over time. If the corners, etc., break down, the field fence will sag. My 16-year-old fence work is still tight. I'm glad cuz it is harder physically on me to fence now than it was when I put that up!

I use the H-brace method, and X-wire cross bracing using the high-tensile wire.

Placement of your T-posts is crucial, as well. I run T-posts every 8 feet, tighter than many say you need them. Yes, it costs you a little more to go 8 feet instead of 10, but you will never regret it 15 years later! You want your posts on the OUTSIDE of the pasture. The fence wire needs to run on the inside (pasture side) of the T-posts, and should be fastened with a minimum of 4 clips per post. This practice eliminates a lot of headahces from goats rubbing fence, as the metal posts provides support instead of a fixed point for the wire to work against when goats rub.

I run the bottom strand of field fence right on the ground. Many leave a gap there, between the bottom and the ground, but having had dogs get in with and kill my goats once even WITH the bottom strand right on the ground, I do not allow them any more room to get under by raising the fence up.

So-called "goat fence" is double the cost of field fence. People think they need it to keep kids from getting stuck in the fence. But a roll of duck tape and some short lengths of 1/2 PVC pipe will keep that from happening. Place the pipe across the horns of your bad behavior kids like a bar and tape that sucker on there good. Pick it up in the pasture 3 weeks later after it falls off. End of story.

__________________
Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

LOL Thanks for the warning!
This should not be an issue with me, since I will be dehorning all my goats, except for those which I originally buy, they might have horns. If it becomes too much of a pain, I would probably sell them, unless they were exceptional goats, in which case I would be up for offers!
Ok, not sure what you guys mean by H brace and X wire. Most here use the slant brace; that is, an additional wood post slanted down to the ground. Would it matter if it were a slant or an H brace if the fencing, not the poles, are in the inside where the goats are? The posts would not be accessible in any case. Or am I missing something?

__________________
"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap."

Dixie, go back to the pictures I posted earlier. The posts that are connected like an H next to the gates is what is refered to as an H post here in Central FL.

You then run a loop of wire from the top of one post to the bottom of the other post with the the wire being on one side of the cross brace. You then put a stick in the middle and start turning it to tighten the wire, thus pulling the 2 posts together. You then leave this stick so it is braced against the cross brace. That is how we X wire here. (you can see the stick in the center of the H posts in the pictures).

Hope that helps,

Bob D. in FL.

Wow, this is EXACTLY what we did and its working great!! We ended up with a heavier gauge woven wire though it was a bt more expensive and VERY heavy but so worth it! During this winter's ice storm we had a really heavy pine limb (more like 1/4 of the tree) fall direcly on the fence and the woven wire supported it until we moved it off the fence. I never had to repair that section. As added insurance we had placed a "topper" of wooden strips above the woven wire this gave it added strength and also gives just a bit more height to discourage neighbor's dogs.

Kerrin

Bob, I know what you mean now. We have some posts like that here already. Thanks again!

__________________
"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap."

[QUOTE=Jcran]I dont' see how. My HORSE RAN into it and busted it a little, but a goat? 2 x 4 welded wire fencing is tough stuff. Maybe it's a difference in guages? Unless the goat had horns and was mad at the fence?

__________________
The 7th Day is still God's Sabbath
ICOG7.ORG
Layton Hollow ADGA Nubians
Taking Reservation for 2015!

This is what I said until I put up *proper* electric fencing for goats. I tried fencing them in with electric fence and chargers that had kept my dairy cattle in for years. They just laughed at it. I was strictly a woven wire fencing person, until it became clear that there was no way I could afford it for this much acreage, and I called up some folks who knew electric fence and knew goats....they told me what I need to keep goats in electric and they were right on the money. With the right charger(*not* a cheapie and it has to have at least 8 output joules), the proper grounding, and just the slightest bit of training, my goats(all 100+ of them), stay in electric with no problems. It is well worth it not to have to spend all my time and money into putting up woven wire.
And maintenence?? I might walk my fence once a month.....maybe. Its enjoyable and not a chore to do so. So the maintenence is very minimal. If your fencing in small areas, its cattle panels all the way, if your fencing in slightly larger areas and can afford it, by all means put up woven wire, I love the stuff. But if your fencing in large areas on a budget....its electric all the way. If I didn't use electric, I'd have to keep my girls on about 30 acres.....because that is all I could afford to fence with woven. And another advantage to electric is that I put it all up by myself....almost anyone can put up electric fence. The hardest part was pounding the steel posts. But no post holes to dig and the fence is easy to stretch by hand.
So for me, its electric all the way(except for buck pens). And four years ago, I'd have told you that there was no way you could keep my goats in electric.....I was wrong.

__________________
Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

[QUOTE=southerngurl]Its not they they *try* to tear it up, its that they stand on it constantly and it will eventually pop them loose. They also use it to rub up the length of the fence and back down....another constant strain that will pop the welds loose very fast. Its not the sudden hard strain that tears it up so easily, its the constant, gentle strain that does the most damage.
When I did use field fencing, even woven wire, I always used one strand of electric about nose height to keep the goats off the fence. No standing and rubbing, no strain.

__________________
Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

Hi Bob. H post is definitely superior to the slanted brace, no doubt about it. I don't use a stick to twist the brace wire. I have gotten ahold of some old 1/2-inch galvanized pipe taken out of a house, and I cut it in 2-foot lengths with a Sawzall and use that. No chance it will rot out and loosen the brace, then. I also peg each twistie to the cross brace with two nails, one on either side. Prevents a goat from rubbing it off the cross brace, loosening the tension. I learned early on from observing other fencing jobs that had been up for years that most folks do not put enough emphasis on good, tight, well tensioned and braced corners. They are the key to long-lasting fence.

Also wanted to add that, as far as cost, if you are farming on your tax returns some of that comes back to you. Not to get too technical, but repair depreciation period is shorter than replacement depreciation, so if you tear down an old fence but leave up a few old posts to re-use, your new fence is a repair and you can depreciate it off faster than if you start back fresh. Go figure.

__________________
Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates