How do you fence goats without breaking the bank?

Jim S. · #61 04/20/07, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

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.

You must not grow grass and weeds nearly as fast in MO as we do here (most places don't). I had a "proper" electric fence for goats...in fact, I had 3 or 4 different versions of it early on...it never worked, and keeping up with all the shorts and such was a PITA, as well as trimming all the time to keep the weeds and honeysuckle and such off it. Not to mention lightning, which is bad here. I finally just said I'd bite the bullet and put up permanent fence, and I have never regretted it. It has been an ongoing fencing project cuz I could not do it all at once, but I no longer have to wonder if the goats are really still all in the pasture back there.

I'm not saying electric doesn't work. I am saying it doesn't work for me on my farm. And like I say, I tried 3 or 4 different "can't miss" ways to do it for goats.

Somebody else mentioned disbudding. I just plain won't do that to my goats. Mine need the be able to defend themselves, and I have seen the benefit of a set of nice horns in use against a bobcat in defense of a pair of kids. All goats survived that encounter; the cat was run off. A polled or disbudded goat...well, all it could have done was run til the cat climbed on top and finished it.

ozark_jewels · #62 04/20/07, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim S.

You must not grow grass and weeds nearly as fast in MO as we do here (most places don't). I had a "proper" electric fence for goats...in fact, I had 3 or 4 different versions of it early on...it never worked, and keeping up with all the shorts and such was a PITA, as well as trimming all the time to keep the weeds and honeysuckle and such off it. Not to mention lightning, which is bad here. I finally just said I'd bite the bullet and put up permanent fence, and I have never regretted it. It has been an ongoing fencing project cuz I could not do it all at once, but I no longer have to wonder if the goats are really still all in the pasture back there.

Lightening is bad here too....my fence charger has a safeguard fuse and if that blows I just replace it. Its very cheap. As for the weeds.....the guy who sold me my charger gave me a tip that is priceless. He said to have the bottom row of electric totally unconnected to the rest except in one spot. When the weeds get bad in the spring(or when you get a heavy snowfall), unconnect the bottom wire. It has worked wonderfully. I don't keep my fence row clear(and yes, we do get almost as weedy as TN does

), my charger kills back most of the weeds and it can handle whatever weeds it doesn't kill, as it is made to handle a heavy load. So as I said, maintenence is very minimal. I'm not saying *you* should have electric fence....but I would hate for someone not to use their land to its best potential, because they couldn't afford field fencing, and they were told that electric won't work. Because it does....just come visit.

ozark_jewels · #63 04/20/07, 10:17 AM

Oh and Jim....I'm not trying to talk *you* into using electric....far from it! I'm just pointing out to other readers that it can and does work if done properly. And the title of this thread is exactly *why* I use it.

Jim S. · #64 04/20/07, 11:27 AM

And Emily, like I mentioned I am not saying it won't work, just that I tried several versions and it didn't work for me.

I had the high-dollar top-line chargers, the fuses, etc. Lightning blew out 2 of those chargers, which was the same cost then as buying two rolls of field fence. Electric was fine for cows, but my goats just defeated it at every turn and it was high maintenance on my place. It got to where at the end I had a great working fence with my third or fourth "foolproof" system...so the goats just hopped it. LOL. That was really my last straw.

I will say that the advances in chargers over the past 3 or so years might make it a better deal than when I was trying it out. But I'm not going back.

And it's like they say, "Your mileage may vary."

ozark_jewels · #65 04/20/07, 02:33 PM

I love it...Jim, we usually end up agreeing or saying the same things on most topics...but we argue all the way there!!

southerngurl · #66 04/20/07, 02:45 PM

[QUOTE=ozark_jewels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Oh, I see what you are saying. It hasn't been a problem with mine yet. Although, mine "free range" most of the day. I just have 4 and we have 12.5 acres so I let them out of their 1/3 acre pen most of the daytime.

noname · #67 04/20/07, 03:57 PM

One way to deal with the weeds is to weed wack them down short and then spray RoundUp right under the bottom wire.

Please let's not get into a discussion on whether or not to use chemical weed control, ok? It's just another idea.

southerngurl · #68 04/20/07, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noname

One way to deal with the weeds is to weed wack them down short and then spray RoundUp right under the bottom wire.

Please let's not get into a discussion on whether or not to use chemical weed control, ok? It's just another idea.

Yea, an idea that is a bunch of CRAP!

noname · #69 04/20/07, 05:45 PM

That's the nice thing about posting on a board like this. You can read all sorts of ideas, take the ones you can use, and leave the rest.