To show how much of a newbie I was when we first got a goat...

I bought a Nubian doe at a swap meet to "keep the horse company". When I asked the former owner about fencing, he said, "She won't go anywhere." And....

She never did!

She "patrolled" our acre of lawn and two acres of horse pasture, "laughed" at the dogs in their kennel, made a huge ruckus whenever anyone pulled in the yard, and was *extremely* protective of our young son.

We did lock her in the horse's stall during deer hunting season, but otherwise she was "free ranging".

I sure wouldn't recommend it to anyone else, but it did make for some great stories!

Terri

I am currently finishing my pasture fence. It has cost me quite a penny, but I am using cattle panels. I have wooden posts every 16' with a metal t post in between. Cattle panels fastened securely with long staples & then a piece of pipe strapping around the wooden posts towards the bottom so when they eat on the other side they don't pop the staples out. Yeah, I know, the panels should have been on the inside so they would push against them, but I like the looks of it the other way & the pipe strapping isn't that expensive. They will stick their head through & eat about 12" on the other side of the fence which makes it nice for trimming. I don't have too. :D I have about 15 more posts to set & then finish putting up the panels & I should hopefully finish this weekend. It was expensive, but it has been the only thing I have found that they will not get out of.

I tethered a goat last summer and a couple the year before that. I had a makeshift pen made out of two pig panels that I had in a big circle and I kept them inside of it at night time for their protection. The goats all had collars on them and when morning came I would latch on a dog chain about 15ft. long and take them to wherever I needed some brush ate down. About midday I would check on them and move them over just a bit. Then when evening fell I would place the goats back into the small pen for the night. This worked out real well.

Doing it this way might give you more time to build a bigger goat pen.

Build a smaller pen of stock panel for the winter, and use New Zealand electric fence for the rest. You can even use the step in posts with the twine so that you can rotate the pasture easily. This kept my herd in with only two strands!

Do not tether. It is more work than it is worth, and sooner or later, one gets injured or dies, and it's always the one you love or need the most, not the cull that irritates you!

The reason 90% of electric fences don't work is because they have inadequate charges. The fence charger companies must make millions selling lower tier chargers, knowing that the people are going to be coming back and buying another then another before finally getting one big enough.

My dad gave me an International "weed chopper" electric fence years ago. It kept in or out anything providing the fence wires were placed properly. Because 1 in a million people had a field set on fire(supposedly) by these fencers, they company was forced to stop making them. I found another one at a farm sale, and between the two I was set up great until eventually both of them failed (I think they were about 40 years old)

So, I go down to buy a new fencer. First one I got set it was good for horses and would do 10 miles of fence (I was fencing a small pen) maybe 100 yards total. It was a joke. Next I buy a "25 mile" charger of a nationaly know brand.... it was a joke too. While they are often rated in "miles", that is very deceptive... the real stopping power is in the energy or amount of "joules" that the fence can deliver. With the way fence charges are marketed today, that means one needs to buy a "100 mile" or larger charger to be effective.

If I were going to buy a charger today, even for the small pens I have, I would buy the largest charger on the market. It may cost you $200 but it sure beats buying 2 or 3 or giving up on electric fencing altogether. If there are any "old timers" like me out there, they can tell you that most of the present day fencers don't hold a candle to the old "weed choppers" of the '60's

We've had goats for about 8 years and we've figured out that you need to use Reverse Psychology. When you first bring them home. Put them on the side of the fence you do not want them to be. Then wait and they will always go to the other side somehow. They always want on the side they are not suppose to be.

But seriously we use woven wire with electric run about shoulder height to keep them from rubbing. In our feed lot we use fence panels which are stronger with wooden boards about every 2 feet to keep them from bending these. When we get our buck pen finished this is the way it will be done. Because during breeding season they can really be rough on fences. We had one doe that would literally walk up a tubular gate and jump over. She used it like a ladder. She also learned to turn her self sideways and slide through the largest opening in the gate. One of our dogs still does this. If I ever see him do it and have my camera outside I will get a video of him and show you all what I'm talking about.

To build a goat fence without much money, one needs to be a scrounger. Whenever i see or hear tell of someone renovating, repairing, or replacing a fence, I stop by and talk with them, and see what's up. I've saved wire and posts from ending up in a backhoe'd pit. I've actually got loads of t-posts at our 'reclamation collection point' in town. I never let a deal go by... I've gotten to the point (after being burnt once or twice) where if something is available, I change my plans and get the goods 'right now'... and then get em safely to the homestead, for future use.

You're either going to have to buy it or scrounge it. Nothing beats a real fence. Electric's great, as long as something doesn't bull-rush the wire (like a stray bull), a tree fall on it, etc. My perimeter is 3' hog wire, and three strands of barb on top. Cross fences, for pens are 4.5' goat wire, and one strand of barb on top...

Standard field fencing works for our Nigerian Dwarf goats and our Dexter Cows. The cows stay away from the fence, but the goats do lean on it to scratch and to eat.

I do have a separate maternity paddock for the mommas and babies that is fenced with 2x4 horse fence to keep the those little babies in. Otherwise they will walk right through the field fence and then stand there and cry for momma.

We started with just a small area and then expanded it as we had the time and money. Got the last 2 1/2 acres done last summer. This summer we will be tighten up the first bit of fencing we installed since it was just stretched by hand.

About half the time we let our goats freerange. Usually they do not have anywhere to go, so who cares?

Otherwise we have a pen made with pallets, and 2 strands of woven electric wire on top. One hot wire is a foot above the pallets, and the other hot wire is exactly even with the top of the pallets but a foot into the pen.

They can not lick the top of the pallets, nor get their heads up onto the top of the pallets.

I just twine the pallets together. I know that it will not last. I was just playing with the design. It worked well for this past winter, snow 3 foot high and the goats never got out.

We started with a very small pen--only the size that we could afford to fence securely. For us this was cattle panels. We started with eight panels and added each paycheck until we could enlarge the space.

Update.
We never did upgrade to a good fence charger because there was no 110 volt source on that side of the road. the goats, cows and now pigs ignored the electric fence with the solar charger.
The sheep, on the other hand, could probably be contained with a single strand of kite string. On the ground.

We just wound up buying 48" field fence, wood posts and t posts and installing real fence.

So, to answer my own question:
How do you build goat fence for cheap.....you don't.

Someday, when we get 110 volts over there, i will probably try electric again.

Oh and i hear there is a difference between a fence charger and a fence energizer. and that fence energizers are more expensive, but way better.

.................have your fence line cleaned with a dozer.....
.................Use field fence with 4x4 inch squares so their horns can't get entangled........
.................build strong corners and h's........
.................my view on electric fence is too use it too keep the sheep\goats from ever even getting close too the "REAL" fence , i.e. , run it about 5 feet inset from your perimeter fence and buy the Strongest charger available . , fordy:cowboy:

Holy Smokes! If I had read this before I got goats - I think I may have been persuaded to never get them!

I don't know what to think - maybe my goats are lazy and unmotivated? Mine have never shown as much ingenuity or energy as the goats written about here. I have about two acres, surrounded by six foot chain link - with a hot wire about six inches from the ground. Cross fencing is a variety of things - from a six strand hot fence (which they do not go near) to field fencing, to hog panels. The only ones who ever get 'out' (usually 'in' with other goats in a different pen) are the rare baby being weaned, or once a buck thought the other guy's does were better looking.

Like I said - I guess mine are just too laid back and I'm thinking that's a good thing. Or perhaps mine aren't, ehem, up to the standards of average goat intelligence? Again, I am thinking that is probably a good thing - either way!

My 3 mini's free roam. I just fence where I don't want them with combination panels. They get locked up at night. :)

Amen to goats opening locks,latches,etc. About 30 years ago an old man gave me a tip that still works today. Put on a secondary latch made from a old GM rear seat seat belt. they have a recessed button that the goats can't work with their teeth or tongue. nail the belts to the post with large head roofing nails and you are good till the belts rot in 5 years or so. Another thing that helps on goats is to give them toys. old bowling balls;either hung or on the ground;a toy wagon;anything to keep them preoccupied.

Only really cheap goat fence I know of is four barbed wires with sapling or pole uprights spaced no more than 6 inches apart. Wire them to the barbed wire. Seen them hold Boer goats for several years.

IMHO the real issue is, if they have food and space they will stay. If they don't they wont.

I use this.

http://images23.fotki.com/v803/photo...atfence-vi.jpg

The positive is 14 gage. The negative is 12/2 Barb.

I will say the little ones will cross the wire but they never go far(like 30 ft or so.) the big ones can't get threw. Plus get a big charger. I have 2 fifty mile chargers. One plug in, one solar. The plug in one is for the "winter" pasture. They both work well, but are fencing in about 2 acres each.

Do you have any farm auctions in your area? Often when farmers sell out/retire they auction off everything, sometimes you can get good deals on fence post, woven wire, barb wire, cattle or hog panels, and other assorted things.

We use four foot high square page wire sheep fencing with two strands of barb wire across the top for our goats. I am sure they stay in because they choose to because if a goat wants to escape it will no matter what! This type of fence worked for our sheep and horses too.Truth is any animal can get out if it really wants to especially if they get spooked for any reason. We just put them back in if they get out . We try to make sure one of us is home most of the time to keep track of the critters on the farm.

The only thing with wire in our damp Atlantic climate is it does rust horizonially right in the middle after a few years. It happened recently and the goats walked through it like a swinging gate! We need to replace some fencing and haven't found a cheaqp alternative unless it be a pole fence.

If you have your own woods it would be cheaper to cut fence stakes and build a horrizonal pole fence placing the pole close enough together so the goats can't get through.

When we used to keep a buck he had his own goat house which he could reach any time. We run a fifty foot rope on the ground staked at either end. The buck wore a collar of leather with a metal ring attatched. To this was a chain attatched with the other end having a ring that slid on the ground rope. The buck couldn't get tangled up, could reach his water bucket or go in his goat house when ever he wanted.