electric fencing. Enough???

[TxCloverAngel]

There is a rather large herd of Goats down the road from us.
Their fencing seems to just be 4 or 5 strand electric fence wires.

I have never seen the goats out or their area.
there are all ages of meat goats... lots of babies now too.

Right now, I have 3 pygmy goats, looking for a Nubian Doe to add as well, The pen that they have now w/ chickens, is pretty eaten down.

I would LOVE to fence off a large portion of our front pasture for them.

But Cost is a major factor.

I have fence posts, and could afford elec wire...
But I just don't see how in the world that is enough....
My girls can and DO get out of everything! lol

Are these goats near me just "really REALLY Good"???

or does electric fence work well by itself?

Any input & ideas would be great! Thanks!

[CountryDreams]

We have electric fencing for our Alpines and Boers. We run four strands. The bottom two are pretty close to the ground to help keep the kids inside the pen. The goats will learn to respect the electric fence. We can even turn our fence off for days or weeks at a time now and they don't even try the fence. It has worked very well for us.

[steff bugielski]

It works well if the ground does not dry out. Also the strand close to the ground is very important. Once they get their head through they bolt through.
steff

[Rowdy]

I have a couple of boers and use a six strand fence, but only four of the wires are hot. It works really good. I've only had two break outs, and that was at the gate, which is now fixed. Actually, since I am using a hot wire gate, I can open the gate, and try to lure the goats out, but they'll get to where the gate usually is and stop.

The key is having a good hot charger, and have the system well grounded. Most chargers are avertized based on how many miles of fence they'll cover, but look at the joule rating. Buy the highest joule rating you can afford. Tractor supply has one for about $100-$130 that is 2 joule, or according to the company good for 50 miles of wire. I own this particular charger, and it is putting out over 5,500 volts on my six wire 1/8-1/4 acre pen.

As for grounding, do not skimp. Use at least two or more grounding rods, and try to use a single piece of wire between them and the charger. Also try to locate the ground rods in a low lying area that will hold water better. My grounding rods are just across the fence from where I water my goats, so it is easy to keep moist.

Anyway, there are lots of websites that describe electric fences, and tractor supply has a free video as well.

Rowdy