Pros vs Cons of fencing electric vs woven wire

[Beorn]

Hi,

It's time to bite the bullet and spend my vacation installing a fence.
I have been asking around and reading and cant get any concensus about which fence to use (big surprise!).

I am going the be fencing in nubians, up to 10 eventually. What are the benefits/drawbacks of woven wire vs. electric. Leave cost out. That one is pretty obvious. I plan on fencing in an acre with it expanding in the next year or two to three.

I've heard that goats even ENJOY the electric shock> I hope that's not true.

Any advise would be awesome.


PS the pasture is rolling but not huge drops/rises. The grade changes maybe 7 feet from front to back

[Rowdy]

Electric- Pro:

Electric is quick and easy to put up, even six or seven strands. It does work if put up right, and if the goats are trained to it. It can also be fairly easy to take down to move.

Electric- Con: You MUST keep the fence line weedeated or use chemicals or your fence will be less effective. Your fence is only good when your charger is plugged in, and when you have electric service. Electric fencing is a psychological for both the goats AND you! What I mean is that the goats fear/respect the bite of the fence, if they get over that, then it will not hold them... and when they get out several times, at bad times, you'll never really trust the fence 100% again.


Woven wire Pro:

When installed correctly woven wire is a strong, sturdy, long lasting fence that looks really good. It does not need as much maintence as electric, and is a physical barrier for both the goats that you are fencing in, and all the stuff you are fencing out.

Woven Wire con:
Besides being expensive, it is one of the more difficult wire fence to install correctly. Unlevel ground is your enemy. Goats and other animals will rub along sections of the fence, stretching the wire. If the mesh size is too large goats can get their heads stuck through the fence. Horses will try to stand on it, stretching it.

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For all that, I would invest the extra sweat, money, blood and tears into the woven wire. I have used electric for perimeter, and had decent results... but it just does not give you quite the same peace of mind. Personally, I would consider using both, by running a strand or two inside of the woven wire to keep the animals for rubbing on the fence.

[marvella]

both. woven wire with a hot wire at top and bottom. it's the only thing that will hold them.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I use electric net fence. So.... it's both!

[huminbird]

I have only had my goats for two months but they will not go NEAR my electric fence. I used the polywire instead of regular wire and only had to put up two strands. It is a bit more expensive but they can see it really well, especially the babies. The more stubborn nubian went through it three times total. It probably took her that long to learn only because I had them in the pasture before the power was turned on and she liked to go under the fence.

I now have four 1 month old babies out there too and although they got shocked at least three times each they now respect the fence totally. They scream and run and go crazy then try to touch it again and at about the third time they learn where the pain came from. They touch it now and again on accident while playing and I had one get through without a shock and I had to put him back.

My bottom wire is about 4-10" off the ground (I have very hilly/bumpy) pasture and the top wire is about 3' off the ground. I find this works perfectly. I would never go back to woven wire unless I had a buck. I have seen what a goat can do to a perfectly good fence when they scratch their backs on it.

I may later add a third wire in the middle that is grounded if I ever have a problem with the little ones getting to adventurous. Doing this on an acre has saved me hundreds of dollars and hours of backbreaking work.