Fence For Goats

[paper_crane2]

What kind of fencing is needed for goats? How high, and can they squeeze through small spaces?

Thanks!

Also, I heard that some goat breeds are more prone to escaping than others, what experience do you guys have with this?

[Alice In TX/MO]

There is a reason for the saying, "If your fence won't hold smoke, it won't hold goats."

I use electric net fencing or cattle panels.

Electric:
http://www.premier1supplies.com/fenc...?species_id=2&

Panels:
http://www.premier1supplies.com/deta...FSlo7Aod1w0AWQ

[Clovers_Clan]

You'll find lots of different answers to these questions. This is just my experience.

1) Young Nigerian Dwarves are escape artists. They fit through the smallest spaces and can REALLY jump.

2) Barbed wire is useless and can be dangerous.

3) Horned goats will get their heads stuck in hog wire. This is what I use, my goats are hornless, so no problems.

4) They are more likely to squeeze through or under a gap than jump over.

5) If bucks and does are housed sharing a fence line they are extremely creative and CAN breed through the fence.

6) Bucks are REALLY tough on fences when in rut.

7) Keeping predators out is as important as keeping goats in.

8) During winter a goat's insulating coat makes them impervious to the shock of most electric fences, except for heavy duty HT electric fence. Tape and rope electric is generally ineffective any time of year. However, they are effective for keeping goats from rubbing against or standing on a fence. Electric netting fence works well for rotational grazing, but I have had a wooly ND climb right over it, repeatedly. He got a good shave and that solved that problem.

9) Heavy gauge wire cattle panels are WONDERFUL for both permanent and moveable fencing!

10) Tube gates can be covered with hog wire to make them more secure.

[parrotman]

Fencing for goats can be modest or elaborate, temporary or permanent, cheap or expensive. You have to decide what your situation dictates and what you can afford.

Regardless of the breed you choose and whether or not they have horns, I would strongly suggest incorporating hot wire with whatever type of fence you decide upon. Hot wire can make a world of difference in the safety of the goats and how they treat your choice of fencing.

I chose high tensile woven fencing with two hot wires running the interior perimeter.
I hate to use words like "always and never," but I can honestly say that I've never had a goat get caught in the woven fence and I attribute this to the hot wires that the goats know and respect.

My goats are horned as I prefer factory installed equipment. As far as escaping, my goats wouldn't dream of it. The only place they run to is back to the barn when I collect them in the evening from the pasture.

[Alice In TX/MO]

That's a beautiful fence.

[parrotman]

That's a beautiful fence.

Thank you. The bank no longer owns it, I do!

[aart]

How do you do hot wire across the gate?

[parrotman]

How do you do hot wire across the gate?

There are three gates in this pasture and none of them have hot wire across the gates.
I can only speak for my goats, but once they learned that there was a shock factor along the fence line, they seem to assume the gates have the same heat, so to speak. They never challenge the gates.
As a side note...with their structured and methodical routines, they only go to two of the three gates. One is where they enter and exit the pasture and the other is where they exit to go on woodland walks. It might sound odd, but when I say "goats, let's walk," they automatically go to the gate that's used to exit for walks.

[Bret4207]

Goats need training and they, like horses, will constantly test any containment system. Barb wire or any electric tape, rope or wire is just a joke to a goat. I tried 5 strands of HT with alternating hot/ground, 3 hots, 2 grounds IOW. They went right through it. Light duty field fence and welded wire are both ineffective and a waste of money from a corrosion/stretching standpoint IMO. Heavy duty field fence, properly installed and maintained is pretty good. Cattle panels also work but they get expensive when you are dealing in miles of fence. Electro-net, good quality stuff properly grounded with an adequate charger works as long as there's food to eat within the fenced area. In fact keeping them where there is feed is important in any situation. Electro-net works best as cross fencing or within a larger field fenced enclosure. Training them to the electro-net is needed and simply means exposing them to the net for a period of time in an atmosphere where they aren't in a panic. IOW- don't put 1 or 2 goats behind the net and the rest of the herd outside. Let then all go in at once. A lone goat WILL attempt to get back to the herd, so will groups of young goats at weaning if they don't know what the net is. It's not hard, but they can tangle themselves and die in the net, not from the shock but from stress and exhaustion. We lost one that way. Tough learning experience.

If you go with field fence/Paige wire/woven wire then it HAS to be put in correctly. A poorly installed and maintained field fence is just a spring board for goats, so to speak. That means real corner posts, line posts every 10 feet or less, proper stretching and annual maintaining of the fence. Yes, it sounds like a lot of work because it is. It never ends. There is no maintenance fence- especially with goats. So start doing some research, You Tube has some decent clips on building a proper fence. If you see a corner that's just a 4" post or a steel tee post, thats the example NOT to follow. When you see something that looks like ot capable of acting as the anchor point for winching the Titantic across 10 miles of mountains, that's the right one. The pictures Parrotman provided are fair examples, but another set of stretchers would make it 3x as strong. Winter and ground water are the enemy of tight fences. I've seen set ups just like the one pictured heave out in spring on an annual basis. There is no perfect fence, but with goats you need to try. They will keep stretching the same area over and over as though they know they are weakening it. Eventually they stretch it enough to go through or under. They go under a lot easier than over.

Wow, didn't realize I was rambling. Sorry.

[Doug Hodges]

So far no escapes. Of course they never saw it so good. They would be silly to try to leave.

[dozedotz]

We paid a fortune for our fencing! It is great and we do not regret it, BUT I have to tell you that my darling Noble went over TWO (that's 2 - in case you think I mis-wrote) of our fabulous fences to get to our youngest girl last weekend!! I had planned to breed her next month and though she was safe from him...NO! He bred her. I've talked to Emily and we think that if she is pregnant (I honestly don't see how she cannot be...we observed several really good matings after we returned home six hours after leaving...we obviously don't know exactly when he decided to join her!). She is just 7 months but weighs over 100 pounds and has good bone. Just shows to go you that even the best and most expensive fences cannot always hold back true love...or whatever that was...

[CarolynRenee]

We used to have six strands of hot wire up to 4' high, but the babies would squeeze through it, even after getting zapped. Once the babies were gone, the older ones respected the fence.....until they found out it didn't work then they went right through it. Also, I know I may be bashed about using it, but when we first trained our goats to the hotwire we used the charger that DIDN'T pulse. It was a constant shock. When we used the hotwire that pulses, they figured that it was worth the one or two shocks to get to the other side.

When the ice storm took down the electric fence, we rebuilt using cattle panels. We had a hornless herd though. A horned goat can put it's head in & out MOST of the time, but there's always a time when they can't and unless you can check on them almost hourly, it's not worth having a stuck goat. Cattle panels are very durable and can take the goats stepping on them, but they are expensive.

We are currently working on our "forever" goat pasture and we bought 4" Red Brand Sheep and Goat Fence, 48" high. We will still use hot wires with it, one near the bottom, one at goat-nose-height, and one on top.