Electric Fence

[Hobby Farm]

I am in the planning/prepararing stage of getting dairy goats. My question is about electric fence and goats. Do you have to "train" goats to get them to respect electric fence, or is it a they get shocked a few times, then they're trained?

Thanks.

 

[lilhill]

They get shocked a couple of times and lesson is learned.

 

[()relics]

Most of my goats are on electric fence...most of the time they stay away from it but occasionally they "forget" and run through it, Unlike horses they must not be able to sense the current in the wire...Usually they just run back through it to get with their friends...When ever I introduce new animals to the wire I always include a few experienced animals in the new herd...Just so everyone knows what is expected...A horse or donkey works best for the new introduction, I think, As they Respect the fence and stay away....Soon the goats see the horse "fearing" the wire and they also fear it....BUT if there is a large green bushy tree just outside the pasture Don't think for a minute the new goats won't try to have a taste of it....My lowest strand of wire is 8" off the ground, it and the third wire are electrified...the other 3 aren't...I use an 8 gauge wire and it is pulled VERY tight.

 

[Hobby Farm]

Most of my goats are on electric fence...most of the time they stay away from it but occasionally they "forget" and run through it, Unlike horses they must not be able to sense the current in the wire...Usually they just run back through it to get with their friends...When ever I introduce new animals to the wire I always include a few experienced animals in the new herd...Just so everyone knows what is expected...A horse or donkey works best for the new introduction, I think, As they Respect the fence and stay away....Soon the goats see the horse "fearing" the wire and they also fear it....BUT if there is a large green bushy tree just outside the pasture Don't think for a minute the new goats won't try to have a taste of it....My lowest strand of wire is 8" off the ground, it and the third wire are electrified...the other 3 aren't...I use an 8 gauge wire and it is pulled VERY tight.

So you use a total of 6 rows of wires with only the bottom and middle "hot"?

 

[cmjust0]

I think there are 5, with 2 of 5 being hot..

What got me was the 8ga wire...holy cow. We use 12-1/2ga hi-tensile and it's pretty fat wire, at least compared to the 15 or 16ga aluminum a lot of folks use. An animal can go right through a 15ga aluminum wire fence if it wants to, but I can't imagine anything breaking a 12-1/2ga wire..

So...I must know...why 8ga wire?

 

[Hobby Farm]

I checked a few websites trying to find 8 Gauge wire, but couldn't find anything. 12.5 is the largest I could find. 8 GA would have to be expensive, but like you said, nothing would ever get through it.

 

[Hobby Farm]

If anyone has a link or reference for a "How to" on putting up an electric fence, I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[lilhill]

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/features/hd-fencing.shtml

There's lots of links out there on "how to" install electric fencing.

 

[trestlecreek]

Goats will learn to stay off an electric fence, but you have to make sure the fence is working at all times. Goats are smart enough to keep testing it,...LOL!!

 

[()relics]

5 wire fence ...8 gauge wire because there are some very long runs...1/4 mile on some pulls...Then tension springs on the corners...Its expensive but it never stretches and it carries the current well....you can nearly climb over the fence between posts...which with the stronger wire can be placed much farther apart...we started with "Normal" 12 gauge wire and nothing got out BUT more and more frequently deer, for one reason or another, ran through it; They easily broke the connectors off the poles because they aren't made for reverse pressure...This changed with the heavy wire and "custom" electric wire connectors...I was tired of chasing horses and repairing fence in the middle of the night...We actually had a deer kill itself while trying to run through the new wire late last fall...Picture the hard boiled egg slicer thing....Quite a mess...
to be correct it is called 4mm which is about equal to 8 gauge wire.