How have you fenced your goats? Need ideas.

[ChickenPotPie]

We are very new to goats. My son has only had his two dairy goats and doeling for about 2 months. They've stayed at the 4H farm - one in her own pen with baby and the other in a with the individually owned herd (large pen). We have not had to worry about fencing.

Now, we may be renting a home in the country (yay!). There is a 2-3 acre pasture we could use for extra $ but it has horse/cattle fencing - goats would get out. We were told we could use the orchard to keep the goats. No charge, we'd just have to have make our own pen there. I don't think we can afford the expensive "Fort Knox" pens they have at the 4H farm. Those are built to hold just about any type of large animal from lamb to hog to beef cattle.

What sort of economical but good goat fencing is out there? I need something that is easy to set up, sturdy and large enough for 3 - 6 goats/kids, and safe for children (not keen on the electric fence idea). I'm a city slicker and not feeling sure of where to even start.

Please share what you are doing with your set up, what works, what doesn't, anything you recommend? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Edited for clarity.

 

[mully]

I use 6 wire steel fencing. I keep all 6 wires hot and make sure that the output voltage is 5,000 or better. That sure helped when a pack of dogs came around last year, they all yelped and ran off. My fencer went out once and the goats noticed and got out. If I had to do it over again I would do it the same way as it works great. Buy at least a 100 mile fencer. I know you are not keen on electric but a fence strong enough to contain goats will cost you

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Oh, I hadn't even thought about dogs. I should have with all the stories my rural friends tell me about neighbors' dogs killing their animals and all the grief that causes. I'll have to look into it and consider the same for my rabbitry. They'd be easy pickin's for all kinds of creatures.

Where does one get this type of fencing. Yes, I'm that clueless. :/

 

[alba]

http://www.farmsupplystore.com/departments/electricfencesupplies
if you email them your questions they will help you with a system just for you.

 

[mully]

To get some good knowledge go here: http://fishock.com/
They will have lots of good info for you and since they are the Mfg they can lead you to a retail supplier As far as fencers go I like Zareba and you can find them at www.zarebasystems.com They are also a Mfg and have good info.

 

[freemotion]

I have bragged many times about how goat-proof my fence is. It is 4' Red Brand horse fencing, cost a small fortune, and has one strand of electric tape on top.....boy, is it fun to watch a fence-climbing dog hit that with all four paws thoroughly grounded on the horse fencing!!! YIPE-YIPE-YIPE!!!!!

Today I let the does out into the woods for an hour to munch while I worked in the garden nearby. When they were hanging out by the gate to come in, I walked over to let them back into the pasture. I heard a noise behind me and turned just in time to see one of my fat pygmy-cross girls picking herself up off the ground after squeezing UNDER the fence! Two posts from where I was standing, opening the gate!

GOATS!!!

 

[Rence]

I have a couple different areas.

My biggest area is fenced in with seven strands of electric. The area is partitioned (bucks separated from does), and that partition is five strands of electric. It works really really well. But you have to make sure that it's low enough for them not to inadvertantly eat their way out of it, while making sure you do your weed eating to make sure the foliage around it doesn't ground out your fence.

One of my areas is cattle panel on one side and field fencing on the other side (the field fencing was already there). If I had to do it again, I'd go with goat panel instead of cattle panel because babies can run right through the 6"x6" squares, and both my dogs and my goats can stick their heads in through the fence. So I wound up having to reinforce my cattle panel with 2"x4" welded wire, which in the long run, cost as much as just using goat panels. Another potential problem is the wire you use to attach panel to panel. Don't bother using those little wires. If the goats rub on the fence, they'll pop them off. So attach panels to each other with wire going up and down the fence. It's more durable.

If you have wandering dogs, I'd put a strand of electric over the top of the panels and one in the middle. That way unmanageable dogs can't climb up the fence as if it were a ladder.

 

[freemotion]

OK, I have redeemed myself and my fence is again goat-proof, and I am back to loving it. It turns out that she didn't go under the fence, but a staple had failed on one corner and when she rubbed her body on the fence to scratch an itch, she FELL INTO the pasture! I saw her do it tonight, it was a one-way only glitch in the fence, and since I just put the gate up so they can be let into the woods, the one-way door back into the pasture was just discovered. And fixed. Before she figured out how to make it into a two-way door to freedom!

GOATS!

 

[TxMom]

I have 2" x 4" welded wire fencing on T posts (spaced 8 ft apart). I was surprised at how fast and easy it was for my husband and I to put it up. I sure hope it works...I'm getting two 4-month-old boer wethers in a week and a half.

 

[lilhill]

For our herd of Nigies, we used 5' tall 2x4 welded wire fencing with electric wire around the outside bottom to keep preditors out. It's been up now for going on 5 years with not one escape. If you have horned goats, they can tear it up pretty quickly. Hot wire is also put on the inside of the buck pens to keep them off of it. Worked for us. Boar goats are much bigger than Nigerians, so you might need a stronger fence for them.