Question about electric fencing for goats

[SkyWarrior]

Hey all!

Those of you who have electric fencing from Premier 1, how necessary is it to keep vegetation off the fence? We put up a roll of Premier fencing and we're in a forest, so there's a lot of stuff. How necessary is it to keep it 100% clear?

 

[Tokoloshe]

It depends on the output of the machine and how much wire is attached to it. If it is near its capacity then not much vegetation will be an issue. Basically a few leaves will not be an issue but the more that touches it the more energy is drained away.

Rather like a hosepipe with holes in it - the more holes in it the less water comes out the end.

 

[sprocket]

Hey all!

Those of you who have electric fencing from Premier 1, how necessary is it to keep vegetation off the fence? We put up a roll of Premier fencing and we're in a forest, so there's a lot of stuff. How necessary is it to keep it 100% clear?

From our experience, it can tolerate *some* vegetation, but you'll definitely start noticing a drop in the voltage. I'm usually relatively lazy about it - I'll let our pasture grow up on the outside-side, then just shift the fence over by a foot or so into the short grass that the goats have already grazed off.

I'd recommend just getting a tester to periodically monitor the fence. If it gets too low, either mow/machete/move the fence. Once a goat realizes they can duck under the lower strand without getting a jolt, it's REALLY hard to untrain them - I had to lock two of our wethers in the barn for two weeks last year until they'd forgotten that escape trick.

Edit: I should also note that I'm frequently powering up to 12-15 sections of the fence on one charger. If you're only running a single section of fence, you can probably get away with a lot more vegetation.

 

[DonnaBelle]

DH just sprayed under our electric fence with Remedy. It's a high powered brush killer. It will take care of the growth pretty much all year.

We have electric poultry netting for the chicken yard, and we have electric high tensile fence for the goats.

DonnaBelle

 

[Tokoloshe]

Something that works really well and is permanent is a strip of builders damp course underneath the bottom strand. This prevents grass growth as can be seen from these images of electric pountry netting