Starting from scratch with goats

[Southern by choice]

My Dh was reading over my shoulder and said the same as you!

Truly it does depend on your region and how bad the problem is but good fencing is always a great start! As far as the rest I think too many "expect" a problem.

We have 4 ft and it has always been no problem... all the what ifs can make a person crazy and spend unnecessary $ and at the same time the majority of all farm fencing is 4 ft high. We have several areas that are 6 ft and that is where there may be farm visitors.. we needed extra barrier between them and our LGD's.

Coyotes here are pretty bad and getting worse. Some knucklehead thought "gee why don't we bring in coyotes to cut down on the deer population"... yeah that was brilliant! Not as bad as Bossroo describes but here yeah they will snatch a small dog off their own porch in a second. They will eat a calf while being born, foals too, they are a nuisance here. We do have LGD's and they are worth everything to us! Pretty much there isn't a farm around our area that doesn't have a couple of LGD's.

You'll know what ya need.

 

[Onyx]

It's really hard to know because I don't know anyone in the area I can ask. I mean with that much forest all around I'd expect there'd be plenty for the wild animals to eat without having to go to extremes to get into my pens but who knows. With the goat pen being relatively small I may just cover the top as well.

 

[luvmypets]

My Dh was reading over my shoulder and said the same as you!

Truly it does depend on your region and how bad the problem is but good fencing is always a great start! As far as the rest I think too many "expect" a problem.

We have 4 ft and it has always been no problem... all the what ifs can make a person crazy and spend unnecessary $ and at the same time the majority of all farm fencing is 4 ft high. We have several areas that are 6 ft and that is where there may be farm visitors.. we needed extra barrier between them and our LGD's.

Coyotes here are pretty bad and getting worse. Some knucklehead thought "gee why don't we bring in coyotes to cut down on the deer population"... yeah that was brilliant! Not as bad as Bossroo describes but here yeah they will snatch a small dog off their own porch in a second. They will eat a calf while being born, foals too, they are a nuisance here. We do have LGD's and they are worth everything to us! Pretty much there isn't a farm around our area that doesn't have a couple of LGD's.

You'll know what ya need.

We rarely see coyotes around where we live, but the other day we saw a dead one on the side of the road. Its a reminder that you arent always safe no matter where your located.

 

[babsbag]

We hear the coyotes nightly and see them on occasion. I have a hot wire at the top of the fence on the outside and at the bottom and I am sure the coyotes have tested it. Saw places in our field with no hot wire that they were coming right over a 4' no climb; we put up a wire and no more coyote. The LGD on most small farms work by intimidation and they don't have to interact with the coyotes, just stay inside the fence and be big and bark a lot. Works well. I have friends that have lost goats to coyotes before dogs and no loss afterwards.

 

[Marge23]

I don't really have predator problems at. We do have coyotes but they have never been a problem. We also had two hunting dogs in a yard next to the pen too. But we still lock our goats up at night in a small shed/stall to keep them safe. It just ha 4 walls, a door and a locking gate.

But idk if predators would be a problem during the day

 

[MsDeb]

We hear coyotes but never see them at our place, and yesterday our next door neighbor was telling us he sees a bobcat in the wooded area between our houses about every night. Oh, and a fox. He was also saying his friend has seen wild pigs along the creek behind us. So this morning I was especially thankful for Finn chasing off anything real or imagined before I went out to feed goats in three separate pens at pitch black thirty. All that talk made me kind of nervous but still didn't see anything.......until I left for work. I got a half block from my office and a coyote ran across the access road I was on sat in very well lighted, paved car dealership between a couple of really nice cars and watched me as I slowed almost to a stop just to see what it would do. It just sat there.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I hit a coyote with my car last week. Had to punch the gas and swerve all the way in the other lane to get that sucker.

 

[Southern by choice]

 

[Onyx]

I may have the most ridiculously predator-proofed yard in my entire nation by the time I am done >_>

 

[Southern by choice]