Straw Hat Kikos

[marlowmanor]

A pretty cheap and easy way to make portable fencing is electric. You just spend some time training them to it and they don't want to touch it again. Your goats would be easy cuz they are pretty small. As long as you do T-posts on corners you can do those little plastic or medal round posts with 4 strands. It works good and is pretty inexpensive, easy to move, easy to put up. It's a win-win!!

We don't even have electric on the goat lot right now though DH and I have discussed it a little. The main reason we don't have it on there is because of our kids. I can definately price it though.

We have plenty of the regular field fencing we used for the goat lot at our house that we could likely use in the brushy area the only thing is that the t posts are so expensive it keeps us from using it somewhere else. I will mention the electric idea to DH though and maybe even price it so that the inlaws and DH can discuss it. We could even move it to some of our own yard that needs to be trimmed down. We have a hillside area in our front yard that can't be mowed easily that the goats would be useful for.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Yes the children would need to be trained to it too. lol I do see your point. The thing about electric fences is that the kind of charge gives an unpleasant feeling but can not do any damage to you. But with little kids that could defiantly be an issue. The biggest price in an electric fence is the charger which can be a bit high because it has to all come at once. With wire or anything else in an electric fence you could get bit by bit so it doesn't kill you but the charger is expensive. You would only need a few T-posts, just on the corners. And yes, I agree they are expensive. On my field fence (buck pen) I have T-Posts every 8 ft. I have more than 30 of them. I also have 12 for my electric fence because I have to make so many turns, it being in the woods and all.

 

[marlowmanor]

Yeah teh oldest 2 boys have been shocked before by the electric fence when we have been visiting my dad. The youngest one hasn't gotten it yet and he is the one who is the most stubborn. Knowing him he wouldn't learn the first time and would end up getting shocked a couple times more!
I've got another fencing idea in mind but I have to figure out how to do it. We have the chainlink dog lot that is used as one shelter and is useful if we need to lock up the goats out of the lot for a while. If we got a few more panels for it to make it larger and put wheels on it I bet we could use it as portable fencing for the goats. Then I know they are secure in it and we could move it around so they could do the brush clearing. Then we really don't have a ton of expense in it and it's safe for both goats and human kids.

 

[redtailgal]

It's been my experience that kids learn the fence pretty well, lol. Lil david for instance went outside to the goats.......I said "dont touch the fence", sooooo he looked me right in the eye and grabbed the fence.

His reaction was shocking! IT was a valuable lesson, he learned not to touch the fence and he learned that when he doenst do as I say, bad things happen.

ug.....could not imagine trying to keep goats around here without the electric fence

 

[20kidsonhill]

It's been my experience that kids learn the fence pretty well, lol. Lil david for instance went outside to the goats.......I said "dont touch the fence", sooooo he looked me right in the eye and grabbed the fence.

His reaction was shocking! IT was a valuable lesson, he learned not to touch the fence and he learned that when he doenst do as I say, bad things happen.

ug.....could not imagine trying to keep goats around here without the electric fence

x2 on the electric fence, it really helps when raising goats. And we have lots of children on our property, they learn very quickly to ask about the fencing and not touch it. And like you said redtial, If they don't listen and grab it they have learned a valuable lesson about listening.

 

[autumnprairie]

It's been my experience that kids learn the fence pretty well, lol. Lil david for instance went outside to the goats.......I said "dont touch the fence", sooooo he looked me right in the eye and grabbed the fence.

His reaction was shocking! IT was a valuable lesson, he learned not to touch the fence and he learned that when he doenst do as I say, bad things happen.

ug.....could not imagine trying to keep goats around here without the electric fence

 

[Vickir73]

I can't do electric fencing - forget the kids - I'd constantly be shocking myself - next to electric what type of wire is best to use for my buck pen that I will be planning / constructing in the next month or so? I can't remember the name of the wire I have right now for the doe pen, but it's the kind that the holes start out small on the bottom and get bigger as you go toward the top. I could probably post a pic, but got a roll of it from the lumber company. I think they called it livestock wire - I don't remember.

Do you use t-posts or wooden posts in your buck pen?

 

[autumnprairie]

I can't do electric fencing - forget the kids - I'd constantly be shocking myself - next to electric what type of wire is best to use for my buck pen that I will be planning / constructing in the next month or so? I can't remember the name of the wire I have right now for the doe pen, but it's the kind that the holes start out small on the bottom and get bigger as you go toward the top. I could probably post a pic, but got a roll of it from the lumber company. I think they called it livestock wire - I don't remember.

Do you use t-posts or wooden posts in your buck pen?

I would use cattle panel for your buck pen if you can't use electric it is a stiffer fence and use wooden posts for your corners

 

[20kidsonhill]

I was laid out on my back a couple weeks ago, while reaching through the wooven fencing dumping out the water pail and hit the electic fence. My husband had been working hard making sure the fencer was working well, because we were trying to get a side field to have better electricity to it. I can tell you that was one of the because jolts I have ever gotten from the fence. I wasn't sure my heart was beating for a few seconds.

 

[20kidsonhill]

I can't do electric fencing - forget the kids - I'd constantly be shocking myself - next to electric what type of wire is best to use for my buck pen that I will be planning / constructing in the next month or so? I can't remember the name of the wire I have right now for the doe pen, but it's the kind that the holes start out small on the bottom and get bigger as you go toward the top. I could probably post a pic, but got a roll of it from the lumber company. I think they called it livestock wire - I don't remember.

Do you use t-posts or wooden posts in your buck pen?

I would use cattle panel for your buck pen if you can't use electric it is a stiffer fence and use wooden posts for your corners

Hog panel would work or a heavy 4x4 goat panel, but get the thicker wire.