Welded or woven wire for fencing Guinea Hogs?

[BarnOwl]

Hello! We are excited to be adding some guinea hogs to our menagerie in June, and are planning the perimeter fence. Would a combination of welded wire fence with several strands of electric be sufficient, or should we pay more for the woven wire? If we choose the woven wire should it also be reinforced with electric? We are getting some temporary electric fencing from Premier1 to divide the perimeter fence and to move the hogs around the property (we'd train them first, of course), but it seems prudent to have at least one secure enclosure that is not completely reliant on electric. Thanks for any and all advice and suggestions. We are newbies to pigs!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I have AGH's and I would use nothing but hog and/or stock panels reinforced with electric. My battery is out on my charger right now and my boar found a spot where he was able to pop the staples out of the post and push a panel out to make his great escape. Thankfully, he will do anything for a dozen boiled eggs and followed me back in and I reinforced the panel with a lot more staples. I'm afraid he would laugh at welded wire and would simply walk right through it if there was no electricity. Unless woven wire was extremely tight they would likely figure out how to go under it. Panels - lots of staples - electric....and lots of boiled eggs!

They are a wonderful breed and I love, love, love them. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I do m ine.

 

[Baymule]

I wouldn’t use welded wire to keep in a puff of wind. By all means secure the parameter with strong wire as Frustratedearthmother said, plus electric. Pigs have 24-7 to find a way out. LOL

 

[farmerjan]

Welded wire will eventually fail at the welds with any kind of pressure put on it. Woven wire is best for perimeters. And reinforcing with electric for hogs. One time I had a pen of woven wire, and used RR ties along the bottom to keep them from digging out as they just want to constantly use those noses as bulldozers..... Let's face it, that is their greatest asset. Besides bacon of course.....

I have also used pallets as fencing with T-posts driven into the ground to keep them in place. They will dig and make mounds of dirt up against them too. The long ones that weigh a ton are better to use. More often I find that the hogs would dig along a fence line, then they would kinda shove the dirt up against the sides to make a laying spot that they liked. That is the only problem with electric, when they do want to plow the field, they can ground it out with the dirt getting up against it.

Don't waste your money on the welded wire. It really won't stand up unless it is as heavy as the hog/cow panels.

 

[BarnOwl]

Okay, the welded wire is out for sure!! I will look into hog/stock panels. At this point, we're only planning on a few gilts and have no plans to breed. But in a few years, if things go well, and we gain experience...who knows...?

Thanks everyone for the feedback! We are getting very excited.

 

[Tjcib]

Adding my 2 cents since I just found my four AGHs grazing in my front yard...

Once they figure out that they are stronger than the welded wire fence, they will push right through. AGHs don't root as much, so we didn't have issues with them digging under. They are just too smart...

We use P1 electric netting to rotate them and it works well 80% of the time. Again, they are so dang smart that if weeds or something causes the current to drop too much, they can tell and will lift the netting up. (They also do this is your 12-year-old son forgets to turn the charger back on...) So you you do need to be diligent with getting good grounding and keeping a clear net.

We visited Old Crowe Farm in central VA for a class on AGHs. She is like a guru... She had woven wire fencing that was 3" at the bottom I believe... She did have a hot wire near the ground and a hot wire at the top, but said that was necessary because of the grants she used to build the fence. Other pastures built with her own money did not have the ground hot.

Here is a pic of her fence (best one I have) in her sacrifice area where she gathered them for the class.