# Fencing...?????



## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

Well I am getting the fencing for us to start fencing in our place this weekend! I am so excited!! But I have a couple of questions....

Has anyone ever used the 14 gauge 2x4 rectangle welded wire? Hubby is going with me tonight to see if he thinks it will work or not, but I had thought I would ask on here as well. We already have a 5 strand barb wire fence up so this will be going OVER that, so it will have some reinforcement. I would go with the regular hog wire (or horse fencing... everyone calls it something different), but where we have them at right now that is what is up there and my newest kids have decided that they can walk right through the squares! So that is NOT an option here... I DEFINITELY don't want any of them getting out! Plus with the smaller wire the adults can't get their heads hung in the fence... Anyways, I was just wandering if anyone has used this wire and if anyone thought it would work ok for my Minis or not?? Any help would be greatly appreciated! For the first pasture ALONE we are having to purchase 2,200 ft. of wire :shocked: :doh:


----------



## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

We used to have the 2x4 welded wire when we first started in goats, they wrecked it by the end of the summer. We have discovered you shouldn't cheap out on fencing. We use the Redbrand 4x4 woven wire goat fence, it is really expensive but we've had it up for 2 years and it isn't showing any signs of age. For pasture fence, we use one wood post, two steel posts, one wood, etc. In certain places you may have to use more wood posts like on corners and angles. We used all wood corners with braces and two wood posts going out from each corner.


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I used that for years...til my buck decided to beat his head on the t-posts and broke the welds with his horns leading to unexpected kids..lol. My girls did ok with it..though the part nearest my house was where they decided to "rub" against it and also broke the welds. It is great for keeping kids from walking thru it though! I know you have minis too, and I will tell you this...do not get the galvanized cattle feedlot panels...I did because they were $20 cheaper than the goat panels I use...big mistake and waste of money...I have had to use bolt cutters to get my bucks head out of them....and the kids walk right thru them too.


----------



## Sweet Gum Minis (Oct 6, 2007)

Yes I have a section of that between the bucks and does and for the longest time it had a hot wire on both sides. I wouldn't use it for regular fencing. I also will never use field fence again. I would use a chain like or woven wire fence like the special goat fence or smaller.


----------



## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I have used that but I think it was 12 gage


----------



## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

Welded wire breaks at the weld very easily- I have 2x4 woven wire for all but a little bit of garden fencing which is welded. You know how goaties love to lean against the fence and walk down it to scratch themselves? Well I can hear those welds popping on that section of fence every time they do it. 
The only way to use welded fence is to hot wire it at goat shoulder level and the top to keep them off it. Otherwise woven wire is really needed IMO.


----------



## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

That's what I was afraid of... we are going to look at wire tonight, so we might winding up changing our plan. Thanks for all of the advice! :greengrin:


----------



## alyssa_romine (Oct 5, 2007)

I do not like welded wire because it is so easy to ruin. I have a few pieces of it but that is all I had to put up. I prefer woven wire. I would get 2x4 welded wire. You could even go with a 4x4 woven wire if it's available and cheaper than 2x4.


----------



## rlittlecritters (Apr 27, 2008)

I have some 2x4 (don't know what gauge) that works well for my pygmies.....it does bend a little in some places where they have leaned against it alot.
We also have one field with 4x4 but I found out when I saw the dog in the bushes that the little babies can crawl right through it. (Baby was scared, but not hurt thankfully.) I don't suggest using 4x4 if it is for mini babies, works great once they are a bit older though.


----------



## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

I had another lady tell me that she uses the 2x4 for her Minis and she puts one strand of electric wire about 18" off the ground to keep them off the fence and she says that works perfect for her. Plus she sent me the link for a different brand of the 2x4 wire that looks to be a little sturdier and it is only a few dollars more per roll, so my husband and I are going to go look at it this weekend and might do that.

Do you think that would work with the better brand wire and the strand of electric?


----------



## all1965 (Oct 6, 2007)

We use the Redbrand goat fence with the 4x4 holes. I like it but my polled kids can get their heads through the hole for a long time but since the wire does give they can get it back out. We have two types of fence. The redbrand and then utility panels that are 4x4 squares and are welded so they do not give and one of my polled kids got his head stuck bad. I thought he was a goner but thankfully he apparently wasn't out there long and we cut the fence to get his head out.

The only ba part about the Redbrand is that if you get a 300 ft roll, it is very heavy and sometimes hard to manipulate until you get some used. That's my only complaint about the Redbrand.

We don't use electric because we have Fainting Goats and I have heard of other Fainter breeders useing it and saying that there goats touch it and then faint and sometimes fall on the fence and it keeps repeating.

One breeder I talked to said he really liked fencing called Stay Tuff. Here is website and there are only dealers in a certain areas but you can check it out too. http://www.staytuff.com/


----------



## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

I think that the hot wire will work- but you need to keep the weeds and branches off of it. I couldn't use it as I also have horses sharing some of the same places and the hot wire so low would be a danger to them.


----------



## HollowbeadRanch (Oct 5, 2007)

Redbrand is the brand I am looking at right now. It looks to be ALOT studier than the other brand and with 2x4 squares the goats DEFINITELY won't be able to get their head hung in it. We have already killed the grass in under the fence row and had a couple of boys come out and weed eat in under it to clear everything out, so the weeds shouldn't be a problem... we will just have to keep it cleaned out.


----------



## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

all1965, my dad and I hard a really hard time building the redbrand fence to because of how big the rolls of wire are, we had a trailer that we hooked behind the atv and pulled around. That was a huge time saver. When we were building it in the forest, there were some areas where the atv couldn't get in, so it usually took my dad, me and my brothers to move it around.


----------

