# thoughts on pallet fence



## gspirit

For some reason I really like the idea of using free pallets to build a fence. I would love to get some angora goats. The pallets I'd use would stand 48" tall. I would think that would be tall enough to keep in angora's, but my experience with goats is very limited to owning two pygmies for about 7 months before I moved to my current residence. Of course I have found (very) little documentation of people using pallets to fence in livestock, let alone goats. I know that they would not last an extremely long time, and it is likely not the best idea, but I can get them free and I like the challenge of re-purposing materials. But as my research has continued I have become very concerned with keeping coyotes out since they can apparently clear even a six foot fence (I was not aware of this when I got excited about the pallet idea). Getting any kind of gaurd animal really isn't an option currently. I don't have much land or money really, but I still want to do things I enjoy. So I'm wondering now if it is possible to electrify 24" hardware cloth (instead of a single wire or two), if I attach it to the top of the pallet fence? I've never experimented with an electric fence, even though I once bought a solar charger unit. I really didn't want to resort to electricity due to my free ranging chickens and my pet cats. Couldn't their little hearts stop? It would hurt me to see my cats get shocked . Thats why I don't want to go with just electrified wire strands, hence the pallet idea where the electric is at least at the top.

Um.
:scratch:


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## StaceyRosado

yes you can hotwire a fence but it wont keep coyotes out if they can clear a fence without touching it.

Does your area have a coyote problem?


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## gspirit

Well, I have not personally seen a (live-two dead on the highway this year) coyote but my uncle saw one in broad daylight take one of my chickens. But mostly my chicken deaths have been from raccoons getting in the coops. I just don't want to take the chance of my goats getting killed too. I didn't think that only one strand of hot wire along a 48" high fence would stop a coyote in mid leap, it would be too late by the time it connected. Thats why I thought at least by using 24" hardware cloth it would make the fence 6ft tall and make it a lot more likely that a coyote would have to connect with it to get itself over the fence. I just didn't know if it was feasible to electrify hardware cloth with that kind of surface area.


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## Trace

my only thought on using pallets is that most of them are really roughly made and you will really have go over them carefully for nails etc - are you planing on taken them apart or just pinning them together?

I have friends that have made horse round bale feeders out of them - they are a bit ghetto looking but they work as long as you take care of loose nails etc.....


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## gspirit

I wasn't planning to take them apart in any way, just put fence posts in the ground and screw them all together with scrap 2x4's or something. I didn't think about nails, thanks for the heads up.


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## Trace

Your welcome - I am rapidly learning that if anything can get into, through or over your fence - your goat can.


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## AlaskaBoers

old goat saying

If a fence cant hold water...it wont hold a goat. lol. 

I've never seen pallet fence. let us know how it works


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## StaceyRosado

if you have an enclosed shelter at night you can close them in at night.


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## deineria

I've had no problems with coyotes in my area bothering the goats, and we have a lot of coyotes, actually. We now have a llama in with them, but for the first year we did not.

We use woven wire and panels. I've only have one goat get out in two years with the 4 foot panels or 5 foot wire. I am not sure what a pallet fence is - I keep thinking wooden pallets?

You could put them up at night in a mini barn.


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## gspirit

deineria, that is somewhat comforting to know. I was really wanting to get an alpaca too but they are not exactly 'guard' quality like llamas (so I read). They are regular wooden (shipping) pallets used in the retail industry. I can get them from my father's warehouse. I really think I'm going to do it. I too thought I could just pen them up in the shelter at night, but I am not always home every day of the week, sadly.


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## RunAround

About the electric, I use electric all the time and have never had it kill a chicken or cat. The electric will actually keep my barn cat in the pen because he dosen't want to touch it. The chickens just walk through and take their chances with getting zapped. I've had day old kids get zapped too and they have been fine.


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## sparks879

The thing i would worry most about with a pallet fence is they cant see through it. and when a goat cant see through something (and often even when they can) they start climbing to look over the fence. pushing on the fence. if its not very strong its not going to hold them. The pallets we get at the store i work at come in verying degrees of spaces, sometimes the slats are six inches apart other times they are eight or ten. Would this hold in kids? Would it keep dogs out? I have used pallets for stalls once, the kids would get in between the top and bottem layers and sometimes would have a hard time getting out.
My neighbors had a cat get killed by an electric fence. She tried to climb through it it and got stuck. they repeated shocking was too much for her. 
beth


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## dragonfly farms

We have pallet play structures that the goats love, we have had one serious problem, luckily we were out in the yard when it happened. One of our doelings would run thru the holes in the pallet and then one day she got too big and got her middle stuck. We tried working her out but that did not work, we needed to remove the board to free her. We have since patched the holes!


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## ENC

Pallets are good IMHO for smaller enclosures like small shelters or birthing stalls but there are still better options. I would think that pallets would be too rigid for uneven terrain. Also if you use one post per pallet that is more posts than a barb wire fence. A far as electrifying 24" hardware screen, First you would need to find out how well it conducts. I'm guessing not that good. Then you would need a very large charger for a small amount of material. It would be like every wire in the screen laid end to end. Then you still need to worry about isolating it from the pallets to prevent a ground short. 


Evan


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## SterlingAcres

I've not seen a fence built of pallets, but I have seen them dismantled and used to build chicken coops and barns. If you're going to use the pallets, I'd suggest tearing them apart and making a real fence with them. After all, it's still free lumber 

Good luck and post pictures when you're done! I love seeing people's "goat areas". :hug:


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