# Horse panels and young goats



## windsking55 (Mar 9, 2010)

At what age do horned youngsters get big enough that they can't get their heads throught openings on the horse panels with the larger 4"x6" openings? The cattle panels with 4x4 openings are 2-3 times more expensive.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

Mine are a year and still stick their heads through. They seem to like the challenge of getting their horns through.

When they were 12 weeks old they could squeeze through a 14" diameter duct with a right angle turn in it.


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## gsbswf (Apr 5, 2009)

My kids are a year old and their horns don't fit through the 6x6 cattle panels anymore. When they were super little, we had chicken wire around the bottom and it kept their heads in. I would say if this is their final setup, I would get the hog panels that are smaller at the bottom. I don't remember if they came in a tall enough size to hold them in for a year. My intent is to get the short height hog panels to put at the bottom and then put my 52 inch cattle panels above on an 8 foot T-post. That is another thing, get the tallest t-post you can now, if thats what you will use, so you are ready to expand as they grow. If it wasn't such an expensive ordeal to get a cattle panel around here, I would have just done that from the start... 8 foot t-posts, small square hog panels on the bottom, lare square cattle panels on top, and use single strand pieces of smooth wire (or barbed without the barbs) to twist around the t-post/panel to hold them on. They will be set for all ages, and you can grab a few more panels whenever the wallet allows, to expand it as they get older. I guess this is all based on my kids not being large enough to push over a cattle panel with t-posts yet, so idk if that will happen when they get larger. I have 4 t posts on each panel. Anyway, that is my setup.


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## windsking55 (Mar 9, 2010)

I have a large dog run that I will start the little fellers in but can't go with those quarters for too long. I have used chain link that I can put around the bottom of the fence if I need to. The horse panels I have now aren't going to be tall enough so perhaps I can put chain link on the bottom and raise the panels up about 12 inches to gain some height.


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## gsbswf (Apr 5, 2009)

I have heard that there is some concern about kids getting horns stuck in chain link and breaking them. I have also heard that its just fine, and even prefered for keeping goats in and dogs out. Maybe others can share their experience. I also don't know what it does when they start putting their feet on it i fit isn't all properly installed with chainlink posts and stuff. I bet you could just move it up high when they are bigger, and have the cattle panels as the main fencing for when they rub along it and get their weight on it. It wouldn't matter if the chain link had a little give then, since it would mostly just be to keep them from trying to jump. Sounds like you have a great plan to me. Oh, and when I went to feed the kids after my last post, I held some oats for Teddy outside the pen, and he can't even get his face far enough through to worry about horns. They are mostly Oberhasli and Alpine cross, for what thats worth.


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