# Is electric fencing necessary?



## Ursalesguru (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi,

Almost finish enclosing 3 acres of woods that was fun.....my hands are swollen from digging holes. Fencing is going up I bought the 48 inch goat fence and used the metal T braces. 

Do I need electric and if so is solar workable? 

A

A


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Your fence will last longer if it's hot. Sounds like a good fence though.
Some solar fencers are pretty hot. Follow the directions to a tee about
grounding. Grounding is the key. All you will need is one wire about
18-30 inches off the ground if you decide to make it hot. I have some old
fence that is field fence with the big squares that goats can get their
heads stuck in. By itself, that fence is junk. With a hot wire it is a 
useful fence. Get in the habit of checking the fence once a week to
keep stuff off the hot wire that can ground it out. Which reminds me... 
Sounds like you bought the good wire for fence.


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## Used2bmimi (Oct 3, 2012)

Ha ha ha, well the quick answer here is...it depends on the goats. I have had a very determined doe magically transport herself to the wrong side of a four foot chain link fence. Repeatedly. On the other hand my entire herd is totally respectful of a two foot high, two strand electric cross fence in their pasture. I guess it depends on how much they want to be on the other side. That said, a well built four foot high woven wire should be fine for most goaties. If you need electric, a solar charger should be fine for small acreage if you get one meant for what you are doing.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I have 4' field and or horse non climb (the 2x4"), everyone respects it EXCEPT one! So of course where she is I had to put up hot wire. She is a ND in the horse non climb area, well guess what horse non climb doesn't equal goat non climb! Every time I took the other doe out to milk, boom she was out; so I hid and then watched her climb right over. I put one strand about head height and she knows better now.


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## Used2bmimi (Oct 3, 2012)

clearwtrbeach said:


> I have 4' field and or horse non climb (the 2x4"), everyone respects it EXCEPT one! So of course where she is I had to put up hot wire. She is a ND in the horse non climb area, well guess what horse non climb doesn't equal goat non climb! Every time I took the other doe out to milk, boom she was out; so I hid and then watched her climb right over. I put one strand about head height and she knows better now.


Oh my gosh, that is so funny!


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

yeah, imagine my surprise when I was hiding and watched her climb up and then over! I didn't want to have to deal with hot wire but better safe than sorry since we are right on a hwy.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Well it probably is best to have it with electric fence but.. we have only the buck pen with electric wire. It keeps him in and the Does out. If we have any Does that are inclined to climb a fence, we have to really like that Doe a lot or she will be sent on to different home. We have so far only had one like that and she is doing fine in her new home that has electric fence all around. She was going to pass this on to her kids and a bad example to the others so for that alone.. we culled her to go on. As of now, we have no fence climbers at all.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I'm thinking about letting her go next year after milking, unless she is fabulous. Good thing is she can't really teach anyone else since there's hot wire now.


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## Ursalesguru (Nov 3, 2012)

Thank you everyone for the advice. I have about three acres I have fenced in and it was grueling because its woods. I will have to look at the solar options allot closer. I will try to upload a few pictures of the goats when they grey here.

I know I need a separate area for the male Goat, but do I need to section off an are for sick gays and gang jet area for Goats that are kidding as we'll? That would be three sections at this point?


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## Ursalesguru (Nov 3, 2012)

Ursalesguru said:


> Thank you everyone for the advice. I have about three acres I have fenced in and it was grueling because its woods. I will have to look at the solar options allot closer. I will try to upload a few pictures of the goats when they grey here.
> 
> I know I need a separate area for the male Goat, but do I need to section off an are for sick gays and gang jet area for Goats that are kidding as we'll? That would be three sections at this point?


Sorry about misspellings spell checker went nutso!


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Well it does help to have at least 3 areas. For the kidding season alone, we have a clean grass area that no animals will be pooping in and it is fenced off for part of the year. For us.. we have one large rectangle area that can have those temporary panels put up inside for smaller pens or removed for kidding season. You don't need a large pen for a sick animal. It can be a small little area. It seems we area always improving fencing and pens here as we go but the most important would be to first get the buck pen made. After that you can at least throw up some panels for kidding areas.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

As for the solar chargers, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it's been my understanding goats need that high zap. So I go with a strong elec. box, the solars don't have as much zap so you'll want the biggest solar you can afford. Also, like mentioned before, grounding properly is a big one!!


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

packhillboers said:


> If we have any Does that are inclined to climb a fence, we have to really like that Doe a lot or she will be sent on to different home. We have so far only had one like that and she is doing fine in her new home that has electric fence all around. She was going to pass this on to her kids and a bad example to the others so for that alone.. we culled her to go on. As of now, we have no fence climbers at all.


Got to share this story--friend who lives on the edge of town was given an abandoned kid who eventually grew up and constantly jumped the fence. A neighbor down the road really liked the looks of the goat and asked to buy it. My friend, tired of the problem said sure. So the neighbor bought the goat and took it home. Well, the dog knew that goat belonged on their property and kept going down the road and collecting the goat. Every time the goat spotted the dog he would jump the fence and go back to my friend's house with the dog. This went on for some time but eventually the neighbor got tired too and sold the goat to someone who lives in another county.


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## Ursalesguru (Nov 3, 2012)

Here is a snap shot of the fence and









the Goat house which is 24 x 24 and about 10 feet high. Going to put sand in the bottom and then cover with straw what do you think?


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## mjs500doo (Nov 24, 2012)

clearwtrbeach said:


> yeah, imagine my surprise when I was hiding and watched her climb up and then over! I didn't want to have to deal with hot wire but better safe than sorry since we are right on a hwy.


Seriously sounds like my Begonia. We have just about tried everything. No wonder she was "on sale". Was considering hot wire as an option and will do doing so soon. Thank you for making my mind! We have 4 ft fence here too and she literally would stand up, jump and shove those feet in holes, and twist like a Marlin and she was up and over. *facepalm*


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

DO NOT GET THE HOT FENCE FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY!!! I spent 2 days working on a pen out in the field for my goats, hooked it up and it was a pulse one, after they were half way threw the fence it would zap and send them the rest of the way threw. I would put hot fence up just for the fact that you just spent a lot of money on your fence and you are going to be very mad if they mess it up, and once that fence is messed up there is no getting it back to the way you had it. Im getting ready to keep my goats penned, and I am putting hot fence up, mainly just on the bottom since my goats like to crawl not jump. I am seriously considering putting barb wire on the top as well. I have always penned my goats up at night, and sometimes my one doe PollyAnn who is a BIG girl would be on the out side. I sat there and watched her and some how that fat thing slid right under the fence.....How? I have no idea!!!


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Nice fence. Yes, I would make it hot. One wire about brisket level
of your goats. That will keep your fence pretty for a long time.


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## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

Nice fence, looks like you have it figured out. We also have barbedwire running acroos the top and along the bottom. They don't mess with it.

Like 'packhillboers', we had a buck and a doe that were true escape artists [the buck especially]. Every time he would find a way out we would make his escape route inaccessible, only to have hime find a new one. The doe's babies were constantly getting out of the fence while they were small. She had lots of babies and each time they were the only ones getting out. Eventually we had to find new homes for them. I think part of the problem was having to herds in adjacent pastures. Learning all the time......


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## Ursalesguru (Nov 3, 2012)

Thanks everyone but I don't know how I am going to pen up theses guys for a while they were like kids in an all u can eat candy store when they arrived. I don't see how in the world I am going to get them to pay me any mind. They were to busy eating bush, vines and pine... Here are some pics.


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## Obaisshah (Nov 29, 2012)

Electric fencing solutions are very effective in keeping goats. Especially when it come to their safety. Exclusion of predators such as foxes can frequently be a problem in spring when lambs are born and onset of winters .However, as some goats are naturally insulated by a thick growth of hair it is essential to ensure the energizer is sufficiently powerful to be effective.


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## Used2bmimi (Oct 3, 2012)

Holy smokes you gotta bunch o' goats! They will have your property clean as a whistle in no time. They're fun to watch huh?


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## Ursalesguru (Nov 3, 2012)

Yes but I have all the work that everyone said I would. Lots of limping hooves that look like thy have never been trimmed and worms up the wazooooo... So been doing the leg work with to helpers with the hopes we can shape them up and sell them..


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