# What do you think of our future goat pen site?



## Little Cow (May 31, 2010)

Hi, I just joined and was hoping for a little advice. I wrote a small novel about myself under the "Welcome" topics, LOL!

Basically, my husband and I have a farm in Northern Florida and we are looking to add two Nubians or two Boers (we heard one goat gets too lonely). First step is to select the site of the goat pen. How high should the fence be? We already have 42' 'no climb' on two sides. We were planning to use hog panels for the rest.

We have an area that is half shady so the grass doesn't grow so well but it has cool spots during the hot months. We thought it would be a great place for our goat pen. We will build a shelter and some "toys" for the goats. I'll try some pictures (I know, ambitious for a newbie). I hope this works. Please tell me what you think of this spot:










Also, these weeds grow there every year. Does anyone from our area know if they are poisonous to goats? Would the goats like to eat them?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I love the place you picked out for the goat pen....it is wonderful....  :thumb: 

As for the plant.. I really don't know ....what it is....hopefully someone else will.... :wink:


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

looks like a good spot, no idea what the plants are.


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## Little Cow (May 31, 2010)

Thanks> I was wrong about the height of the fence. It's 4 and 1/2 feet (48 inches). How tall a fence do we need for goats?


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## kubileya (Apr 8, 2010)

The plant looks like it could be Lamb's Quarters (Chenopodium album). If so, it's not poisonous-- very nutritious, in fact!


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## Little Cow (May 31, 2010)

Thank you! I'll wait until it flowers and then I should be able to tell for certain what it is.

It looks like five foot fencing will suffice for their pen. Does that sound right? We have very sandy soil, do goats dig under?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

That height would be fine, never had a goat dig under a fence but they do rub on it alot and I've had them push it out enough to squeeze under it, I have galvanized panels up with 6 foot T- Posts driven in the ground 2 feet and spaced 4 feet apart...so far it's worked great.
The weed is common here, though my goats would rather walk on it to get to the timothy and clover in the field.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Looks like a good place! And hopefully the plants are fine, because they love that kind of stuff


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## Little Cow (May 31, 2010)

It sounds like this will be our goat pen site! Thank you! This is the one spot in our yard that always looks raggedy. Too sandy to mow and too weedy to let be. Our gardens have only a four foot fence around them so we will have to make sure the goats stay put. We also have blueberry bushes and apple trees that we need to protect.

You can see a few of our pastures in these pictures. We have 36 acres total but the cow pastures have barbed wire as part of the perimeter so I'm not sure I can let the goats out there. We have horse pastures that are either field fence or no climb, though. Is it important for goats to have pasture time, like horses? The pen will be pretty big.

The weedy part of the goat pen site with one of the horse pastures behind. The little pens on the right is where I halter-break all our calves. They are on the pasture side of the fence.









The other horse pasture:









One of the four cow pastures:









My flower garden:

















Hubby's veggie garden. You can see the goat pen site behind on the right (the compost pile will be used up before the goats come home).


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## Itchysmom (Apr 3, 2010)

Hey Liitle Cow! How's it going?

You getting into goats too I see! I am waiting to move on to my newproperty so I can get my doe and her whether home! They are Sannaans and I want to breed the doe back to a meat type goat. Don't need alot of milk and she is a very good milker!

I think that spot is perfect! Mine will have a pen with 4' cattle panels as the fence. Sanaans are known for jumping, so we shall see if this works! I don't think that boers or Nubians are noted for that. 

As far as pasture time, once mine get settled in, I plan on putting them out with the horses for a short time during the day. They will be locked up at night as I do have coyotes, bear and such here. My plan is to let them out and watch them, see how far they roam. They will have shrub and grass in pasture to eat..lots of it, so I am hoping that they will stay close. I know that where they are now, the owner lets them out during the day, but they stay close to the barn. Time will tell!

Good luck!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Wow I love your place Little Cow! Beautiful flower garden, and I love your husband's veggie garden! All the rains we had last month really did our garden in  We lost half of it, and haven't replanted all of it yet....
I think your goat pen spot looks great! 
We have the 4' tall field fence for our goats, and we don't have a problem with it. I'd probably just keep an eye on them and make sure if you put them out with the horses, that they don't get their heads stuck in the fence - if they are young, they will get their heads in the fence. 
We have 6 goats, mostly boer. We've not had an issue with them and the fence. One of our does got her head stuck twice, and that was the first few days we had them, no issues since. The youngest one we recently bought got her head stuck in the fence a few times in the week we've had her, and she's learning how to get out of it now. Our little buckling I've never really seen go near the fence all that much.
So if I were putting them out, I'd put them in a pasture that can be seen easily just to see what they do around the fence to be on the safeside.


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

Darn your name looks familiar Little Cow


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## Itchysmom (Apr 3, 2010)

She is another bud from HC! Has Dexter cows, lives in FL.


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## Little Cow (May 31, 2010)

Thanks, Hoosier!

Hey Epona, Itchysmom! :wave: Nice to 'see' you guys!

I think you told me about this site, Epona. :wink:


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