# fence advice!



## Cheerful (Feb 15, 2012)

fence, fence, fence....
I know it is so important to get it right, and I'm feeling a little daunted and could use your advice. No goats yet, but are looking for two dwarf/miniature/pygmy types to keep as milkers, so obviously at some point we would also have kids.
Here are the basics:
-small property, just over an acre
-goats will live in a small barn/shed that will open directly onto the goat pasture
-we have a baby, so there will be a kid toddling about 
-my husband and I are both home during the day

I am leaning towards a permanent fence, not electric? Thinking maybe we should make a permanent fenced area, and then maybe down the road we could use movable electric fence to put the goats on a few other areas on our property? (land behind us is owned by good neighbours, and I suspect that might be find with the goats on there a bit). Good idea?? What kind of fence should we build? Woven wire?? I am a livestock newbie, so really need to be coached! I've been doing my reading but everybody has a different idea. Don't want to spend and arm and a leg, if possible, since I'm not sure the budget would stretch, though also want to do it right. I guess sort of somewhere in the mid-price range?
An electric fence needs to be a closed circle, right? You could't have permanent fencing leading onto a electric fenced area? I'm sure this should be obvious....
And finally, how much land do you think we should enclose? I'm sure the more the better, but I like to have some number in mind, to feel like we are doing the right thing. My husband was also talking about perhaps dividing it and giving them access to one side or other at different times. Actually, I'd love to have them browse for as much of their food as possible, so obviously the more space (and plants) the better.
In short, you see, I would love your advice!! Thanks so much in advance!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I wouldn't go with electric...especially with a young child around. One thing you might want to look into are cattle panels. They're easy to setup, pretty durable, movable, and if you ever needed to...you can resell them once you're finished with them. You would need t-posts or wooden posts and like a chicken or smaller wire along the bottom because there are large holes for kids to escape from. But I really like them. My permanent fences are all a heavy duty horse/field fence with wooden posts, but I use the panels for weaning and holding pens. :thumb: They'll work great permanently too though. But if you rather go with a wire...i'd not recommend a thin welded wire. You can look up Oklahoma brand horse/field fence, heavy duty, 2x4 squares...that's mainly what I use and I LOVE it. You just have to make sure to use a comealong and pull it super tight while you nail or wire the fencing to the posts otherwise it will start to sag overtime.


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## Cheerful (Feb 15, 2012)

Thanks! Is this what you mean by horse/field fence? 
http://www.okbrandwire.com/horse-panels.htm


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

No...here's what we use: http://www.okbrandwire.com/max-tight-horse-fence.htm
But I think those panels that you linked would work really well too. :thumb:

Here's a pic of part of our fence...


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## Cheerful (Feb 15, 2012)

Thanks for that. I think I'm starting to get it. So "field fence" is fencing with the wire squares, and there is different types. So I shouldn't get "welded". I'm not sure what brands I will find around here (I'm in Canada) but it helps to know what to ask for! Your fence looks quite high...does it need to be that hight for mini goats? I think I read somewhere something about 4' with barbed wire on top? Not hight enough? 
this is very helpful!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

No problem. 

There are different terms used depending on what brand or what the maker calls it. But generally a field or horse wire fence will look similar to the fencing in the photo.
The *welded* wire horse/field fence looks very similar, but is much weaker. After awhile the welding joints will start to break and you'll see holes in the fencing from wear and tear from the goats. Goats can be kind of rough on fencing...always rubbing against it and looking for weak spots to sneak under so evantually those welds start to wear out and break. That's why I won't use it. I've had it in the past and have many holes along the bottom from the goats wearing on it...and when I put in new fencing I got rid of it and upgraded using that Oklahoma horse fence.

Yeah, my fences are 5' high. They don't really need to be that high...but I just wanted to make sure predators couldn't get over the fence easily and I also wanted it to be dual purpose to keep my llamas in and horses if I ever needed to. I think 4' would be high enough for them though. I have never had one jump 4 or 5' fencing. I actually have a second pen with the front made of hog panels...those are like 3' high I think and they have yet to have an adult get out of it. But that pen is for daytime grazing and I am checking on them throughout the day. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them in a 3' high fence permanently. Wouldn't recommend that at all. I think you'd be ok with 4' high fencing though.

I think you could do 4' just in field, wire fence without anything on the top. I probably wouldn't go with barb wire on the top...if you did want a little something extra at the top though, a thin, smooth electric wire would be good. That could help keep predators out and the goats would hopefully stay away from it.


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## apachedowns (Mar 14, 2010)

I just bought this past year 16 foot / 4x4 square cattle panels and made a HUGE area enclosed with t-posts. The panels are 5 foot high and I love it ! If I want to change things later its not a problem and can take out the t-posts and redo the area....I had to order the panels as the normal panels are bigger openings and I wanted to be able to put kids in that area and didn't want to worry about them getting out the bigger holes...the panels are very strong and will last a lifetime...just a thought


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## naturalgoats (Jan 3, 2011)

I have this fence. http://www.redbrand.com/Products/SheepG ... lKnot.aspx It is 4 ft tall and has worked pretty well (although I do have a strand of electric along the top just to deter jumping). Electric doesn't have to be closed circuit so you could do a solid-to-electric fence at some point if you wanted to. I think a four foot woven wire fence would be a good place to start (cattle panels would probably be good also but they might be tricky if you are fencing on a hill.... no experience just speculation on that). 
Have fun!
M.


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## Cheerful (Feb 15, 2012)

thanks so much! I am so glad I posted because I've been trying to figure this out for a while and it is so much easier to have somebody answer my questions! Ok, starting with woven wire, 4' tall. wood vs. metal posts? Saw some second hand wood ones for $3 each. Guessing the advantage to metal is that they go in more easily, and could potentially be easier to move, but more expensive? Anyway, I'm thinking of the wood. Oh, and is there are standard distance to have between posts?


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

:thumb:

You can use t-posts or wood posts whatever you like better. I use both, but like the look of the wood posts much better. The wood posts are more of a permanent thing, the t-posts can be removed and don't wear out as much as wood does...though they will rust over time. You'll just have to go price the wood and metal posts out and compare and see what you like better. I'd have to go measure the distance between posts...can't quite remember what distance we used.


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