# Stuck in fence--over and over and over



## cmfiddler (Jul 25, 2015)

We have hog wire around our acre field for the goats. Every year some doe or other pushes her horns through and gets stuck in the fence. Usually this happens once or twice a day for a week or so until she finally figures out either how to get herself extracted or to just stop doing it. We literally set the timer from when we see her stuck until we go get her out. The time gets 5 minutes longer each time and usually at about an hour stuck they figure it out.

This year we have a yearling doe whose horns have finally gotten long enough she is getting stuck. She is up to 2 hours on the timer now before we get her out and still is getting stuck 2-3 times a day. I really don't want to cut her horns and I am wondering if anyone has ever had success taping or gluing a piece of pvc pipe onto horns so that a truly dumb doe can't get stuck?


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## LibertyHomesteadFarm (Feb 1, 2014)

Put several strands of electric wire on the inside of the hog wire and they won't get stuck. 
I have hog wire on part of my pasture and that's what I did to keep them from getting stuck. It works like a charm!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Yes the pvc pipe works too.


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## cmfiddler (Jul 25, 2015)

Thank you! Since horns are sensitive, would you recommend glue or tape? I am tempted towards a little superglue.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

Use duct tape, super glue won't hold. Cut the pipe at least a couple inches wider than the holes in the fence she gets stuck in, then wrap duct tape in a figure 8 around each side where horn meets pipe.


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## cmfiddler (Jul 25, 2015)

Thank you!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Good luck! Mine still didn't learn once the pipe fell off. The hot fence is a good idea to keep heads away as well as save your fence. A few years back I had a 2 year old doe put her head threw for the first time in her life in a big rain storm and she died, so disbudding and hot fence here


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## Tapestry (Feb 5, 2015)

I had one get so stressed that her rumen shut down, so I don't think lengthening the time leaving them stuck is a good idea. The only thing that worked for her was offset hotwire, but I didn't know about trying the pipe back then. She was stubborn enough about pushing her head through that I would have made sure the pipe was longer than the diagonal of the fence hole, if I had tried that method.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I use a hot wire along the inside of my fencing. It keeps the goats off the fence and their heads inside the pen.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I've done the whole leave them there to think about before and on some it did work, actually a lot better then the stick on the head.


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## Amber_england (Jun 3, 2015)

I have the same problem. lol I'm always scared mine will get stuck either when I'm not here or in the middle of the night and something bad will happen. My electric fence arrived in the mail today. I've got mixed emotions about getting it installed though, I have small daughters that don't quite understand the concept of an electric fence yet.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Amber_england said:


> I have the same problem. lol I'm always scared mine will get stuck either when I'm not here or in the middle of the night and something bad will happen. My electric fence arrived in the mail today. I've got mixed emotions about getting it installed though, I have small daughters that don't quite understand the concept of an electric fence yet.


Children learn pretty quickly! It is like touching a hot stove. But, my son, when he was young (up to age 14), could grab an electric fence strand and stand there and hold it. I don't know why he didn't get zapped, it would knock a cow back- and his shoes weren't any more rubber soled than mine!


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## Amber_england (Jun 3, 2015)

We used to do that at my pawpaws I don't know how many joules it was but he had a wire around his garden to keep the deer out and me and all my cousins used to see who could hold on the longest lol


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