# Thinking about getting goats



## Usedhobarts (Jun 6, 2014)

Hi, I'm looking for some advise. I getting mixed opinions on goats. I live on a 17 acre farmstead in NW MN. I have 1 horse , chickens , a couple dogs and some farm cats. My farmstead is surrounded by lush shelter belts. My horse fencing was moved inside the tree lines (shelter belts) because she would go into the trees and get covered in cockle burrs. I have been wanting to clean out the shelter belts as the undergrowth is incredibly thick. Some people burn off the under brush while others hire someone at great expense to clean them. These are untouched for at least 30 years. The guy I got my chickens from has goats. He drools when he sees these shelter belts as his goats are at a much smaller place and in the summer they eat everything on his place they can get into and then get out to find other sources. We are talking about me keeping his goats here until this fall to feed on these shelter belts. I'm being told that with all these trees and underbrush these goats will be in heaven and will focus on the belts. My question is fencing. I have to two strands of 2" poly tape for the horse. I'm not want ing to own the goats but rather just house them for the owner in the summer as a win win. He gets some relief on his property and feed costs and I get my shelter belts cleaned out without damaging fire. Since this is only a temp thing I can't obviously spend a bunch of money on permanent goat fencing. My plan is to move the outer fence line back to the outside of the tree line and add a hot-wire line at about 18" between the poly tape. Am I setting myself for a nightmare or is it more likely that like some have said the goats will be so happy in all that lush underbrush, plum trees, choke Cherri's , and many other apparent goat delights that I won't need a super secure fence as long the this food source is abundant? Any advice would be appreciated.


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## mlktrkdrvr (Dec 7, 2012)

Have these goats been in electric fence before? We put up a 4 hot poly wire fence to keep goats on a lot across the street and the goats beat us back home. They were not effected in the least by the electric fence and walked right through the wires. Sounds good though- Hope others have had better luck and can help you out.


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## Usedhobarts (Jun 6, 2014)

They have not been. I guess I'm kind of the same mind set you are that fence is not a sure thing for goats. I have just been told they will have little to no interest in leaving the fenced area if they have unlimited access to numerous acres of lush underbrush. I'm trying to see if that seems logical as I'm a complete newbie with goats.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

We have a electric fence to keep our sheep in their field and they respect it. When out browsing , some of my goats have had the unfortunate experience of touching their nose to it and they never did it again. You may have to try a few different methods of keeping them where you want them. a fence and a hot wire on top of that may work too.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Isn't choke cherry poisonous?


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## Chadwick (Jan 24, 2014)

Can be, so can plums


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

My goats eat choke cherries no problem. Our mountain is filled with them..


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## Usedhobarts (Jun 6, 2014)

Hi, thanks for this info. The choke cherry's and plum trees are in a specific strip and were planted intentionally some 75 plus years ago. My grand mother made choke cherry and plum jam for many years from them. The deer and occasional moose that come around focus on foraging on those items so would presume the goats would also. Wild plums (the size of large grapes) and choke cherries are native around here and I would assume goats have eaten them for eternity around here but I will certainly follow up with research. Thanks


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## Chadwick (Jan 24, 2014)

Here is a good list of some good and bad plants for goats.....your mileage may vary!

http://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm


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## Usedhobarts (Jun 6, 2014)

Hi, the consensus I'm finding is that plums are no issue and choke cherries could be an issue in a heavy consumption scenario. The choke cherry bushes are in about a 50' area where if collected for jam they would total not much more than an ice cream pail full. I think I'm not going to worry about them as by the time the goats get here the a week or so the deer will have wiped out many of them and will also be competing for them until they're gone. The fruit bearing plants and trees make up, I would guess, less than 1-2% of the overall foliage. The underbrush contains just typical northern plants ( ferns, cockle burs, some iveys , etc). The trees are cottonwoods, oaks and flowering apples.
Thanks again for the information. My biggest concern is going to be containment with temp hotwire I think.


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## SeventeenFarms (Dec 10, 2013)

Not sure if your fence will work - it might...I bought " temporary" elec netting fence from Premier with a solar charger... each goat touched it once and wont go within 5-10' of it. guess its expensive in a sense, but it works, is easy to move around, and keeps the goats in and I am sure everything out (nothing has tried to get at the gals yet). I have areas around my property that I let the goats manage - some areas do have things they cant eat so I dont put them in those areas. So far we are all happy campers so to speak...


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## GreenMountainNigerians (Jul 3, 2013)

We use Powerfields goat netting for our permanent pens. Meaning we don't move them around. They work great. We need predator control so we have powerful fencers. They learn to stay back from the fence very quickly. I will never use another type of fence. Love them. Bought off Amazon. 


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## GreenMountainNigerians (Jul 3, 2013)

I forgot to mention that you may want to buy extra fiberglass poles. The span between the poles on the netting is too far and it tends to sag. 


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## Usedhobarts (Jun 6, 2014)

Hi, I can't see from an economic point of view using netting. These shelter belts surround 3 sides of just under 18 acres. Each section I fence will be about 300-400' x 75-100'. When the goats clean this area out I will move them to the next same size section. In order to efficiently accomplish this I will need nearly double the amount of fencing. Nearly 2k just in temp materials. I already the polytape and t posts. I just need to buy 100.00 worth of wire and post connectors.

My plan now is to run 1 strand of 2" poly tape at 42" high and 2 strands of wire at 16" and 30". I know goats can jump the 42" height but that is as high as I can go with the existing posts. My theory is that the goats won't want to jump the fence because the lush food source inside the fence is not available outside the fencing. In other words the addiage " the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" is just the opposite. The brush and things they like to eat is in the fence and not on the outside ( horse pasture). As an added deterrent I think they will most likely hit the hotwire once or twice before thinking of jumping and will learn to avoid the fence lines quickly. Thanks for your info.


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## Pygmys1st (Nov 29, 2013)

Welcome Fellow Minnesotan. For my Boer Crosses, I use 2 16 gauge hot wire a foot and 20 inches then 2 strands of barbed wire above that.. Same spacing they seam to stay in their pen. I have a houdini that likes attention so she gets out but stays close to the barn. outside of their pen is 40 acres of Alfalfa (greener on the other side) only time they have gotten out was when I was redoing the fencing to make pasture bigger..


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