# Training a goat to be wary of electric fences.



## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

This is a question I got recently. Its a good one because goats that aren't aware that an electric fence will shock them will often walk right through it. If it gets shocked on the way through and bolts forward it just learned that it can beat the fence and you'll be hard pressed to keep it in afterward. The trick I use is the same one I use to keep deer out of the garden. I hang small strips of tinfoil off the fence with a smear of peanut butter on them. The peanut butter will make the goat (or deer) stop and sniff the foil. Maybe even try to lick it. A wet tongue on an electric fence will definitely turn on the porch lights! Ask any kid that ever peed on one! Not something they want to try again! At least for awhile. Some are surprising stubborn (I'm talking about the goats not the kids) but at least they usually approach cautiously and give it the sniff test and don't charge past. Its always worked for us.


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## Hasligrove (Dec 10, 2008)

Wow Rex! Tinfoil and penut butter? That will get em' good! Mine have always been too curious and they all seem to touch it once, twice...and then they seem to test it again every now and again. They know when I have it off too! Smart little buggers.


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## patti marar (Sep 12, 2011)

Wow! Wish I had read this before we had goats! We've gone through just about every fencing option available! We have one very stubborn doe (Alpine) with very large horns that curve back. She has learned to go through or break down every fence! Her newest trick was to lift up the electric fence with her horns, which don't seem to directly conduct electricity, and slip through the fence before the wire can come back and touch her in the rear end! Now we have 8 strands of electric wire pretty closely placed. Sometimes she still decides "the grass is greener..." and just walk through it, taking the shocks. Next time, I'm trying the peanut butter/tin foil trick!


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