# Fencing hints & tips



## Gumtree (Aug 15, 2009)

A while ago I mentioned this to Stacey & She said I could do it in the Barnyard Bananza "tongue-twister"
So I had noticed that a lot of people want to know how to fence there animals so 
I thought that maybe we could all put in how we fence them & if it is useful maybe it could be made as a quick link or some thing.

A few hints
1"What kind of fencing do you use"?
2" Describe how you fence them''
3" What sort of equipment do you use''
4 Photos if you have them


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## Gumtree (Aug 15, 2009)

This is how we do it
Electric fence
ours is movable

5 strands, from top to bottom 1,2&3 are a medium duty cord 4 is light wire & 5 is tape and not electric 'this is so it does not short out too much' 4 is too carry the electricity as the fences are long...
"Pegs" the 2 main ones are steel pegs 
no 1 has a peace of hard poly pipe that hooks on to it with two loops of wire {this forms the gate} on the poly spaced at the distance we like are loops of wire hooked through holes drilled in the pipe, on which we tie the cored too 
no 2 has the reels on it, {the cord it kept on them - much like fishing line & reels
the in-between pegs are fiberglass with metal clips to hold the cord.
These fences attach on to our main fence similar to all boundary fences in this country  
I hope I've explained it reasonably well
The fences will hold, Dogs, Goats, Sheep, Cattle, &horse's & probably others but we have not tried it


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## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

I just made a real simple portable pen. The goats do not stay in this all the time since we have cyotes around they are only in it when I am home. All it is are some T-posts and 5 feet high, 16 feet long fence panels. I used 11 along with a 16 feet long gate. I used one post on each end of the panel along with one in the middle for strength. If I ever need to take it down or move it, the post come right out for easy tare down.


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

I really like Hog or goat panels like Roger uses, they're great for bucks who like to butt the fence while in rut. 

But the shorter hog panels arent good for some dairy goats who like to jump... 
theyre 3ft tall and 8-16 feet long, my 700 lb sow couldn't break them when she'd rub all over them.

I myself use 5ft tall WOVEN wire fencing, I dont like the welded as it just pops apart when the goats lean on it. I have wood posts every 8 feet. Bucks get the same in their pen, but on the side nearest the doe they have 2x6's with 4" between, that way the does and buck can make contact so I can seet who's in heat, but cant actually breed them.


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## zoomom (Feb 27, 2010)

Here is what i WOULD NOT recommend.

I made my pens for chickens and ducks. With predators in mind, i used 5 ft high welded wire fencing, and dug a 6" deep trench around the entire area, bending about 6 inches of the fence and laying it in the bottom of the trench. (giving me a four foot high fence) My fence supports were originally the metal pound-in T posts. I had bird netting over the top, and had the pen divided, with about a third of it for the chickens, and the other 2/3 for the ducks. After the first winter, when the netting got covered with snow, and dragged down most of the fencing, i started supporting it with wooden posts set in concrete (without digging up the fencing) Had a little bit of sag, but it was okay. The wooden posts didn't really help when the netting was covered with snow, so when we had snowfall, esp the wet stuff, i'd go out and bang it with a broom to knock the snow off - several times throughout the day and night. (dry snow usually went through the netting just fine) After year 2, I took down most of the netting for the winter, and put it up again in spring - i left it over the chicken run, b/c they are on the second floor, and from the top of their ramp they could fly out, but the ducks couldn't fly so i decided they could do without. Got rid of the ducks, and started letting the chickens wander in the bigger area. I did put up a netting for a few years in the spring and took it down in the winter, but last year i didn't bother. However several years of snow dragging the fencing down had taken its toll - the fence is a bit saggy in spots, esp in the bigger section. The chickens didn't care, and rarely tried to escape.

Last year at the end of summer i got the goats. I made the bigger section the goat pen. Day one, i realized the fence wasn't attached to the posts very well when the goats started stepping on it and walking out. Fixed that problem. With their itchy winter coats though, the goats are now rubbing themselves on the fence, and the sag is getting worse. I cannot see a way to tighten it without digging it up on the entire length. Option 2 is digging up part of it, and instead of a straight line, i could expand it out a bit, enough to take up the slack. I hate to do it b/c i spent alot of time making sure it looked nice, with a straight line of fencing. Option 3 is tearing down the goat pen part, and putting up all new fencing. I don't think my budget will support that, and the fence isn't in bad condition.

Don't bury the fence unless you know you will never need to tighten it. I felt it was necessary for the chickens, and on the bright side, i have not had any predators break in. 

Does anyone have any ideas for me on how to fix my problem?


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## lupinfarm (Aug 26, 2009)

A few hints

1- What kind of fencing do you use?

A combination of wood round posts/rails (cedar), and electric on the main pasture, and wire fencing (the stock panels) on my small pens out the back by the orchard, and will be used on my goats dry-lot

2- Describe how you fence them

Ummmm... Since my main pasture is on a hill with a lot of rock, I built cross pieces that act as posts which hold up a top rail which is nailed on, then the other 3 rails are nailed on the inside of the fence. It doesn't make sense until you see photos lol.

3- What sort of equipment do you use

A big freaking huge framing hammer and big freaking huge nails, as well as a circular saw (wish I had a chainsaw instead).

4- Photos if you have them

This is the fenceline I'm doing right now...










And this is actually my horse pasture, but this is what it looks like when its all put together.










A lot of people use this type of fencing around here, and I've seen tons of goats in fencing like this


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## jay13 (Apr 12, 2009)

Here is our fence. I posted on the other thread about electric fencing. Thought I would put my .02 in about fencing. ETA: now that I am done writing I think its more like my .05 but anyway 










I use a combination of field fence and electric fencing. I am using the field fencing due to dumb neighbor dogs, and my own dumb mutts! It creates a physical barrier so that if the fence isn't hot (for some reason or another) there is still a physical barrier between the goaties (and chickens) and the outside critters. If you plan on using the woven wire feild fencing it is extremely important to stretch it TIGHT! It is impossible to stress this enough. We used a fence stretching bar with a come-a-long to tighten ours using the tow bar on the back of our jeep... and ... its not tight enough. We couldn't tighten the fence any more due to pulling the jeep along the ground instead of the fence any tighter. We have used t-posts every 10-13 feet with pressure treated (then painted) wood posts every 75-100 feet with diagonal braces buried about half way into the ground at an angle any where we have tension on the fence. We have some mighty crooked posts from our first attempts at putting the fence in because we didn't think that an 8" post 8 ' long with 4' in the ground needed bracing. With our wood posts spaced this way we were only trying to stretch about a 100' of fence at a time. We also used coral style gates and faced them with the fencing too to keep critters both in and out.

Also, it seems like a waste of fence but if you use the field fence, WRAP it around the end posts. Yes it uses about 3 extra feet of fencing every time you get to a corner but it is worth it. Our neighbor decided to put fence up like we did and we told them about wrapping it but they ignored our advise and just used the nails to hold the fence to the posts. It was sagging practically the next day and when they tried to go out and tighten it, there was nothing they could do because when they tightened the wires, they would just pull out of the post on the other end.

As to the electrics, I put a hot wire along the outside at about 6 -8 inches from the ground to discourage digging, and a wire along the top to discourage climbing. Also, on the inside of the fence I put a hot wire at about shoulder high to the goats to keep them from leaning and scratching on the fence. After having our buck for all of about a week he was already stretching the fence out. (And we stretched it tight to begin with).

Overall, we haven't had a problem with the girls deciding to escape (touch wood). We have had our girls for a little over a year and they have not gotten out even once. We will see what happens now that we have kids, wethers, and a buck added to the mix. Our dogs "patrol" their side of the fence and our goats have a great respect for their fearsome bark (at all hours of the morning). The fence is only about 4 feet high but as you can see we discourage too much attention being paid to the fence. We also keep anything that could possibly used as a step a good 15' away from the fence lines so as not to encourage jumping.

Oh and don't forget to really ground your fence well in an area that is going to stay damp. I have my grounding rods at the edge of my barn roof line that gets soaked every time it rains. Also I would advise to use a fairly heavy gauge of wire instead of the plastic stuff with tiny wires in it. I have found that especially for predator control that a thicker wire carries a bigger "pop" when it gets touched. we had some narrow yellow and black but the dogs just kinda laughed at it. We have 14 gauge around it now on a 50 mile charger with about 1000' electrified... they don't laugh any more.

Condensed version:
No such thing as "too tight" with woven wire fencing
Use frequent wood posts, t-posts hold it up, not tight.
Don't skimp on the ends, support the fence, it supports you.
Get "more" of a fence charger than you think you will need.
Ground it properly so that it can work for you
Use heavy gauge wire to deliver more pop per foot.

A little OT but, one other important tidbit we learned the hard way: Chicken wire keeps chickens in, but it won't keep predators out.


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