# Questions for people who use electric fencing



## DVentHill

So, I am being told by the people I know who live around here that you can't keep goats in an electric fence unless its netting.. Well, form what I can find on here it seems that people can and do use electric wire/rope successfully unless I'm miss understanding lol :shrug: So, I am wondering how u have it set up.. How high from the ground is your first wire? What is your wire spacing? How high is your fence? What kind of goats do you keep these fences? And tips or anything on how to set up an electric fence for my goats would be wonderful.. If I set up an electric fence, I will only have my goats in it during the day. They will be kept in a chain link or wire mesh pen by night because we have lots of coyotes who like to try and steal kids :GAAH:


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## maple hill farm tina

I have Nigerian Dwarf goats and one Nubian goat. We use a 5-strand electric fence, and we've never had any problems with it. We have to work pretty diligently this time of year to keep the grass growth down under the bottom strand so it won't ground out. Other than that, we really like it. It's not hard to put up, and it isn't a huge deal if we want to move it or partition off another section. We do have electric netting, as well, but we only use that for our chickens.
Hope that helps.
-Tina


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## liz

I have 4 strands spaced at 5 inches from the ground then 6 inches apart , my goats are not jumpers and stay in the fence....you will need to flag the fence line though as goats are more for a visible barrier.


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## Gumtree

Here is a link, to a topic on here, ours is the first one, let me know if it doesn't answer your questions.
we fence cattle, horses, sheep, goats (angoras,dairy & boer,) dogs etc with this fencing 

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=13922


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## DVentHill

Thank you guys very much!! Your input and the link have helped me a lot. I now know how I want to set up my fence!! Thanks again!!  If anyone has anymore suggestions or anything to add please feel free!! It's all appreciated :greengrin:


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## jay13

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. 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).

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.


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