Best fencing for goats

[PendergrassRanch]

At our new place we have to fence most of it. The original fencing is round posts, with a top barbed wire string and 5 foot, 4 inch wire fencing.

Would you repeat this on the rest of the property? We are leaning towards no climb and T posts or no climb and round posts. What would you do?

Also, what type of gate is best for goats? I don't want something the can wiggle through but we do need a large gate at the road to enter the pastures.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I asked this question a while back and no one answered so I am hoping someone answers your post so I can see what they say.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

A 4 ft fence is good enough for goats, so a 5 ft one is more than enough for them. What kind is it? Is it like field fencing? I have 4 ft fencing that is 6x6 at the top and get smaller as it goes down, to 2x6. I use round wood posts on turns and corners and t-posts in between. I have a newly added hot wire on the top.

For gates I would use http://www.tractorsupply.com/utility-tube-gate-50-in-h-x-4-ft-l-3602851 and weld cattle panel or attach fencing on it or you could use http://www.tractorsupply.com/galvanized-mesh-gate-4-ft--3602908

 

[autumnprairie]

I use 4 ft field fencing also with a hotwire on top too. the goats like to rub on the fence if I could do over again I would add another hot wire about rub level to keep them from rubbing on the fence

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

You can still add it now. On the one area they put a hurting on it from rubbing but my new BIG buck area is so tight that it would be hard to mess it up like that. lol

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Ditch the barbed wire if it is within goat-reach (not sure what kind you have so if they are a taller breed, they might get hurt badly on the wire). A hotwire is a much better way to go.

 

[20kidsonhill]

For the large gates we use the cattle gates made out of pipes, but the smaller goats and kids can get through it, so we have 4x4 wire tied onto some of the gates. The bucks are always ripping the wire off and we are always having to repair it in the buck pen.

We have several kinds of fencing, we are using 4 strands of electric in one area, this work pretty well, as long as you aren't trying to separate mom's from babies or bucks from does in heat. We use the wooven wire fencing (4 feet) on most of our property with two strands of electric on it, so the goats don't rub against it or fight with the fence between them, if the fence line separates two adjoining fields.
We have hog panels in the coral area, with no electric on it, Most the time it works pretty well, and most the goats can just stick their heads in and out of the holes, But technically on occasion we have had a stuck head, We used the panels in the coral, because even though we have gates we wanted to beable to take the coral sides down if need be to get into the field with larger equipement.
I highly recommend a coral near your barn area and then go out from your coral into 2 or 3 fields, this works great for rotational grazing and dividing your herd into different groups. In our fields we use calf huts so not all the goats have access to the barn area. young does, kids and mom's nursing have access to the barn area, We have a creep feed area built in the barn so kids have access to medicated feed.


As far as posts, we pretty much have round wooden posts, although we used larger round wooden posts at corners and bracing points and we even have rail road ties at corners for extra sturdy bracing. Don't skimp on your brace posts and your bracing set up, it is very important for the longevity of your fencing.

Where we have the electric we used wooden round posts at corners, gates and bracing and used the plastic step-in posts in between. But this length of fencing isn't very long and isn't our main fencing. The plastic step-ins arn't holding up. On a couple of occasions when the goats were being moved around and ran through the electric, the step-in posts broke where you clilp the electric wire onto them. I think they look better than metal posts and they are cheaper, but in the long run they aren't going to hold up.

 

[redtailgal]

We just ran a four strand electric fence. Cheap, quick and easy, and the goats respect it. Very few fence problems, but when we do have one, it is easy to fix.

I wont use barbed wire on any fence. I've seen WAY to many animals torn to shreds from barbed wire.

I just wouldnt trust my goats behind field fencing either. They would have to have the electric fencing or they'd be tearing up the fences as quick as I could fix them.

 

[PendergrassRanch]

I took some photos of the fencing while we were out there yesterday.

This is the back side west fence. The north side and the front of the property has nothing right now. There is a large ditch between us and the north side neighbors so we dont' share a fence.

Please excuse my dog He is a dork

This is the south side. It is a shared fence but either we need to put up our own, or fix it because the wire does droop in a few places.

This is what we want

 

[SheepGirl]

The fencing you have looks fine (for sheep anyway ). The kind of fencing you want, however, looks really expensive to build.