confused on fencing

[Robyn8]

Hi! We are finally ready to start our "herd" and I'm very confused on what we should do for fencing. Here are the details:

We will be getting 2 market lambs for 4h and 2 Nigerian Dwarf kids this April / May. The lambs will be sold at the end of August. We are only zoned for a max of 8 large animals at this time so we don't have plans for a huge herd. We are going to start with a small pasture about 0.75 acre split into 0.25 and 0.5 due to the lay out of the land and where we need to put their house (highest area with no flooding and far enough from property lines). We will add another 05 - 1 acre pasture in a year or 2. We are in SE MI on 10 acres on a very small private road. Our neighbors all have 3-10 acres parcels so we aren't totally secluded. We don't have a ton of predators. We do have coyotes, but since we got a Great Pyrenees last winter we have noticed the coyotes come round a lot less frequently. The Pyr isn't really a LGD, so he won't be confined to the pasture. He's a pet / farm dog at this point. He's 15 months old and while he loves to be outside and make his rounds, he prefers to be close to the humans. I do plan to have him socialize and hang with the goats during the day when we are home (but we won't be forcing it as he's really a people dog). Not sure about when we are gone yet, I guess I will see how he does with them. The goats and lambs will be locked in their house / mini barn at night. We'd rather not do electric fencing if we don't have to because we have a 5 and 8 year old and I don't want to risk one of their friends getting shocked. But we will consider electric if that's the only good option to keep the animals safe.

I found this 5 ft high welded wire fencing. 2 x 4 in spacing 14 gauge.

https://www.amazon.com/Mat-Midwest-...pID=41rIHDJ0QgL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch


I also found this fencing but it's only 4 ft high. It seems stronger though. Its woven wire 4 x 4 in spacing. 12.5 gauge. The woven wire is cheaper, looks stronger, but is a foot shorter.

http://www.kencove.com/fence/Sheep+and+Goat+Fence_detail_WH4X4.php

Are we better off with the 4 ft woven wire? Does 5 ft vs 4 ft even matter? Any there other options we might not have considered?

thanks so much for the input!

 

[greybeard]

Welded wire won't be for long.

 

[Robyn8]

Welded wire won't be for long.

so you're saying go with woven wire instead? what about the height? is 4 ft enough?

 

[Robyn8]

TSC has this brand a little cheaper and I can pick it up locally.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/red-brand-goat-fence-48-in-x-330-ft-3660338

 

[Baymule]

When you thing welded, you think strength, but NOT welded wire. A dog can shake it with their teeth and utterly destroy it. Any hooved animal can paw at it and break the spot welds. It is pure trash. Do not waste your time or money.

I used the 2"x4" woven wire and it is 4 feet high. A coyote can clear it easily, but my 2 Great Pyrenees keep them out. My male GP can also jump it, and jumped out (off the property) ONE time, which led to daily come to Jesus meetings for 3 weeks while I marched him down the fenceline, shaking the fence, scolding, and letting him know not to do that again. And he never has.

I think the woven sheep and goat wire 4"x4" would work well for you as well as the 2"x4" and is a bit cheaper.

Here is a link to my post on us fencing our 8 acres. I did some things right, some things not-so-right and there is a lot of good discussion on the whole process that might help you.

https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/non-climb-2-x4-horse-wire-fence.32922/

My male GP is also much of a people dog, but stays out at night, except for him coming to the window, peering in and asking to come in. He does that maybe once or twice a week, sprawls out in the floor, takes a nap, then is ready to go back outside. LOL He is a good sheep guardian, jumps in when needed, jumps out when bored. What can I say, you just gotta let these dogs be who they are. LOL

There are a lot of good people here with a LOT more fencing experience than I and a lot of them weighed in on my thread. Ask any questions and they will be glad to answer and help you any way they can. Keep your thread going and take pictures of your progress. People here will comment and help you.

 

[Robyn8]

Thanks Baymule! I'll look to see if there is any 2 x 4 woven available and if not go with the 4 x 4. I agree on letting the dogs be who they are. Who knows my pup might fall in love with the goats and want to hang with them all the time. My original intention with him was as a LGD but we only had chickens for him to guard so he bonded with us more. I don't really mind...I love him dearly and am happy to have him hang with me most of the day. I'll check out your thread. this weekend we will start brush hogging the over growth where the pasture will be, so i'll take some before pics. Very excited!

 

[CntryBoy777]

I have 3 goats pygmy/boer crosses and I put up 2"x4"x5' welded wire. There are older sections that I did before increasing the amount of ground that is fenced. The older section already needs replacing as the goats have simply rubbed on the wire and have popped some of the welds. I will be replacing the whole mess of it this next fall. I also documented mine in a fencing thread. If at all possible, I'd advise ya to go with the woven wire, so ya won't be replacing it as soon....not to mention the chances of injured animals.

 

[Robyn8]

Ok I did some more price checking on woven wire fencing and with what I think we'll need here are my best options:

Red Brand at TSC goat fence, 4 ft high, 4 x 4 in squares, class 1 galvanized, total cost for fencing only = $466

Red Brand at Rural King no climb horse fencing 4 ft high, 2 x 4 in squares class 1 galvanized, total cost for fencing only = $660

Kencove brand online 4 ft high, 2 x 4 in squares class 3 galvanized, total cost for fencing only = $675

Kencove brand online 5 ft high, 2 x 4 in squares class 3 galvanized, total cost for fencing only = $900

My question is how important would 4 ft vs 5 ft be? Will 5 ft even keep coyotes out? Does that matter so much if we lock them in at night?

Sounds like 4 x 4 might be good enough, but should I spend $400 more for a 5 ft high 2 x 4 ? and would I be better off spending $200 more to get the class 3 galvanized 2 x4 versus the red brand 4 x 4?

 

[Robyn8]

I have 3 goats pygmy/boer crosses and I put up 2"x4"x5' welded wire. There are older sections that I did before increasing the amount of ground that is fenced. The older section already needs replacing as the goats have simply rubbed on the wire and have popped some of the welds. I will be replacing the whole mess of it this next fall. I also documented mine in a fencing thread. If at all possible, I'd advise ya to go with the woven wire, so ya won't be replacing it as soon....not to mention the chances of injured animals.

thanks for the input! I will def go with woven now. Just debating height now and 2 x 4 vs 4 x 4.

 

[CntryBoy777]

A coyote can clear a 5' fence and the only real reason for the extra height is to deter chickens from flying over and if there are severe land differences to adjust for....just be sure there are no spots that the goats can get on and are close to the fence to jump over....such as stumps or toys. The shorter fence is easier to deal with and if ya check the amount per roll, most 4' fence comes in 330' rolls and the 5' can be as little as 100' rolls.