Escape proof Perimeter fencing for dairy goats?

[For the Love of Dirt]

I am in the process of purchasing a 17.5 acre (about 3-4 acres will be home, garden, and orchard) piece of property that currently has a barbed wire perimeter fence for cows, which I am going to need to replace. The property is bordered on 2 sides by somewhat busy roads, so I need to figure out my fencing. I am planning on preparing the property for 1 year before getting goats, and need a permanent, escape proof perimeter fence that is also relatively affordable. I am planning on moving the goats around on the property using mobile electric fencing, but want a good perimeter fence in case of escape from the inner fence, so the perimeter fence will most likely not have constent pressure on it via rubbing and such. I am planning on La Manchas and a LGD, most likely an Anatolian Shepherd. Also planning on having chickens and other poultry, and maybe cows at some point, which will also be moved in electric fencing. Because of the road frontage, it also needs to look good. What height should I shoot for? Panels or rolls of welded wire or something else? How far apart should the posts be? Any other tips welcome! I would love to see pictures as well!

 

[Rammy]

I am in the process of purchasing a 17.5 acre (about 3-4 acres will be home, garden, and orchard) piece of property that currently has a barbed wire perimeter fence for cows, which I am going to need to replace. The property is bordered on 2 sides by somewhat busy roads, so I need to figure out my fencing. I am planning on preparing the property for 1 year before getting goats, and need a permanent, escape proof perimeter fence that is also relatively affordable. I am planning on moving the goats around on the property using mobile electric fencing, but want a good perimeter fence in case of escape from the inner fence, so the perimeter fence will most likely not have constent pressure on it via rubbing and such. I am planning on La Manchas and a LGD, most likely an Anatolian Shepherd. Also planning on having chickens and other poultry, and maybe cows at some point, which will also be moved in electric fencing. Because of the road frontage, it also needs to look good. What height should I shoot for? Panels or rolls of welded wire? How far apart should the posts be? Any other tips welcome! I would love to see pictures as well!

There are many members on here with livestock that you are considering. Im sure a few of them, namely @Mike CHS , who has katahdin sheep, and @Latestarter, who has Lamanchaga goats, and have put up alot of fencing, could probably help you on that.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Don't use welded wire, it will not last, if you can afford it go for no climb and wood posts in the ground, keeps animals in, looks great !
That is first hand knowledge. ...we are replacing our welded with the no climb.

 

[Rammy]

Agree with @B&B Happy goats on that. Wasted alot of money on welded wire. Get woven. Will last longer and you can stretch it. You cant stretch welded. It will pop the weld.

 

[Mike CHS]

Don't use welded wire, it will not last, if you can afford it go for no climb and wood posts in the ground, keeps animals in, looks great !
That is first hand knowledge. ...we are replacing our welded with the no climb.

I was going to tag you since I knew you were replacing wire. We ran hot wire on top of our fence because of our climbing dogs and also offset hot wire lower on the fence to keep our sheep off of it. Turns out that the cattle don't mess with it either but our charger hits around 17K volts and hurts when touched.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

That works well ...zapppp, yep, won't go there again ! @Mike CHS

 

[greybeard]

I was going to tag you since I knew you were replacing wire. We ran hot wire on top of our fence because of our climbing dogs and also offset hot wire lower on the fence to keep our sheep off of it. Turns out that the cattle don't mess with it either but our charger hits around 17K volts and hurts when touched.

Which brand and model charger and which tester do you have?

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I like your taste, Lamanchas and Anatolians (can you guess what we have? LOL!)


Don’t waste your time or money on welded wire fence. It’s hard to work with and the welds snap easily.

We use 4ft fencing, never needed anything taller. In a perfect world, I’d love to have 2x4 no climb fence, or 4x4 sheep & goat fence.

We have this fence, and so far it’s worked pretty good for us. You can stretch it tight and can take some abuse. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...field-fence-14-ga-47-in-x-330-ft?cm_vc=-10005

When we had the hurricanes come through, some of our fences took some hard hits. These fences were in the heavy woods and we didn’t think it was worth trying to salvage it. We replaced that fence with cattle panels, so that if anything comes down, all we need to do it replace a small section and not worry about stretching fences.

We use wood H braces on the corners and T posts between, it’s worked for us.

 

[Latestarter]

As stated above by others, do NOT waste your time or money with welded wire fencing. You will regret it in short order. It's fine for enclosing chickens/rabbits/gardens from same/etc., but even then there are better choices IMHO.

The fencing posted above by GW (or similar "field fencing") is generally more than adequate for perimeter fencing as long as you understand that with 6" vertical openings starting 1/2 way up, baby goats/sheep can and will go "through" the fencing. Just as an aside, this is also the case with standard cattle panels which also have close horizontal wires for the three lower runs, but then expand vertically to bigger openings. As an aside, I too have an Anatolian (50/50 Anatolian/Pyrenees) & Lamanchas.

If you plan on breeding and having kids down the road, I suggest you spend the extra money and enclose the permanent night pen/kidding/lambing area with sheep/goat fencing which has uniform 4"x4" openings in the woven wire, which will prevent kids/lambs from going through it. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/red-brand-goat-fence-48-in-x-330-ft It's $100.00 more expensive than the field fencing above ($239.99/330' roll vice $139.99/330' roll) but because of uniform spacing of horizontal wire runs, it is much more sturdy/stronger. It stretches very tight and will last a very long time.

You can also go "top of the line" if you wish, or intend to have horses at some point, and buy the 2"x4" no climb horse fencing. IMHO it's overkill for sheep/goats and really unnecessary. It's also substantially more expensive. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/non-climb-horse-fence-48-in-x-200-ft?cm_vc=-10005 This is the same price as the 330 foot sheep/goat fencing ($239.99/roll) but only buys 200'/roll. So a little more than 1/3rd more expensive.

As GW does (and many others), I use 6-8" wood post "H" braces at corners and T-posts spaced at 10' intervals along runs. With the best woven wire fencing, and stretched tight, you can actually do the T posts even higher/longer spacing. I chose 10' because it seemed best to me for my purposes. You can use wood posts as outlined by B&B, but as with everything else, it would be much more expensive, and the wood posts, even treated, will eventually rot out and will not last as long as the steel T posts.

Though I haven't yet, I will eventually be putting a double strand of hot wire above the existing 48" fencing to help stop anything from going over the fence. A coyote can jump 5' straight up and clear a fence should it want to. Deer can as well. If you plan to have an LGD, some breeds and specific animals like to "claim/protect/own" all that they see and as such will wander outside your property borders, this will help prevent that. Keep in mind that in order for an animal to get zapped, they must contact a "hot" wire and be grounded simultaneously. Therefore, if they jump and contact the hot wire, it will not shock them as they will not be grounded. Therefore, some folks place a hot wire and a ground wire at the top so if jumping and they contact one wire, chances are better that they will also contact the other at the same time.

I have pictures on my fencing on my journal. @Mike CHS also has pictures on his journal. Many others have shared pictures of their fencing as well. You can search for fencing and peruse a large number of threads here.

 

[greybeard]

permanent, escape proof perimeter fence

Understand, that there is no such thing.
"Neither man nor God has ever built a fence tall enough or strong enough to keep a determined animal in or a determined lawyer out."
All you can do is do the best you can but there will always (and eventually) be one that just wants out and it will find a way....

Follow the advice given by those in the posts above and you will be as good as it ever gets.