Fencing, high tensile or woven sheep/goat? Also best interior fencing? PermaNet??

chanceosunshine

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Hi, We have about 14 acres of pasture that we want to fence in and do rotational grazing with, most likely, sheep and possibly a couple beeves, goats and maybe even Tamworth hogs at some point.
We're considering 6 strands of very hot high tensile fencing or woven sheep and goat fencing. For the interior, we're considering electric netting or or a poly braid for the sheep.
I've heard that very hot wire will keep the vegetation from affecting your electric fencing.

We're also going to have a smaller fenced area for a few dairy goats, most likely ND and Kinders. We were considering Premier 1's PermaNet. Has anyone tried this?

Thanks for reading...
 

Mike CHS

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We have sheep and have Gaucho high tensile woven wire from TSC around most of our perimeter fences but started out with Red Brand. Red Brand is good fence but it is twice as heavy as the Gaucho and the Gaucho is a whole lot cheaper. I just checked prices and the Gaucho is over $100 more now than when I bought it 6 years ago. It stretches better and you can get by with less posts. We have 8 paddocks all together but have the largest section in the middle and have that divided into 3 sections with Premier1 netting. That gives us plenty of flexibility and lets us make efficient use of all of the gates leading to the outside fields. Like noted I like the weight of the Gaucho wire as I'm over 70 and I can still handle that wire.

I have nothing good to say about the poly braid. We don't have much in the way of level fields and if you have hills, the only guarantee that you have is that at some point they are going to get out. We also run a hot and ground above our fences and a low hot wife down low.
 

Alaskan

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Hi, We have about 14 acres of pasture that we want to fence in and do rotational grazing with, most likely, sheep and possibly a couple beeves, goats and maybe even Tamworth hogs at some point.
We're considering 6 strands of very hot high tensile fencing or woven sheep and goat fencing. For the interior, we're considering electric netting or or a poly braid for the sheep.
I've heard that very hot wire will keep the vegetation from affecting your electric fencing.

We're also going to have a smaller fenced area for a few dairy goats, most likely ND and Kinders. We were considering Premier 1's PermaNet. Has anyone tried this?

Thanks for reading...
Where do you live?

Super dry area and electric fence can cause fires.

Lots of snow and you need WAY taller fences since they "shrink" as the snow falls.

Make your exterior fence fantastic. With goats I would go with woven (NOT welded) wire, in a strong guage.

Depending on your predators you might want a hot wire at the top of your perimeter fence, and maybe an electric wire on the inside of the perimeter fence to keep your animals from leaning up against it.

For interior fences you can go with something less expensive. For horses I had excellent success with electric rope on step in fiberglass poles for temporary pastures. Didn't work worth squat for goats.

Also, where are you in the world? Check the normal stocking rate in your area. Some places can handle a cow on 2 acres, but I have never lived in such a place. The family place in Texas is 18 to 22 acres for a single cow (depending on the soil).
 

chanceosunshine

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The farm is in Western Pa. It's rarely super dry and it's usually very lush. We may get a foot of snow once a year here and there, but that's not really the norm.

We have a lot of coyotes. They go crazy every night in the field.

We have other acreage we can move animals onto, but want to start on this section of the farm.

Where do you live?

Super dry area and electric fence can cause fires.

Lots of snow and you need WAY taller fences since they "shrink" as the snow falls.

Make your exterior fence fantastic. With goats I would go with woven (NOT welded) wire, in a strong guage.

Depending on your predators you might want a hot wire at the top of your perimeter fence, and maybe an electric wire on the inside of the perimeter fence to keep your animals from leaning up against it.

For interior fences you can go with something less expensive. For horses I had excellent success with electric rope on step in fiberglass poles for temporary pastures. Didn't work worth squat for goats.

Also, where are you in the world? Check the normal stocking rate in your area. Some places can handle a cow on 2 acres, but I have never lived in such a place. The family place in Texas is 18 to 22 acres for a single cow (depending on the soil).
e
 

chanceosunshine

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With a heavy coyote presence, you would do well to have a couple of livestock guard dogs. I have 3, plus a Great Dane/Labrador cross that thinks he’s a LGD. If I didn’t have my dogs, I wouldn’t have any sheep.
Baymule, I read about Paris, I was going to ask about LGDs in that section, but I just couldn't bring myself too after I read your post. You wrote a beautiful tribute to Paris and to your husband. I was widowed at 37, after 19 years of marriage, it is a hard road and I'm truly sorry for your loss.
Thank you for recommending the LGDs. We have someone who raises Katahdins and she has had success with llamas keeping the coyotes away. We are weighing which to get...or maybe we should get both.
 

Alaskan

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Baymule, I read about Paris, I was going to ask about LGDs in that section, but I just couldn't bring myself too after I read your post. You wrote a beautiful tribute to Paris and to your husband. I was widowed at 37, after 19 years of marriage, it is a hard road and I'm truly sorry for your loss.
Thank you for recommending the LGDs. We have someone who raises Katahdins and she has had success with llamas keeping the coyotes away. We are weighing which to get...or maybe we should get both.
I haven't ever had llamas....

But logically a predator type animal (dog), will do a better job than a prey type animal (llama).

Having dogs about is incredibly helpful, even if they aren't full LGD types.

If livestock can be locked up every night, then you might get by with a "pet" type dog patrolling the area during the day, as long as your stock isn't too far from your house.
 

Baymule

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I have never had llamas. Many people use them with great success. Just bear in mind that llamas and donkeys are prey animals.

3 years ago there was a cougar in our area that killed a flock of goats. The owner used donkeys as guards. Against an apex predator, the donkeys only had to be faster than the goats.

The cougar was on property right next to ours one night, our dogs were going nuts. The cougar hung around 3 weeks, was heard screaming by people in our area. It was close to us several times, but did not come our property.

Predators want a meal they don't have to fight for. If my dogs get hurt, they go to the vet for care. If a predator gets hurt, they do not receive vet care. If a predator can't hunt, it goes hungry. So the cougar moved on, searching for easier prey.

My point is, I'll take my dogs over llamas or donkeys any day.
 

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