Response to Keeping goats where they belong...

We use a goat pen made of wood and woven wire with a wooden frame (to give it more rigidity) that has two electric wires running inside the perimeter, one about 9-12" off the ground, and another near the top on the inside so they can't get their feet up on the fence without getting shocked. They would have to clear the fence without touching it, and the fence is about 5 feet high, to avoid getting shocked. There is a section that is not electrified, and sometimes a young doe will jump it, but doesn't go far because she wants to be with the herd. That is the pen that they stay in- the barn lot- during the winter. During spring,summer,and fall, this pen has gates at each corner and the goats are let onto the pasture and can come back into the barn lot at will. The pasture is fenced using New Zealand portable fencing the kind that has the plastic twine with metal strands in it, and is solar powered. It has only two strands, the top strand is three feet high and the lower strand is maybe 18" off the ground. You can wind the string up and pull the posts up and rearrange the fence- the posts are just pushed into the ground by stepping on the base, and they are flexible fiberglass with built in insulators to carry the wire. Our goats have NEVER jumped this fence! Sometimes if the string gets old and rotten it will break if a goats inadvertently runs into it, or a dog will run through the fence and break the string, or a sneaky goat will slip under it if the fence goes over a dip where the lowest wire is high enough (just slide the insulator down the post farther). But as a rule, they respect the fence and will even stay in it if it is down in an area or turned off by accident. We try to keep it working all the time so that they will continue to respect it though. If your goats are escaping or jumping electric fence you might need a different charger or you could try spraying them all with water one summer day so that when they hit that fence it really nails them! Our garden and fruit trees are not fenced at all.

[ Previous | Next ]