High tensile fence questions - goats

I'm sure fence questions have been posted Far to often, I'm going to toss out one more after reading loads of our old threads here. I have about 6 acres available to me to range some livestock on. The owner was going to raise sheep or goats, my wife wants to try some some goats there this spring. The property is subdivided into 4 sections with an additional small section with a gate for a truck and trailer for unloading. The fence is an 8 wire high tensel @ 42" tall that was installed with insulators for a fence charger. I'm wondering how the group feels about this arrangement for goats and looking for a recommended solar fence charger. My worry is the goats escaping through the fence wire gaps.

Thank you, Greg

I rechecked the height, it's actually 52"

My wife would put her goats in our cattle
pasture once on a while. A couple of them
learned to just put their head down and
shoot between the strands to get out. Might
not apply to all goats, but did these. 5
strands, chest high.

Get a good fencer 120 works the best mine
cost about the same price as it did
running a light bulb. Before I would turn
them loose I would build a breaking pen
solid fence on the outside hot wire on the
inside my aunt hung can lids on her fence
those bright shiny objects caught there
eye and the electric zap will that
education lasted . I would only have power
on the breaking fence and it's not a bad
idea to have a nice lawn chair it's cheap
entertainment . Some learn quickly some
have to take a little more convincing. You
can probably set a perimeter fence with
cattle panels. Never put electric fence
on the bottom of a hill always best on top
that way if they take off if there going
down hill they won't stop uphill they slow
down before they hit it not always
practical but it helps when breaking them.
Life lessons found the hard way

5 wires would be a lot wider space than 8 wire. So that might make a big difference there. Neighbor about 3 mile away just ysed plain old field fence from when he had cows before. And he had enough goats in milk that the milk hauler that picked up our can cow milk picked up his goat milk in cans as well.

If I am reading your post right, the wires are 6 and a half inches apart? It might, and I repeat, MIGHT hold and adult goat, but the little ones will crawl through like the fence wasn't even there. You need fairly heavy page wire fence with no more than 4 inch squares. Two inch squares would be much better. IF a goat gets nailed on the nose, an electric fence will stop them. If they get their head through, the hair on their back is thick enough they pay no attention to electric fences. Goats are smart, curious and escape artists that would make Houdini look like a child. We have some 4 strand electric fence and if the goats are not feeling curious or hungry or adventuresome AND the fencer is working properly, they will stay in.

electric is your friend. boer goats aren't hard to keep in, pygmys are really hard and saanan's are middle of the road. just keep the fence hot and you'll be ok

Is there any solar/battery fence charger that would work well for this application? I'm estimating there is in excess of 10 miles of wire in the fence perimeter without adding the interior fence deviations. I'm thinking at lease. 30 mile 12 volt system is in order. I've read Parmak is a good product like to consider

Goats are smarter than many give them credit for. They will figure out a high tensile fence pretty fast. If all strands are hot and close together it might be ok, but some put on some pretty heavy winter coats and it just can't get to them very good. I had a Boar doe that would rub her butt on electric strand I have inside my pasture fence and half the time she would not get bit. I have found panels and V mesh to work out the best for me. I replaced my neighbors flower garden twice one year from my milkers getting out. Gates also need a really good latch that they cannot reach from the inside. They figure those out pretty fast too. Oh, I almost forgot, if you ever have your tractor out in the pasture for any reason and stop and go in the house or shop for a minute, take the key with you or I guarantee you will be looking for it when you return. Also give them toys / climbing structures to occupy them and they will be less interested in the fence. You also want to consider keeping predators out as well as goats in.

Greg

I've been raising meat goats for about 20 years,woven wire at the very least and cattle panels are better as they can't ride the cattle panels down.Gates need to be so they stay on the ground
any clearance and and the goats will go under them.Good thing is once your fence is goat proof it'll also hold your LGD,Geese,calves etc.

If your fence will hold water, it should hold goats. They get out. I have a fence like yours powered with a Gallager 1500 and sheep must be well fed and dumb to stay in, and sheep are easier to keep in than goats. Sheep mostly stay in if you have at least 2500 volts on your fence, more is better.

Two things not mentioned: First; the usual way of installing high tensile is strands are closer together near the bottom than at the top. Second; they have to be "trained" to the fence. With moisture in the ground and your fencer properly grounded you hold a treat just outside the fence in a rubber tub, so that to get close to it they have to put their nose to the wire. Offer it again, once in a great while you will get one that will come back for a second "hit". If they will come back for a third hit, time to cull them.

High tensile fence will NOT hold goats in period. Also any type of solar fence charger will NOT produce the voltage to keep most animals in very well. Any fog or moisture and your fence is down. Also you will have miles of wire to electrify and solar just does not cut it.

I would not pasture goats on some one else's land without a much better fencing system. Your goats will be out more than they will be in. Your liable for any damage they will do. This is not limited to eating things. I say a car have several thousand dollars of damage done to it by goats climbing on the hood/roof and denting it.

The Parmak is a good charger. Sta-fix has a couple good ones, too. When it was dry and I could work on the fence with the Parmak on, as long as I stayed on the 4-wheeler, the sta-fix would bite me pretty good. It was their 3 Joule unit.

The Gallaghers are OK for cattle, if they've got a lot of feed, but the batteries don't seem to last as well in the solar chargers. I don't know about their 110v units.

Get a solar panel and a group 31 truck battery, hook them up, and it'll heat the fence right up for days without sun.
https://www.stafix.com/en/category/energizers

Goats? Oh they're so cute.... until you come home and they're up on top of your nicest newest car. Then you finally get them back inside the fence and you go inside, eat supper, watch TV a little and look out the window and they're several pairs of red eyes staring at you out the living room window. Hooves poking numerous sharp holes in the siding. They were just lonely, wondering where COULD you have gone?? So you give up on fencing, and try some lengths of chain for the little cuties???? Stake them out in the pasture? What could possibly go wrong?? Until you come home and they're all tangled up together, hobbling around, going so plaintively Baaah !! Baahhh! BAHHHH! So you try to go untangle them, and get about 5 horns jabbed HARD right in the short ribs. Hard! Right in the ribs!!
I could go on. Finally gave mine away, asked the guy some time later I'd given them to, how are the goats?? He said they'd just BBQ'd the last of them over the weekend. Sure were tasty.
I thought that was about appropriate.

I think it's impossible to keep goats
in, especially the baby's. Mine like to
free range on the round bales even
though they have better hay in pen.
They destroy the net wrap when the
climb on them. The only good thing is
they clean up the spilled grain around
the auger.

You'll PROBABLY be fine with your set up. But I can tell you - goats are THE most frustrating animal ever invented.


I'm with others, you really want cattle panels. The cheap ones are fine - tractor supply sells them, 16 footers for about $20 each.

6 acres is a lot of space to surround with them, but I'd HIGHLY recommend a smaller more secure area over larger and porous.

I have one goat in particular that'd always just take the shock to get through the electric fence I had. She got beat on by the other goats, and she just loved the bushes in front of my neighbors house. A more powerful charger didn't help. Other goats would sometimes follow. She'd just run and dive through. You'd hear the crack of lightning hitting her, but she just didn't care.

Thing is, get some that want to be on the other side and you'll me absolutely miserable.

(quoted from post at 21:09:04 10/12/16)
Is there any solar/battery fence charger that would work well for this application? I'm estimating there is in excess of 10 miles of wire in the fence perimeter without adding the interior fence deviations. I'm thinking at lease. 30 mile 12 volt system is in order. I've read Parmak is a good product like to consider

Click to expand...

I've been keeping goats for over 20 years. I don't believe there is a solar charger made that has enough juice to stop a goat. You want something that will put out at least 5-6 joules. The TSC type "30 mile" fencers are a joke. Look into CYCLOPS brand chargers or if you can't swing one then get the heaviest shocking other brand you can find. They will tell you to use at least 3 ground rods, 10 foot apart, connected with real copper ground wire. DO IT! Goats have very dry hoofs and it takes a good ground to hit them. Running a series of ground wires between the charged HT hot wires might help. They will also jump like a deer. And after all that , if there's nothing they want to eat (which is different than having plenty available TO eat) inside the fence they will work to get out. You need to train them to the fence from a young age. If you get a jumper or one in particular that challenges the fence, then remove her from the herd ASAP or she'll teach the others to challenge the fence.

I keep goats and sheep in with 42" Premier brand electronet and a battery charger. But my goats are trained, are bonded to the sheep herd and get moved often so they have something interesting to eat and play on. Goats get bored easily. Sounds weird, but it's true. A bored goat is trouble. A hungry goat is trouble. A got that knows she can zip through the fence is trouble. I had a 5 strand HT fence with alternating hot/ground wires and the goats (and sheep) laughed at that.

Goats are not impossible to keep in, you just have to understand they are smart. Diabolically clever would be more accurate. You have to be smarter and more persistent than the goat. And if your goats are "people goats", and most are, that's a whole other issue. They have to feel secure in their herd without you (or your wife/kids) there to "protect" them.

The good thing about meat goats is they are way more profitable than cattle these days and bringing about 2X per lb over calves,they'll also keep the fence rows clean and keep things like bushes and multiflora rose out of your fields.I run cattle and goats together and they both are better off for it and do better than either alone.Just like anything else the better you prepare for them the better you'll do with them.If you price out ALL the costs of a fence stock panels will be right there with anything on price and if you count your labor as anything
they'll beat everything else.Personally I wouldn't put up barb wire or high tensile on my place if you gave me the wire.And when you have electric fence you always have a full time job
doing something to it.

I have to second or third or fourth ALL the above replies. I tried them when I moved out here 37 years ago before I could afford cows.

Oh, and one more thing. Don't have anything the goats can climb on within 30 feet of the fence. They will climb on top of that and either jump over the fence or hook their front feet onto the fence and then hook their hind feet onto the fence and over they go. You will marvel at their ingenuity, laugh at their antics and want to wring their neck all at the same time.

We tried the meat goats for about 8 years. Boer and mix. As someone mentioned, if the fence will hold water, you will be fine, but in all seriousness, I never had any luck with a solar charger, they simply
are not "hot" enough. I found the best combination to be woven with a hot wire about knee high, and keep the hot wire clean from weeds, etc. I had a buck that could get through and never did find out how
he did it aside from going under. Maybe the market is better in another area, but I never made a dime on them, and probably lost on the average. Spent a lot of time/money on fence in vain. They are very
easy to kill, meaning that if you are not with them when they kid, figure on losing some. Expensive to keep wormed, and very high maintenance (my opinion). We sold the last of ours a couple years ago. Plan
the kidding carefully, and a place to keep the buck (out of sight as if he is across the fence, he will get through - period) unless you enjoy being with them helping in January, middle of the night, below
zero temps, etc. depending on your climate. Not fun at all. BTDT. I know some enjoy them, and appear to make money on them, but they were not for us, but it took us a few years to learn. I cannot speak
to other breeds, but I would never own another Boer or Boer mix.

I'm with you on the Boers great pets not so good production meat goats,I started with Boers sold them and bought Kikos they are about the opposite of Boers in every way more like cattle really and very rarely have to worn them.

Thank you for all the feedback. I looked the fence over this evening and there are three wires that will be hot with a charger installed. Looks like I'll need to get an edgication on chargers also. If we take this on I'm going to build a shelter and come up with some items to keep the goats busy. The internet is full of ideas of items to build or garage sale some kids lawn toys. I think I can line the small pasture space with fence panels to try to keep them in if they become difficult. I hope to be able to use the rest of the space for feed and excersize space. I'm still worried I don't have enough information to do this properly. I'm reading all I can get my hands on. I have a local farmer that is a major contributor to the local 4H program that I will be making time to visit with and shore up my education with.

Lots of truth about Goats in this post. These little court jesters of the animal world are fun to raise and you can make a little money on them. You gotta give them plenty of brush to eat and sell live direct to the consumer. In my area that is Hispanic Men, they will come to your place and pay you cash for a nice little fat 100 pound goat and BBQ him the next holiday. You might could sell to the nnalert, I don't know any here in my area, but they like it too. White folk usually wont eat it. I enjoy my Nubians and crosses, No Boers here, I like the milk and they each got their own personality. I like 2 3/8" pipe fence with cattle panel 2" off the ground with 36" chicken wire that is hog ringed to the panel and touches the ground, expensive, but I never get any runaways nor any coyotes or neighbor dogs in. I do have two guard dogs, they are a lab and red hound, they both are goat friendly and do a good job of keeping out the rif raf. JBD in East Texas

One thing to think about since you have/will have multiple wires. On a 3 wire system, make the upper and lower hot and the center wire ground.
That way you don't need the hoof for conductivity. If they stick their head through the wire they get it on both sides of their neck. Makes no
difference if the soil is wet or dry like conventional wiring problems.

However, I'd use thick wire and secure it properly because if you have a horned goat and they get their nose and horns through before the neck
reaches the wires, when they do connect they will jerk back and the horns will hook the upper wire.