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Rebecca · Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:27 pm Post subject: Goat Fencing & Tethering

Please advise what a good fencing solution might be for 2 goats and their 4 young kids? I previously owned a dairy goat and her 4 month kid who were used to being tethered. I have an opportunity to buy 2 meat breed females, one has 2 kids, the other is due any day. At what age can kids begin to be tethered? While weaning, will they stay with the tethered mother without roaming? Or do I need to either invest in heavy duty fencing instead, or failing that, let the opportunity go. Does electric fencing work with goats (knowing goats I somehow think this is a naieve question?!).

Hope you can help me arrive at a decision

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blowin · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:38 am Post subject:

Hi Rebecca , I have very little personal exp of goats but do know 2 places where they are kept in by electric . Nothing special -- 3 strands of wire , the top one at about 3 1/2 ft .
One of the guys says that in order to be sure that the animal keeps well clear in future you have to literally put its nose against the fence a couple of times . You will have no escapees after that . Sounds brutal but , as he says , the animal is going to get a shock sometime anyway so it is best to do it in an effective and controlled manner .
I daren't even risk it now that I have finally got something other than weeds in the beds . Well , one of them at least ! Laughing

Camile · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:01 am Post subject:

Hi,

I have 2 goats and they are escape artist ... it took me a while before having the field goat proof ... untill a tree fell and snap the fence !

I'n not keen on electric fence because it's awkward with goats I think ..

they are grazer and trims the hedge more than eating grass .. and I wanted them to have access to the hedge ..

I basically made a fence about 1,5m high (even though 1 is a Saanen) ... with chicken wire over a few strands of barb wire ... and it works a treat .. some parts are lower because I followed the hedge ..

To be honest, I don't like tethering goats because they require constant attention because they are at risk of getting tangle/strangled in something somehow .. and they love to nibble on different things .. wich tethering might prevent them to do ..

And they loose the social aspect of the gang ...

I tried tethering the wether buck we have ... but he was getting tangled within minutes ..

So I would say go for them ... but let them roam ...
and what breed are they ?

Camile

David · Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 180 Location: Co. Clare

I agree completely with Camile...we have a similar fence solution...they are escape artists all right!

Electric fence on it's own was a disaster, and tethering sounds good, but it has so many problems...we tried it for a while but i felt sorry for the poor old goats.

We have a light fence (sheep netting) supplemented with a single strand of electric tape....otherwise they leisurely rub up against it until the fence collapses! Barbed wire serves the same purpose, and we have this solution in a few places.

David

Rebecca · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:30 pm Post subject:

Hi Guys

I rang the owner for a chat about what fencing she uses. She has 30 goats of various breeds and uses 2 strand electric fencing with no problems. Im hoping if I use the same stuff they will recognise it and all will be well, otherwise it will be off to the co-op for the fencing and barbed wire reinforcements!

Wish me luck!!!
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David · Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 180 Location: Co. Clare

Hi

We have one old bitch (we love Gerty really) who always got through 3 strands of electric...and it takes about 10 seconds for a goat to destroy a young apple tree!

Then again, if the goats are used to electric, perhaps you'll be OK...Gerty has just made me cynical!

All the best

David

jon234567890 · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

I know this is a bit of an old post, but I have two goats, one respects the Electric Fence, the other ignores it.
Has anyone, that has an Escape Artist, tried Sheep (or Chicken / Rabbit) Electric Fencing, you know it has Squares NOT strands of electrified tape.
The problem with strands or tape, is that they just put their head down and step through the gap (or push it out of the way!)
Jon.

blowin · Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:33 am Post subject:

Someone told me that if you have to tether a goat then it is better to wrap the rope around both horns , where they join the head , rather than use a collar . I guess this saves the cost of a collar but is there another reason too ?

roiphil · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 118 Location: Co. Limerick

I sometimes tether our 2 goats at first i found the chains used to knot up when they walked around, tried rope which did the same, simple solution attach a swivel onto the chain and just clip it to the collar as you would normally i find they dont get knotted up as much
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Rebecca · Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:29 am Post subject:

A friend of mine put two posts in his field about 20m apart, with a wire linking both (I think at ground level), he clipped a few foot of rope onto the wire and the goats collar, so they had a good long stretch to walk up and down on the tether. It worked well, but he now uses fencing. Having used both tethering and electric fencing I prefer the latter, its lovely watching them roam about and really do their thing. I will use a tether now and then to move out of field for a few hours at a time ... into overgrown parts of the garden, hedges that need a pruning, and various other patches that they will enjoy nibbling at.

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eBooklets ; pigs, goats