在山羊主人中,有句名言:“挡不住水的篱笆挡不住山羊。”And though that hyperbole mayseemextreme … it’s certainly proven true by the generations of goat-escapees that have tested the patience of their fence-builders.
I think it’s also safe to say there is no one perfect solution for comfortably containing goats. It depends on your land, the breeds you keep, the weather of your area, and the resources and philosophy of your homestead. But there aremany, many options.
Whether you decide to break the bank with an entire pasture of chain-link fence, choose electric wire to (hopefully) keep your herd in place, go for old-fashioned wooden fences and their associated upkeep, or create some sort of hybrid system, you will find upsides and downsides to every decision.
Related Post:Raising Goats
There will always be that too-smart doe who will find a way to outsmart the fence, but when you find yourself chasing her down, you can at least know that you are not alone. Goats certainly add a bit of clever spice to daily homestead life, and in the end, as long as you and your goats are safe, happy, and healthy, what more could you ask for?
Goat Fencing Basic Considerations
在选择和建造山羊围栏时,有很多需要考虑的因素,但无论你使用什么材料和方法,都有一些通用的基础。
Fencing Area
A goat can manage on 250 square feet of outdoor space per animal. Since you shouldn’t have one lonely goat, you need to plan to have (at the bare minimum)500 square feet fenced outside.
Other sources say that you can keep up to 12 goats per acre. The more space available, the happier your goats will be, but the more they’ll have to forage, the more you’ll have to fence.
Fence Height
Many sources recommend making fencing at least 4 feet high. Goats can and will jump over any fence that’s shorter. For more active breeds like miniatures and tall Nubians, increase the height to 5 feet.
Just because the fence needs to be tall, however, doesn’t mean you can leave gaps along the bottom. Goats can flatten themselves in unexpected contortions and can crawl under fences even more readily than they jump them.
Head Gaps
山羊喜欢把它们好奇的脸推到各种东西之间。这是可爱的!但如果它们长角,这往往是一个致命的错误。确保任何间隙,无论它们是由柱子之间的空间,交叉支撑,或金属线板的正方形形成的,都不大于4 × 4英寸。
Even then, and especially when you have small, active kids, keep a daily watch on your goats and fenceline. If a goat gets stuck, the clock is ticking to get it free before a coyote takes advantage of the prone meal.
Obstacles
Providing toys, raised platforms, construction spools, and logs因为你爱玩的山羊是一个很棒的主意,看着这些稳健的动物跳跃、跳跃和平衡是每个山羊饲养员应该体验的乐趣。
Related Post:Raising Nigerian Dwarf Goats
但是,要确保任何凸起的表面距离栅栏至少5英尺左右。这包括低垂的树枝,这样它们就不能跑起来跳过栅栏。
Fence Attachments
Attach the wire panels to the inner surface of the fence post — not the outer surface. This way, when goats inevitably push against it, they will be pushing the hardware into the post, and not slowly but surely out of it. In the same way, hinge gates so they open toward the goat yard, not swinging outward into freedom.
That way, even if goats somehow release the latch (it’s strongly recommended to get a two-action latch to avoid this), they’ll be pushing the gate closed as they lean against it, rather than pushing it open.
Walk Your Fenceline
Make it a habit to walk the fenceline of your property often to inspect its soundness, and check for potential problems like sagging, chewing, or gaps formed from goats pushing against weak points. Sometimes, the best way to stop a tragedy is to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Goat Fencing Options
For every option, I will list the basic information, the pros, and the cons. I have organized the options in order of cost from cheapest to most expensive, but it really is difficult to give hard numbers.
Material cost ranges from store to store, installation cost may be a huge factor if you don’t do it yourself, and the amount of area to fence will obviously multiply the cost exponentially. If you feel overwhelmed by all the options and don’t know how to estimate the cost,consider this helpful chart here. Even though these are 2011 prices, it gives you an idea of the factors to consider.
Wooden Fence
Wooden fences look appropriately rustic and can be made from materials you have on site at the homestead. Be prepared to work hard, though. Driving posts is not a job for the faint-hearted, and maintenance will be constant. Also, you’ll need to use a lot of material.
Related Post:Goat Shelter Basics: What You Need to Know to Keep Your Herd Safe
Particularly in a buck’s area, consider constructing the fence stockade-style, not picket style. Goat hooves or knees can be trapped when they stand on their hind legs to look over the fence. Want a trendy, recycled means of fencing? This homestead made a goat yardfrom pallets!
Pros And Cons Of A Wooden Fence
Pros: Unlike electrified fences, you never need doubt your wooden fence is working. If it’s standing, it’s “on” and materials are relatively easy to replace.
缺点:如果你住在冬天有很多积雪的地区,你需要确保栅栏足够高,即使几英尺的雪已经把它降低了,也能起到保护作用。山羊还能啃木头,很容易把柱子弄软。风化、腐烂和白蚁也会磨损栅栏的强度,山羊很擅长利用它们能找到的任何薄弱的地方。
Wooden Fence Cost
Wooden fences are potentially low-cost if you mill the timber yourself, or if you already have an existing fence. Getting a service to pound posts into the ground for you will increase the price quite a bit.
Electric Fence
About as “instant” as a fence can get, electrified fencing hedges in animals using a psychological rather than a physical barrier. Unlike many types of livestock, however, you’ll need to put the fence’s charge higher than you may expect –somewhere from4,500 to 9,000 volts在任何时候。
Goats are pretty smart. If they know there’s a time when the fence is off, they may figure out how to use it to their advantage. And even if you have a fence at lightning-bolt strength, you may find that it’s not a strong enough deterrent to a determined, stubborn animal. As a remedy, many goat dairy operations use high-tensile wire in combination with electric fencing to keep their goats safe.
Pros And Cons Of An Electric Fence
Pros: Easy setup, affordable, and easy to move if you want to try a rotational grazing method or brush control in different areas.
Cons: There’s a lot that can short out an electric fence. Regular weed maintenance is a must to keep tall grass from rendering it useless. Additionally, electric fences require training. Goats need to learn to respect the fence in order for it to rein them in mentally.Check out this articlefor some really helpful tips on training.
Electric Fence Cost
Electric fencing is a cheaper option for people who want to try a rotational grazing system but haven’t been able to put a wooden perimeter fence in place. It requires a lot of maintenance to keep it running, so that time invested in fence-clearing is another “cost” to add to the monetary cost.
Woven Goat Wire and Field Fence
Woven wire is a great option for permanent fencing solutions, but be sure to get the goat-specific version with 4-by-4 holes, rather than the typical 6-by-6, 6-by-9, and 6-by-12 weaves used for larger livestock. It will be more expensive — there’s a lot more wire used in the denser weave of goat wire — but it will save you from dealing with the hassle of horned goats getting their heads stuck.
Related Post:What Do Goats Eat?
Field fence is a close cousin to woven wire, andmaywork with your goats with some caveats. Field fence is really designed for horses and is often constructed of a finer gauge wire. While that makes it cheaper, it also makes it more liable to stretch and be bent out of a safe shape.
记住,山羊是攀登者,它们可以在非常小的表面保持平衡。田野篱笆通常有一个更宽的编织。这是一个随时可能发生的陷阱。
注意:把这个栅栏安装好并紧固。我建议将电线连接到牢固的柱子上,在地面上固定。Check out this videoof a clever goat defeating a mobile fence with little effort.
If you have inherited a property with a decent field fence and want to keep goats, you may need to install some adaptations to make it as safe as possible. Consider adding electric wire or reinforcing it with some sort of additional layers.
Pros And Cons Of A Woven Goat Wire And Field Fence
Pros: Dependable, strong, and one of the more often-recommended methods for fencing goats.
缺点:4英尺高的标准尺寸对某些品种来说可能太短了。这可以通过在栅栏顶部上方架起一根电线来修正,或者将其与更高的木制框架结合使用。
Woven Goat Wire And Field Fence Cost
编织山羊钢丝的成本是中间的——不是最贵,也不是最便宜。您可以自己安装,也可以请专业人士安装。Websites like these会给你一个报价,帮助你做决定。
Cattle Panels/Stock Panels/Goat Panels
These solid, metal panels are a great option for creating a strong barrier. Even if they are too expensive to use as fencing, consider them for making quick work of sectioning your barn for different uses — especially during kidding season!
Pros And Cons Of Cattle Panels/Stock Panels/Goat Panels
Pros: About as solid and bend-proof as you can get. These 16-foot sections of panel will make a fantastic perimeter that won’t rot and won’t warp out of shape.
Cons: Expensive! Also, kids will escape from these “as is.” Prevent runaway babies by installing an extra line of something like chicken wire or hardware along the bottom portion of each panel.
Cattle Panels/Stock Panels/Goat Panels Cost
Cattle panels are strong but expensive. A 16-foot feedlot panel will run somewhere around $20 apiece, and this price does not include any of the wooden posts that would be used to install it. The problem is, panels have spaces that are designed for cows, not slippery goats. They’ll require some augmentation to work. Specifically-designedgoat panels每件要花60美元以上。
Chain Link Fence
Though chain link fence may be among the most goat-proof of fencing materials, it is probably the most expensive option — so expensive that many resources won’t even list it.
If you have a very small herd, however, and the luxury of being able to afford it, chain link is worth considering for long-term, permanent goat housing. Even if you can’t afford it for the whole herd, it may be a viable option for containing your bucks.
Pros And Cons Of Chain Link Fences
Pros: Solid, sturdy, long lasting, and good for keeping out predators.
Cons: Stinking expensive.
Chain Link Fence Costs
This website estimates 200 feet of fencing (with installation) will run yousomewhere around $3,000.
Special Notes About Bucks in Rut
I’ve not yet had to deal with this directly, but I have visited several farms with breeding bucks and heard plenty of stories about their hormone-induced antics.
For long-term planning, a buck and a wether may be best for small homesteads, because bucks are still herd animals and don’t want to be alone. If you decide to keep bucks on your farm, you need to have an extra sturdy plan for him once he turns into a raging breeding machine.
Related Post:My Goat Is Pregnant, Now What?
Don’t place your buck’s area right next to the does. If they share a fence, he will get over it somehow (or even impregnate the does through the fence). If you can splurge on fencing, do it for the bucks first!
Myfinal advicefor those beginning to build their goat infrastructure comes from Julia Shewchuk ofSerenity Acres Farm:
“Buy the best fence and materials you can afford one pasture at a time.”
Don’t scrimp on your goat fencing and build a cheap version of what you really need. Your goatswill测试它,你可能会发现自己花更多的钱来修复这个蹩脚的栅栏,而不是用更坚固的材料来建造它。
逃跑的山羊对它们自己是一个危险,对你的花园和果园是一个威胁,对邻居是一个烦恼,如果你住在繁忙的道路附近,一个潜在的危险。所以帮他们和你们自己一个忙。做些调查,试着第一次就把它做好,即使这意味着一开始要养更少的山羊。
Nigel Williamsays
Hi Wren, Great article. Nice fences and gate. I also love the cute goats!!
Wren Everettsays
谢谢,奈杰尔!我希望这对你来说是一个很好的资源,山羊击剑当然是一种心理上的挑战,和身体上的挑战一样多,哈哈。谢谢,我们上周刚刚完成了新围栏,现在只需要完成新的装货码头,很快我们就会有新来者来到我们的家园!
Jason Morphettsays
Thanks Wren.
That’s the best article I’ve read on the matter. I particularly liked the escaping goat video with my coffee this morning.
Wren Everettsays
Thanks for your nice comment, Jason. Hope your goat containment efforts are successful!
Christine Studersays
My goat keeps escaping and I cannot figure out where, any ideas other than 24 survielance ? Will powder on the outside of the fence work?
Wren Everettsays
That sounds frustrating, Christine! Have you found a weak point in your fence anywhere? Sometimes they leave bits of hair attached to places where they’ve wiggled and scraped through. Does it happen at a certain time of day? Maybe you could stake out your barn around that time and catch the goat in the act. Do you have a two-action latch on your doors? Goats can figure out simple latches pretty well. I’m not sure how to help you without more specific information, but even then, I don’t know your little caprine escapee as well as you do.
Kelvin Braxtonsays
I’ve found that chain link fence, run at a height of about 6 feet with hefty wooden posts every 10 feet or so, is a powerful deterrent for even the most determined animal. We use this setup (except even higher!) when building deer proof fence around our customers properties. We had a groundhog problem as well on a certain property which required us to bury the bottom of the fence a full 18″. Obviously, this shouldn’t be such of a problem with goats. Good article!
stevesays
美国的击剑项目很奇怪。常见的澳大利亚栅栏是绵羊或山羊的网,上面有一根电线。如果你的山羊逃跑了,那么它们的院子就不能满足它们的需求。(You attempt escape from prisons not paradise)
Jennifer cowinsays
秋天的时候,当我们试图把一只繁殖的雄鹿从女士们身边拽开时,它跑过了两道坚固的围栏。我们把它修好了,结果几个小时后他又跑了一遍。我们结束了4X6桩在水泥,双板交叉成员,和牛面板之间。他还没有突破!