Easy Electric Fencing Solutions For Goats 

I can't stop laughing. Herding cats...😂🤣🤣😂

Great to hear!

​@@thenoblefarmer1046judydruetto

Haha you're right. Whoops!

Might make good tacos 🌮

I have used a couple of different types, but usually I grab whatever the local farm store has. Just a big spool of bare galvanized wire. They typically have 17ga. wire which is a bit thin but holds up fine. For a charger, use as strong as a charger as you're willing to get. Goats will test a fence and if you sue a cheap or low powered solar charger they'll just take the hit and go on through. I have an 18 joule charger that does the trick. It hurts like the dickens :)

@@rchaider Do you ever roll up your bare galvanized wire, or are those installations relatively permanent? If you roll it up, what type of reels do you use / do you use a drill or hand roll? Thanks!

Guarantee they won't if you've got a 16-20 joule charger on that bad boy. It hurts like the dickens. They get zapped a time or two and then run off and pout.

These are the ones I use. They also sell the additional clips (on the same site) that attach to the posts to add additional lines. valleyfarmsupply.store/collections/10-gallagher-fence-posts-step-in-posts-and-fence-reels/products/250-heavy-duty-ring-top-posts-free-usa-shipping

Hm. The link is in the description? Not sure if I added it after your comment or if you didn't see it, but it's up there.

We did about 12 feet I believe on this one, but we weren't using 12.5ga. I do use 12.5 now though (and like it a lot better), and you can get away with putting them a bit farther apart. In a high tensile situation with minimal elevation changes, you can put posts a lot farther apart. We just put up a new high tensile fence using Timeless fiberglass posts and put the posts 20 feet apart. If you're fencing in goats, I'd do somewhere between 12 and 20 feet, depending on how tight you're tensioning and how much your land dips and swells. If you have a dip in the ground and you've got your posts 20 feet apart, you're going to leave a large gap for the animals to get through, and they certainly will take advantage of that.

Yeah solar chargers just don't quite do the trick for us. The AC powered ones are much much cheaper. I've taken to using underground buried cable (just grab a spool in the fencing section of your local farm store) and running that across the field or through the woods up to an existing AC powered fence or to your charger in the barn. Obviously that won't work if it's crazy far away, but you can get really long runs doing it this way. I just don't put goats on solar anymore because they'll eventually get out (at least with my Premiere 1 charger).

You need a min of 6000v, 6kV, for goats, you don't need many joules for 1/2 acre.

Hey Matthew. 12 foot spacing on those line posts (brace posts excluded of course). In terms of cost and ease of use, yes still very handy. I also have had great success lately with an "offset electric" approach. That's any kind of static non-electrified fencing (like barbed wire) and then putting 8" in a lower, two strand offset bare wire electric. It's not as easy to put up of course but it will last a really long time.

@@thenoblefarmer1046 awesome thanks for the reply we are newly in to sheep

Yes it is. I really like it

We're in Missouri, pretty normal Midwest temps. Summers in the 80s (sometimes 90s) and winters below freezing. No don't have much foot problems. Have had a few in the past when we first get them from a new place but they get taken care of and do fine.

Nothing for the solar ones!

Number of goats is a moving target but roughly 10, moving around several different acres.

These are only "semi-permanent" for us. In the snowy winter months, I'd bring them up by the barn and not keep the strand quite so low. Once the goats are used to the fence, they stop experimenting with it and poking through anyway. You can definitely move it up a bit higher over time. But yeah, in the snow, this isn't going to work very well.

Well shucks shirly I thought you might answer by now and here I am again 10 months later-clearing for new fences and buying a new charger. I'm thinking 5 J might be enough. Things get pricey after that, and my fencelines aren't that long yet. All HT, but I'm debating number and placement of wires. Anybuddy with goats behind HT hotwire can advise?

@@wadepatton2433 You need a minimum of 6000v for goats, the higher the joules the better. Mine varies between 8500v at 9 joules to 7 -7500 at 12 joules depending what I'm hooked up to. If you buy big (energizer) you buy once. 10 inches is way to high, 4 - 5" max. On permanent interior fences I put a well strained barbed wire at the bottom then two or three hot wires above that.

@@brewsterly2927 Thanks, yes I know about high-power chargers. I'm now putting my bottom wire at 6 inches and grounded, then hots above that. I'll give them ample training with some and then those that won't stay in, will be culled. I'll be moving them around a lot, so maybe they won't be so inclined to escape as those on "permanent" pasture.

@@brewsterly2927 I'm going with 5J Cyclops for my six acres here at the house. I'll bump it up a few J's on my 73 acres-where fence inspections will be less frequent because rugged terrain.

@@wadepatton2433 Yes, sounds like your on the right track. The best, by far, way of training goats to electric fence I have found, is to train them in a yard/ pen/paddock that has a completely goat proof fence behind the electric wires.

Yep, we have grounding rods. I have a system of 5 rods.

@@thenoblefarmer1046what happens if you don’t use a grounding rod

Just added the link to the description. We buy ours at a local farm and home store.

I use a realllly strong energizer so it a bit of grass doesn't hurt it, and have several farm hands (a.k.a. children) who go out and weed eat :)

Once you get the charger going, leave it on. Do not be tempted to shut off power to paddocks that are not being used.

We haven't had any problem with coyotes or neighbor dogs. We do have a large dog ourselves and he keeps most things away on his own, so I might not be the best judge. The favorite fence I show around the 8-9 minute mark would for sure keep out all predators.

@@thenoblefarmer1046 Thanks, I really enjoy your channel

I just fenced in a new section of about 6 wooded acres. This type of fencing works great! If you have a lot of ups and downs, you might not want to tighten the cranks down too tight so you don't put too much pressure on your fasteners.

Any solar power chargers recommendations? Wooded acerage is what I'm up against.

Yes we have livestock guardian dogs to protect our herd.