Goats, just like many other livestock animals are best kept in an enclosure to prevent them from wandering off, and considering that they’re not very big either, protect from predator attacks.
There are definitely some good fencing options on the market, but the choice in this case probably won’t be expensive as you’re on a tight budget.
Electric netting is the way to go
This type of goat fencing does cost more per foot especially if you don’t have an energizer to power it all with electricity to begin with, but the fact that it’s a temporary structure is what makes it the cheapest option.
A netting can be easily used in different paddocks as it’s easy to build and take down, therefore you can cover more ground than a permanent woven wire fence would for less price.
It’s true that setting up and taking down the netting fence, especially every other day or week isn’t a short process considering that you’ll also have to mow the grass in places where you’ll be placing the poles, but that’s what you’ll have to deal with if you want to save some cash.
Not to mention this option is a lot better if you’re just starting out in growing goats as you don’t even know whether you’ll like it all or not, and selling this type of fence back is definitely easier.
It’s an economical but not the best solution
The thing about this type of electric fencing is that if you’ll ever want to expand your feeding pasture size further, you’ll have to invest in a more expensive energizer which will definitely bump up the overall cost more.
Even if you won’t end up taking down the whole fence frequently you’ll still have to make sure to keep the grass underneath trimmed in order to make electricity pass through properly, which is again additional work.
Also, it doesn’t work the greatest when you want to separate a buck from females as netting is really just a psychological barrier, so they sure can still try to ‘ram’ through a 6000 volt barrier.
Besides, i think goats are going to be a lot more safer when protected by a proper wire fence as it should work better against other animal entrances like dogs, coyotes and such.
What about escaping?
Goats have a reputation of being the main escape artists in any farm, so some people think that electric netting is useless because of that reason.
It’s true that goats can traverse or jump over just about any fence, especially the electric netting type with ease but they usually only do so when they’re unhappy.
As long as you always make sure the goats have something to munch on they should not try to escape. If you leave them without much feed for even a couple of hours, well it’s your own problem.
Matter of fact, even if you get a proper, tall wire fence they will sure still try to climb through it no matter what and probably succeed doing so if you don’t follow this rule, so keep that in mind.
You can also try making some toys for them which will furthermore increase their level of happiness.
When to get wire fencing?
In case that you already tried growing some goats and want to take it to the next level, it’s definitely the way to go.
Goats like sticking their heads through any type of hole so if you will end up building a wire fence for them, make sure the openings in it are smaller than their heads to prevent that. Also expect them to stand, rub on the fencing a lot, so the addition of toys in their daily activity can also help reducing the chance of that happening.
Tips on building a permanent wire fence
You definitely need to use some type of posts to hold your wire fence together, but that doesn’t necessarily has to be done with t-posts, which can definitely get expensive.
What you can try to use instead is pallet wood. Pallets are often times free to get, and once you take them apart, there’s a lot usable wood you can use for fencing material.
Old fencing equipment is often being sold by farmers who don’t need it anymore, so make sure to stroll around your neighborhood and see what you can score!
Fencing is not always needed
If you think of having a single goat or just a couple, you might even consider tethering them which is definitely cheaper than any type of fencing, although you have to be very careful when doing so as goats are known to tangle themselves in it, or simply become a bait for other animals.