riptides
Super Member
Don't take this wrong Eddie, but you have two different animals that have drastically different fencing requirements. Are you planning on doing woven for all? Or will you separate your fencing and pastures per livestock?
2x4 woven wire all over. I'm not only wanting to keep my goats and horses in my pastures, I also want to do everything possible to keep hogs and coyotes out of my pastures.Don't take this wrong Eddie, but you have two different animals that have drastically different fencing requirements. Are you planning on doing woven for all? Or will you separate your fencing and pastures per livestock?
Best description of a goat fence: "Needs to be able to hold water." I'd really like to have goats but they scare me: fencing has to keep out predators AND keep the goats IN.I started out with white vinyl 3 rail fencing. I really like the look of it, but it's proven to not be very good for livestock. I have horses and goats, and plan to get a few steers when I have more of my place fenced in. The vinyl fence is about 5 acres with a small pond and my barn. In the last 15 years, it's started to all apart. Pieces of the rail and posts, where they come together, are breakign off. I've shot rocks through my lawn mower the went right through the rails. The side that doesn't get sun has become dark with algae.
Then I fenced in 7 acres with three rows of electric white ribbon. It's not very attractive, but the horse respect it. The goats walk right through it, so I have to keep the goats in the 3 rail fence pasture and lock the gate when the horses are in the electric pasture.
Both of those fences are nearing the end of their useful life. The white ribbon came from Kencove and it's pretty good, but it's also growing algae, and I'm constantly pulling branches off of it.
My new fence will not have any trees over it, or even close to it. I'm going to eventually remove the vinyl fence and use it along the front road for a nice look, but not to keep animals in.
My plan is to have 5 pastures. One for feeding the animals, where the small pond is and my barn. Four pastures will be for rotating them for grazing. Each of the four pastures will be connected to the feeding pasture. I have 68 acres and each grazing pasture will be around 14 acres. I'm hoping to have one grazing pasture done next year, and then add another one every year.
Fixed-knot woven wire is stronger than regular fixed knot: biggest selling point is that you can get by with half the number of line posts.@EddieWalker FWIW: No question that woven wire is less maintenance and stronger, but a strand of electric at snout height has been very effective at keeping the feral pigs out of our pastures. I've watched coyotes climb 6' chain link fence effortlessly, so I am not kidding myself on that one.
All the best,
Peter
I built something similar; 6' woven w/ 3 lines of barbless on top with 8" spacing (7.5' top height), with two lines of hot, the first 4" above the woven, and then next 8" above that.Fixed-knot woven wire is stronger than regular fixed knot: biggest selling point is that you can get by with half the number of line posts.
My fence is topped with a hot wire. Nothing that crawls is going to climb over the fence: jumping, yes, but not crawling. Fence/woven wire is the ground. Racoons had been ravaging our chickens and as soon as that hot wire was strung and turned on the carnage stopped instantly: never a problem now in four years- no traces of coyotes, which we have, ever inside of the fencing.