Goats and electric fence - finally giving up

[ponytug]

Someone here once said that in Texas they say a fence isn't goat proof if smoke goes through it.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Gee Ray]

I put in the electric fence posts, ran three strands of wire - one strand was the recommended poly wire - hooked all lines up in several spots. Grounded it to a chainlink fence post - and thus to all the other posts, and hooked it up. The charger was working but the charge did not read that high.

First of all make yourself a tester. We used an old wooden baseball bat. Drive a large nail into the end of the handle and leave it sticking out several inches. Drive a nail or screw into the other end. Stretch a piece of wire from nail to nail tightly. Now you can jab the one nail sticking out into the ground and lean the bat so the electric will jump from the fence to the bat's wire. You will soon learn what the color of the spark the means. No need to spend any money on gauges or testers. Hold it by the wood only.

Second, as I read your post you state that you grounded the wires on the chain link post and all the other post. This is not correct. You want to insulate the fence wire from all the post. That way when the goat touches the fence wire the path for the electricity will go through the goat to the ground and give him something to think about.

Some chargers require a ground but it is for the charger itself not for the fencing wire.

Hope this helps.

 

[dirttoys]

I wish you would have asked before.......... lol

Goats are born looking for a way to die, I tried to keep a few for veg control years ago, just got used to them walking around the yard, never left the cars outside when not attended. I think they can get out of a water tight tank............

Best,

ed

 

[ultrarunner]

Reminds of a story my grandfather told me told to him by his father... it goes something like this.

Teacher says if farmer Brown has 10 goats and two escape how many goats remain?

Johnny raises his hand and say I know... No goats remain... Teacher looks perplexed and asks Johnny again and Johnny says they are all gone because if one gets out they all get out...

 

[beowulf]

Second, as I read your post you state that you grounded the wires on the chain link post and all the other post. This is not correct. You want to insulate the fence wire from all the post. That way when the goat touches the fence wire the path for the electricity will go through the goat to the ground and give him something to think about.

Some chargers require a ground but it is for the charger itself not for the fencing wire.

Hope this helps.

Gee Ray - thanks for responding. Regarding the ground, I ran a wire from the grounding lug on the charger to a chain link fence post that was nearby. I assumed, then, that it would be a very good 'ground' given that the chainlink fence post would conduct to the chainlink fence and to the other posts which were down in the ground. The hot conductor then went to the fence run - of three wires. None of the electric fence itself was connected to or near the chainlink fence. Not sure if my grounding method was wrong then.

Interesting about the bat-nail testing idea. I may try that out - assuming I want to take another run at getting my goats to behave. Thanks again.

 

[beowulf]

Goats are tough to fence in, but they are absolutely amazing at clearing brush as they are browsers rather than grazers. I hope that you can get yours to work out.

Ponytug, in other areas around the home 'compound' I have barb wire with hog fencing and they clear that out well - and in a more forested area but still fenced well they take out everything including poison oak, shrubs and low hanging branches. So, I have a decent buffer regarding fire risk mitigation - and beyond that area can move some cattle around- but this one ravine was an issue - I could not get to much of it with a tractor, the cattle are taking care of another area and move around too much - not concentrating on my problem area, so I thought my goats would be the answer for a somewhat confined area. I may pop in some T-posts and hog wire and just get it done - and it would be ready for the next year as well. Thanks for responding. Nice videos and information.

 

[ponytug]

@beowulf I had one other thought that may be useful which is that if you use some identifiable wire or tape (yellow/white/..., i.e. Not plain steel wire) and use it electrify the fence around your compound, your goats will get used to the "mean wire" and treat it with more respect in the future. But they will still test it. I have seen our horses "sniffing" the electric fence wire with their whiskers to see if it is on and herding the cows into the electric fence to get them to test it.

If you are still going to use electric fence, I would take the time to put in a proper ground whatever you do. Chain link posts aren't going to be deep enough to get to damp soil. Around here, I tend to pour some water on a good location (a bucket with a slow leak is ideal) and let it soak in overnight and then drive a ten foot ground rod in. An FEL can make short work of it, especially the last foot or two. We have added ten ground rods since moving in; one for the electric fence, five for a grid to ground the electric fence against lightning, one at the barn (new panel), one at the garage(ditto), and two at the house (ditto). The pros did the house and garage; they used a slick modified demolition hammer with a socket to drive the ground rods.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

My friends farm growing up raised goats. They were mini escape artists. They just get the idea in their heads that they want through an area (fence) and they are going to find the way. My friends folks always said that if they can get their head through, they will get the rest of their body through. They used goat fencing plus barbed top wire and always fought to keep goats from getting out.

I never heard the saying "If smoke can get through the fence, so can a goat", but that's more correct than most folks realize. As a kid, I helped my friend "repair" fence on his farm after many a "great goat escape" and the whole time I would just be amazed that they got through the small spot we were "fixing". Coming from our farm, where we were running cows, I always thought they (goats) weren't worth the trouble of trying to keep them. Many a hot summer day in our youth, as we "fixed" the fences, my buddy would be agreeing with me.

I like the idea of the 5 or better yet 6 wire fence. And with your dry climate, I also like the idea of alternating a hot and ground wire going across the fence line. We always had trouble with electric fence back in AZ due to the dry soil.

Good luck.

 

[EddieWalker]

... Grounded it to a chainlink fence post - and thus to all the other posts, and hooked it up. The charger was working but the charge did not read that high - But - I shocked myself several times as I continued to work on it - the kind of yell out loud jolt.

Your charged isn't strong enough. If you touch it once and you are still willing to touch it again, it's not doing anything. When I have touched my, my head explodes, I'm unable to use my arms. When I had a T post in my hands and touched the hot wire, I literally locked up and the back of my skull exploded like I had been hit by a hammer, and I could not hold onto the T post, it fell from my hands and onto my feet.

My soil is red clay. In winter, my electric fence is a lot more powerful then in summer. Moisture in the soil adds to the power of the fence. To increase power in the summer, I installed 3 ground rods that are ten feet apart and connected with a very thick copper wire.

Your fence post isn't deep enough, and it's probably not contacting enough soil to be effective for a good ground.

Metal wire will carry more electricity through it then rope of tape. I use the 2 inch wide tape for my top run so it's easy to see, but on my lower runs, I use wire. You need the wire to be a 6 inches off of the ground, then 18 inches and then 2 1/2 feet up. If you have bigger goats, then another line a foot higher. My goats are all Dwarf Nigerians, so they are pretty small.

Goats will go through the fence if there is a gap.

Goats are fantastic at cleaning up the land. There are a few weeds that they wont touch, but for things like saplings, black berries and everything on a tree that they can reach, they are fantastic. I can see though my woods about 3 feet up. Nothing grows around my pond other then grass anymore. I have a real problem with black berries growing right to he edge of the water and not being able to mow close enough to control them. Young pines, sweet gums, oaks and cedars just disappear after the goats get to them. They are not great at keeping the grass short, but they are better then nothing. Horses do this for my on my place. Goats prefer leaves over grass. Once they run out of leaves, they will eat grass.

 

[beowulf]

Your charged isn't strong enough.

Your fence post isn't deep enough, and it's probably not contacting enough soil to be effective for a good ground.

I think I have to agree re the charge - it was a real jolt (when I touched it by accident) but nothing like you describe.

Regarding the depth of the 'ground' - it is an 8 foot chainlink fence surrounding a concrete sport court and I think we put the posts in at about two feet - but then concrete was poured in around the posts.

I have learned a lot here about electric fences. Gotta love goats - they make most days interesting.

Thanks for responding.