I am not one of those people who has to have the newest and the best fence out there. I do have to face the fact great fencing is expensive but there has to be a trade off as price is an issue given we are starting from scratch here. I am in the final planning stages of budgeting a field shelter, a source of feed, goat acquisition (4) and fencing requirements (900 feet). Despite the attraction of the 12.5 GAUGE 48" X 330' KEYSTONE SHEEP & GOAT at TSC (Canada) which sounds great I am struggling with the expense of over $600 Canadian for a roll of it. I will need 3 rolls to fence in an acre I've set aside for our planned goat endeavours on our 4 acre property. As opposed to the TSC Redbrand goat fence the local feed store has 1047 12.5 ga 330' a roll of woven wire that is 3x6 inch for its smallest opening (6 in wide vertical spacings) gradually increasing in size as the fence rises to the 47 inches in height. I also have a Gallagher M160 charger that I can run 9000 volts through as a top wire and an outside scare wire. I was using the electric charger on our poultry netting and to charge the 6 strand electric garden fence and it worked very well for both. This 1047 12.5 ga woven wire I had my eye on for the goats is certainly more reasonable in price at $300 Canadian but if it won't do the job its not money well spent. I have been doing my home work and it appears fencing is the biggest infrastructure investment for goats. We are planning for 4 - 6 registered NDGs from a local breeder if all works out the way we hope it will and the kids arrive as planned. We also contend with several packs of coyotes in the area who have no issue walking right through the backyard at night. I know they harass the neighbours beef cattle as I can hear his donkey at 3 am in the morning shortly after the howls stop in the field where his cattle are. I wish to avoid paying an extra $300 on a roll of TSC woven wire fence (which equals $900 extra for the whole paddock) but again its not much of a savings if I lose an $850 registered goat investment to a coyote. We plan on disbudding our kids and the adults I believe do not have horns (we are looking at a wether, doe, buck and a doeling to start). For those of you who know fences will we be okay with the cheaper 1047 12.5 ga woven wire fence? Moving the Gallagher poultry netting at potentially 900 feet in total length around every week is not something I particularly wish to make a habit of. I do that for the chickens every 2 weeks with the 330 feet we have on hand so I can't see doing that with 3 times the length of fence on a regular basis for goats. Plus given we will have an intact buck I am sure the 9000 volts will not be a deterrent once the first heat cycle begins.
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My poultry netting is comprised of two 164 foot sections of Gallagher fence similar to Premier in its construction one of which can divide my paddock into quarters if I want. No bottle babies is the plan at least for now. 3 of the new goats will be adults with one of them a doe with a doeling so she'll milk her own kid. I understand if I provide for their needs in the paddock they'll be less likely to want to wander outside of it. The planned paddock will also have a clear perimeter so I can mow the outside edge of the fence fairly flat to the ground. It'll keep my exterior scare wire hot and working but more important there won't (hopefully) be anything for a goat to want to stick their heads through the fence to eat. That was the trade off with wanting to save $300 a roll on the 4" wide woven wire and opting for a 6" wide woven wire fence opening. The 1047 12.5 ga woven wire fence I am thinking of has openings of 3.5 inches at the bottom graduating to 8 inches at the top with 6 inch verticals. I'll have to cut grass more often but hey I get to spend more time with my goats!
Woven wire fencing will keep NDs safely enclosed. That's what we have. As long as you don't have bottle babies, the little ones do not even try to get through the fence. However, having a strand of electric at nose level would keep goats away the fence entirely.
You will want to subdivide the pasture so that you can rotationally graze the goats, and for that you need some type of electric netting. I use Premier1 ElectroNet for sheep and goats because it has plastic vertical struts. Their poultry netting has vertical strings, and I've heard sad stories about kids getting tangled in it and dying.