Currently, we have a pretty small pasture fenced in using cattle panels. They have worked great, but we are currently building a new barn and are going to be fencing in about 2 acres of pasture. My questions are:
1. Is the 4x4 goat fencing a good option or would you recommend the no climb horse fencing... or something else?
2. We are probably going to do a combination of wood posts and t-posts. As far as spacing between posts, I've read 8 ft, 10 ft., 12 ft., and even more spacing. I'm thinking 10 ft. between posts, and putting a wooden post in every fourth post or so. Does that sound ok?
3. Can you typically pasture goats with cows and/or horses?
Thanks as always.
Replies
Deborah,
I thought that the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side. haha
Regarding cattle and electric fence: When a child, we had cows at our place in then rural Virginia. We had one cow that my father cautioned my two brothers and me about, saying, "Don't you kids EVER go in that field with that cow. She is crazy and someone could get hurt." I recall watching her reach her head through two strands of hot wire to eat the grass on the other side and seeing the sparks dancing on her neck. It didn't seem to faze her one bit. Once, she even went through (yes, through!) three strands of very good 4 stranded barbed wire fence, breaking the strands as though a freight train had hit those lines. I think our mother was greatly relieved when that crazy cow ended in the freezer not long after that.
Michael
If you can afford no climb fencing in the 2X4 size, and plan to breed for babies, I would recommend that. Small kids can slip through the 4X4 holes.
I'm glad you mentioned climbing! We had a cow who tried to climb over woven wire twice. Once it was because the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, and the other time it was because we were trying to separate her from her calf. Cattle and horses are really respectful of electric, so if you can put a strand of electric about two feet off the ground and about 6 inches above the top of the woven wire, that should keep everyone inside the fence. If you're going to have cattle and horses in there, maybe the no-climb horse fence would be the best option. I was just thinking about goats in my original response.
Location may have a lot to do with the rubbing. I live in FL so the bugs are BAD and with the humidity it makes rain-rot more of an issue for the cows. The fences were professionally installed and were 8ft posts buried down 3 ft in clay and the part that was buried was still straight, it was the above-ground part of the post that was leaning. They looked like a bunch of boomerangs.
This is just based on my experiences here in FL, not in other parts of the country. I just wanted to make sure that it had been considered because of what I've seen here.
Cows here can be worse about escaping than goats are. Everyone I know with cows either has barbed wire or electric wire and they still get out and break fences sometimes. I've seen a cow climb over a 4"x 4" woven-wire fence for no apparent reason and damage it to the point where a goat could definitely get out as well.
I didn't realize that a strand of barbed wire even at 4ft high would cause an issue for the goats, I'm glad I don't have any.
Barbed wire should NEVER be used with goats. It is for use with cattle and horses ONLY because they have much tougher skin. Goat skin is quite soft and can be easily damaged by barbed wire. It's not possible to put it high enough to keep the goats from hurting themselves, as they will stand on their hind legs at times. There is a post in the archives on here about a goat whose udder was severely damaged on barbed wire. It sliced her udder open, and she was constantly leaking milk from the wound. I think she was ultimately put down.
We have horses and cattle, and they don't rub on our fences. The goats do, but the cattle and horses don't. Some might, but it should not cause your posts to be leaning. If fence posts are leaning, it's because they were not installed properly. They should have been planted deeper. You need to know what your frost line is, and then plant your fence posts at least 6 inches lower than that. A foot deeper would be even better. We've had posts heave during the winter, even when they were planted deep enough, and that was in pastures where there was no one around to lean on them either. Lots of freezing and thawing in winter can be a challenge.
Even if you did have cattle or horses rubbing on the fence, that should not make it possible for goats to escape, assuming the woven wire is on the inside of the fence posts. So, if any animal pushes against it, it simply pushes the fencing against the post.
Horses and cattle like to rub on fencing just like goats do, so unless you have a hot wire or a strand of barbed wire on the fence (high enough so the goats won't hurt themselves on the barbs) to stop the big animals from rubbing, they could damage the fence enough for little goat escape artists to get out. That's the only thing I would caution you about if you're going to have them in the same pastures.
The people who owned my property before me had horses and all the fences (6 ft privacy fences) were leaning at scary angles when we moved in and had to be fixed or replaced.
1. Both are good.
2. The closer the posts, the more support you have, so 10 feet apart is great!
3. Yes. Our goats have been with both horses and cattle, and they're fine. Assuming your horses and cattle are not wild and crazy, it should work.