Goat fencing or lack thereof

[Azuurlin2]

If not fenced, how far should I expect a goat to wander off? Do they tend to stay in a general area (like free range chickens do)?

[goatlady]

If you don't have GOOD fencing please don't have goats!!! Goats are curious and very intelligent, but most of all they are prime prey for roving dogs! No fencing = no protection = dead or maimed goats. They may not roam very far BUT they will eat every fruit tree and bush and flower they can find and then dance on your vehicles if they are bored. The fencing MUST be sturdy - not woven wire t ype cause they will climb it down to the ground and just step over. 16', 48" high welded cattle panels are THE best goat fencing.

[Azuurlin2]

Ok nevermind, I can see a few gardens we have not existing anymore without fences.

[alpha]

If you don't have GOOD fencing please don't have goats!!!

I second that! We have guard dogs as well as 5 strand high tensile electric fencing running a twenty thousand volt, 9 joule charge. Even with this, I'm constantly on the watch (with shotgun at the ready) for those coyotes and bear who walk the perimeter seeking an entry point.
My dogs can not go within 5 feet of the property line due to a buried perimeter electronic barrier and they can't be in all places at all times so we really depend upon the fencing integrity.
And please don't place a goat out on a leash or tether... they will just about always strangle or fall victim to a dog attack!

[Belle]

I had one goat get out. We found her two miles away, dead on the road. She'd been hit by a car. And I have good fencing! (My dog dug under and the goat followed him!)

And please don't place a goat out on a leash or tether... they will just about always strangle or fall victim to a dog attack!
Even if they don't, tethers are a pain in the neck. They're always getting tangled around something and have to be straightened several times a day.

[Summerthyme]

Yep... and if you personally wouldn't mind losing a goat, you might not be quite as unworried about what they can do to CARS and trucks! Like... tapdancing on the hood or roof with those sharp and hard hooves! You think hail can make a mess... you ought to see what a goat can do!

Now... you CAN tether goats. Or put them on a "run" like a dog... cable strung between two posts or trees, with a pulley connected to a light chain or rope which connects to the goat's collar. BUT... that really makes them vulnerable to predators. Which means you've got to be around all the time...

Livestock aren't cheap or easy to keep, at least not if you care about their welfare at all. And goats are one of the toughest to keep in fences. Cows, OTOH, aren't as big a problem to keep fenced, IF they never learned "fence busting" (or, like one Dexter we had, fence CRAWLING... she learned how to crawl under a 12" wire when she was a calf- and could almost walk under it- and she continued the habit when she was 700# and two years old. We sold her). But one which learns early what a "hot" fence is can be kept in by almost anything.

Summerthyme

[dilligaf]

we have found that tethering them to a large tire works pretty well as long as the area they are in isnt full of stumps. they can pull the tire around with not a lot of effort but it takes them enough strength that you can move them to the area you want and not have to worry about them getting to where you dont want them with any sort of speed.

its not the best option and there is no substitute for a fence. i really dont reccomend it as a long term solution but if you have a area thats not fenced that needs to be mowed its a option for a day or two.

[GoodEnergy]

Before getting goats I was told about fencing that if it won't hold water, it won't hold a goat. :-D I kept the new ones penned until they learned that food was in the pen area on the milk stand. After that they were free range. We are surrounded by National Forest, 4 miles off any maintained roads and the goats never left the immediate area unless they followed my husband on a horse back ride. We did, however, experience all the other drawbacks mentioned. The youngsters would go around to the dug-in back of the house where the roof is only about a foot off the ground, climb the roof, slide down the front and jump off, landing on the cars. That was hysterical! Once.

[Pyrodon]

If you don't have GOOD fencing please don't have goats!!!


If you dont have good fencing, you WONT have goats

[natty threads]

Our goats stay on our five acres and do NOT roam.
Right now they are all locked up in pens because we have goats on four different feed programs and some unfenced garden.

OF COURSE they need to be locked up in dogproof areas when no-one is home.

I had a goat get a stick between her collar and neck, twist the collar, and choke herself to death. We no longer tether goats. Too many death stories.

Most people I know let their goats roam, at least part of the year, to no ill effect.

Most people I know who have tethered their goats have lost a goat or two through the years.

In the end, you still need secure pens or buildings.

[LittleRedHen]

We liked the milk, but the goats were too smart about getting out even when we had a good goat fence--is there such a thing, short of a 10' high 30 strand New Zealand electric fence? (teehee!)--and we wanted the flexibility to travel at the drop of a hat, so we sadly sold our goats. Not to discourage anybody else. Our friends love keeping goats. Yes, goats do like to eat gardens and roses and anything green and tasty, and are quite the cartop jitterbugs. They get bored easily and into mischief when tethered. Dogs and bears and cougars like goat meat. It's good to post a guard animal in the goat pasture, like a yak or a llama or a dog breed like Great Pyrenees. Yaks get along with goats, just not too well with most horses.