Learn how to set up electric fence for goats and train them to it in just 30 minutes in todays video!
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Spring is in full bloom, the pastures are growing high, and it is time to get our goats out on pasture.
Our 2 Nubian goats Lacey and Gizmo have never been on pasture yet! Today we decided to setup the moveable electric netting to a section of pasture that had grown in very nicely, and train the goats to it.
Goats can be escape artists.
Our cow pasture setup has just 2 strands of electric wire. This is easy for a goat to jump over, under or through. A goat that has developed a respect for the fence may not attempt an escape, but for a goat new to moveable electric setups 2 strand is not enough to keep them in.
Instead we decided to use our movable electric netting for the goats.
Moveable electric netting is simple to setup when used correctly. The first step is to lay the fencing out in the place it will go. I like to mow the path the fence will stand in, as this keeps the fencing from grounding out.
Once the fence has been laid out and the path mowed it is time to stand the fence up. Step in posts are built into the fencing, and if the ground isnt too hard a foot can push them into ground just fine. I find it helps to keep a rubber mallet on you for the more stubborn spots.
I also keep a few extra fence posts around to make corners in my setup, as the built in posts never seem to be in the right place when I need to make a turn.
Once the fence is all up I connect it to the energizer. Sometimes we connect to our solar energizer, but in this instance we were not too far from the cow pasture, we just connected to the cow line and our fence was up and running!
Training goat to the fence is easy.
This sounds mean… but letting your goats free range can kill them, and keeping them on a dry lot while beautiful forage grows all year isn’t nice either.
While this training certainly isn’t fun, it is quick, effective, and I can attest (because I have been shocked many times by accident haha…) the pain is quick and not too much.
We take the goats into the pasture on a lead. The lead is to insure that the goats do not bolt through the netting when shocked, but rather jump backwards.
We take a familiar scoop full of feed, the one my daughter feeds the goats with every day, and place it on the outside of the fence just barely.
The goats come over and try to get it. Their nose touches the fence and ZAP!
They get a shock to the nose which is the most sensitive spot. This is important because if they get shocked in the body somewhere they may not notice it as much, and they may not identify the source of the shot. The hit to the nose is easy to learn from.
At that point the goats will have already a good respect for the fence. For the net hour or two we continue to monitor them to be sure they don’t get entangled with the fence when not paying attention.
Training is done and the goats are happy!
After one or two more shocks the goats will stay well away from the fence. Now they can enjoy fresh lush pasture, and we can enjoy seeing them out in that field, and saving money on feed all spring and summer!
Tyler Johnson says
That’s good to know that two wires wouldn’t be enough to keep them in. I would think that if they escaped that they could get into some mischief. I’ll have to consider getting a fence with three or four wires to keep them in.