fencing for goats: create an escape-proof system

What’s the best fencing for goats? A lot depends on the size of your property, the kind of goats you have, and the overall slope on the land that you’d like to enclose.

In this guide, we’ll look at several types of common fencing and their use cases, and then we’ll discuss custom enclosures.

Key points to consider when choosing fencing for your goats:

• Heavy gauge fence panels are very durable and escape-proof, while being moderately affordable
• Woven wire goat fencing is a great option in terms of cost, although it’s best installed with a tractor
• Chain link goat fencing is the most durable option, but also quite expensive and so not practical for most homesteads
• Electrified high tensile smooth wire enclosures is probably the longest-lasting option, although you will need a power source for it in addition to regular maintenance to be effective.
• Custom fencing is aesthetic but not practical
• Elk fencing has some downsides, but is dual purpose
• Portable electric fencing, welded wire, and lightweight deer fencing aren’t recommended for goats for reasons discussed in this article

Our top pick for goat fencing: Heavy gauge fence panels

Overview

Cattle panel, hog panel, or similar heavy-gauge fencing will keep adult goats out, looks nice when done well, and lasts an incredibly long time. If you’re looking for strength, durability, practicality, and aesthetics then you won’t find anything better in a “practical” cost range.

Pros of heavy gauge panels for goat fencing:

Durability

All galvanized fencing will rust eventually, but these panels will last longer than anything else in this class of fencing. The panels are rated for more than 20 years, but that’s with 2,400 lb cows. For goats, I think the lifetime would be substantially longer.

Strength

Goats love to rub against fencing. This will stretch and can quickly destroy weaker fences. Even woven wire will stretch out under the constant weight of 150lb dairy goats rubbing against it (but it will hold). Cattle and hog panels won’t budge an inch.

Ease of installation

Anyone who has installed welded or woven wire fencing rolls by hand in an area with heavy brush will understand the hell that is unrolling that garbage and getting it stuck on every damn thing for hours, all the while deforming it due to struggle.

Cattle panel is amazing by comparison. It is very easy to cary one of these panels up to some posts, set it down, and affix it to them. You don’t need to unroll it, you can easily slide it between heavy brush, and you can easily bend it around small obstacles (if the fence curve required is gentle).

Making it look nice requires a little extra effort, but not much. Bring a few bricks to set under the panel while installing them. This will provide a nice, level fence line. It will also give you a gap that can be easily cleared with a weed eater, if you goats aren’t doing their job.

Appearance — when done well

These panels look surprisingly nice when a minor amount of care is taken to ensure they are relatively level and overlaps are aligned properly. You can make this fencing look extremely nice if you add extra wooden framing around it. This adds cost but also additional rigidity and property value. Wooden framing also doesn’t need to be done on first installation. You can come back later when more time and money are available and easily add some finishing touches.

Cost  — relative to durability and appearance

The cost is in the pros and the cons. Personally, I think this fencing looks extremely nice when done well. This is subjective, but I think the next nicer looking fencing is going to be wooden or custom vinyl or metal fences which will cost a lot more. If cost is a large concern, you might consider using this fencing in a high visibility area and switching to woven wire for the rest of the property.

Cons of heavy gauge fence panels for goats:

Over engineered for goats

One of the the only thing that brings this option down a notch is the fact that it’s money you don’t really need to spend. These panels are designed to hold much larger animals. They can look nice, but in most cases they’re over engineered for goats. That means you could be spending less for the same practical results.

Cost — relative to products like woven wire fencing

A 16’ section of this fencing is nearly $40 as of writing this article. If you need to fence a 5 acre square property, that’s nearly 2000 feet of fencing. That works out to 125 panels and would cost you $5,000. That doesn’t include posts, attachment hardware, or labor. Woven wire will be less than half that. Woven wire (in my opinion) doesn’t look as nice. If you’re facing some neighbors then maybe that matters to you. If you’re facing 1000 acres of corn, maybe it doesn’t.

Flexibility

Another problem is flexibility. Cattle panel is very thick and rigid. That’s what makes it so strong. Gentle curves are easy (easier than with other fencing types actually). Hard corners are possible, but they will be permanent. Doing many short sections is wasteful because you will need to cut the fencing up, wasting a small portion of cut-away every time you do.

Considerations for heavy gauge goat fencing:

The last item to mention here is the type of heavy-gauge fencing you purchase. There are cattle panels, hog panels, and several other options. They have different heights and different spacing for the wire “bars”. You may want to consider hog panels if you have a smaller breed of goat, as young kids an easily pass through the cattle panel’s larger openings. Take a look at the options available and make sure they are a good fit for your herd.

Economical Best Pick for Goat Enclosures: Woven Wire

Overview

Quality woven wire is extremely strong, long lasting, flexible, and more than enough for any goat breed I have ever worked with (Nubian and Nigerian Dwarf). The added flexibility makes it easier to work with on uneven ground than cattle panel. When cost is taken into account, woven wire is probably the best option available for most properties.

Pros:

Installation (with  a tractor)

You can hook a spool of this fencing up to a tractor and run it along your posts to “stretch” it out. This is relatively easy if the ground is level enough and clear of brush. It certainly beats hauling things around by hand.

Appearance (with a tractor)

The fence will be taut against the posts if you stretch it out with a tractor. It will have a a clean and straight appearance once snugged up. I think well installed woven wire looks almost as good as cattle panel.

Cost

You can get 330 feet of 39” tall woven wire fencing for $300 when I wrote this article. That’s around $1 per foot. Using our earlier calculation, that means you will be spending only $2000 on the fencing with woven wire for a 5 acre area, compared to the $5000 for cattle panels.

Flexibility

Much more flexible than cattle panel, this fencing is easier to take up or down slopes or form unusual shapes without cutting the fencing to pieces.

Durability

Good brands of this fencing last many years. The wire is not as thick as cattle panel, however I have seen 20 year old woven wire fencing that still holds up just fine.

Cons

Installation (without a tractor)

If you don’t have a tractor, this is going to be rough. Handling large spools of wire fencing sucks even in the open on flat ground. If you are on a slope and working in brush then it’s a nightmare. If you don’t have mechanical support then you better eat your spinach. A 330’ spool of this fencing is not practical to move by hand. You can cut it into smaller sections and move it that way, but even “moderate” 50’ sections are terrible to work with compared to cattle or hog panels.

Appearance (without a tractor)

The fence won’t look as good because you won’t be able to get it nice and snug with the posts. It will flop around a bit. You may be able to rig something up with a winch to snug up the fence line, but it’s going to be a lot of work. Of course you don’t need to do that. The fence will work fine without being completely tight. It won’t look as nice as it could, but it’s still not bad.

Note on Goat-Proof-ness of Woven Wire Fencing

Most woven wire fences have a top with wider spaced gaps. The bottom has gaps spaced closer together to make the fencing harder to get through. This is important for goat kids in smaller breeds. The kids can get through the larger openings, but not if they’re on the top of the fence. Make sure you orient the fence correctly.

Most sturdy: Chain Link Goat Fencing

Pros:

Strength

Chain link fences are very strong. A 200lb man can go hang on one, swinging back and forth off the top railing, kicking the fencing, and not make a dent. Eventually you may stretch it out a little, but you can fix this. Other than cattle panel with short stretches between posts, this is probably the strongest metal fencing.

Durability

Chain link fences last a long time. They’re hard to get through even for people. You can top them with other things, like electrified wire, if necessary. The goats rubbing on them might stretch them slightly, but that’s actually fixable fairly easily. Of the wire-based fences, this is probably the most durable.

You can also get chain link fences made from aluminum, which will never corrode. I’m not sure how it would hold up to goats, but it outlast galvanized steel in weather and especially coastal areas.

Urban Acceptable

This kind of fencing is more acceptable in most urban settings than woven wire or cattle panels. That might be a consideration people on a small lot in a metropolitan area.

Notes on Goat-Proof-ness

Of all the metal fences, this is probably the most goat proof. Woven wire can have larger gaps. Kids from some smaller breeds can pass though those gaps. Cattle panel is the same. Hog panel is better, and there are other options, but chain link is just about impenetrable for goats. The best they would hope for is to stretch it so badly that they can sneak through under it, but that’s unlikely.

Cons:

Appearance

Personally, I think chain link fence looks terrible. I would rather have cattle panel or well-stretched woven wire fencing. This is personal, so your preference may differ.

Cost

Chain link fence is very expensive compared to almost any other alternative. It’s not practical to fence large areas in this way. If you keep your goats confined to a smaller area then maybe this is practical for you.

Flexibility

This isn’t a strong negative. Chain link fencing can do a lot of things fairly well, but it’s not something you’re going to pull up and move easily. T-posts can be moved with a little muscle. A woven wire fence or cattle panels can be shifted around with some work. Chain link fence is a lot of work to move. This probably doesn’t matter if you are building a perimeter fence that isn’t going to move.

Longest Lasting: Electrified high tensile smooth wire goat fencing

Overview

This is a good option for very large properties and typically seen on farms. It’s cost is similar to other options in this category and it’s a fairly flexible solution. You can space the wires as close or far apart as you like.

Pros for electrified high tensile wire enclosures

Longevity (material dependent)

High tensile aluminum fencing will last for just about ever. It won’t rust or corrode. It won’t break down in the sun like plastic. Your wooden posts (and probably the metal ones, too) will have turned to dust before the wire itself has a problem. Even galvanized steel fencing will rust eventually, so if you want something very long lasting then this is probably it.

Strength

High tensile fencing can be fairly strong, but there are choices to make here. Longevity is dramatically better for aluminum, but strength is much better for steel. For goats this probably doesn’t matter. For larger animals, it might. If the fence is electrified then they aren’t going to be rubbing against it. The only issue can be if they test the fence and get spooked by a zap. I haven’t seen a goat break through aluminum smooth wire fencing before, but that’s not to say it can’t happen.

Cost

Cost is competitive with any of the other fencing types in this category. It’s more difficult to calculate because you are buying a single strand of wire, so the true cost will depend on how many strands you will need to contain your goats well enough for your liking. Installation hardware is usually just cheap, plastic stand-offs which keep the wire from touching wood or metal posts.

Ideal for electric

Aluminum conducts electricity much better than steel does. It doesn’t matter that much for smaller areas, but for large areas you will need a much smaller “charge controller” than you otherwise would have. That’s a cost savings and also helps reduce issues when a little grass happens to be touching the fence. The better the conductivity, the less of a charge reduction you will see when something “grounds out” the fence.

Cons

Maintenance

Electrifying the wire means you’re going to need to keep brush off it. If it grounds out by touching sticks or even grass, the shock won’t be strong enough to deter your animals. This means you will need to police the fence line regularly for sticks, grass, or anything that could be touching the wire.

Infrastructure

For a small area you can get away with a solar electric charger. These are pretty great and very portable. As your fence grows you will either need more of these or much larger forms of them. You can just get one that you can plug into a wall socket, but that means you’ll need electric infrastructure right next to the fence. Maybe that isn’t an issue for a small area close to your house. It’s something to consider if you are on a remote section of land, miles from power.

Labor

Installation can require more labor in some landscapes because the fence should be kept under good tension. That can mean more large, wooden posts. Unless you have a tractor with an auger, that can be a lot more work than pounding in a T-post.

This is less of an issue if you have long, straight stretches to fence. A long stretch can be composed of mostly T-posts with intermittent wooden posts for strength and then a set of tensioned wooden posts at the end of the stretch.

Notes on Goat-proof-ness (Depends on you)

This isn’t necessarily the fence’s problem, but you need to be careful when using this kind of fencing to space the wires appropriately for your breed of goats. You will need wires close together at the bottom of the fencing if you are keeping kids in this area. I have seen goats get spook by a zap from the fence and, instead of backing away, charge right into the fencing. If there is a large gap then they can end up on the other side.

Recommended with Caveats: Custom Wooden or Plastic Goat Fencing

Overview:

I am lumping a lot of options in one place here because of a few specific pros and cons. The fact is that most wooden, vinyl, and other “aesthetic” fencing isn’t meant to retain goats… and it won’t without extra cost and design considerations.

Pros:

“Custom” can do anything (for a price)

Can a white picket fence retain goats? Sure — if you make it strong, tall, and durable enough, which will cost a fortune for several acres.

Can a 6’ tall cedar fence retain goats? Sure — if it’s made thicker than normal and you don’t mind it not lasting nearly as long as other, cheaper options.

Appearance

Most people buy custom fencing because they want to make their property look nice while not staring at their neighbors or a busy road. That’s probably why you’re thinking about going with this option. The benefit isn’t really about retaining goats.

Cons:

Cost

Custom wooden or other fencing is going to cost a huge amount of money. It shouldn’t even be a consideration if your only concern is retaining goats. If you are looking at a very aesthetic fence for your house that also happens to hold goats then cost is something you have already considered. You just need to spend a lot more now to make it stronger and goat-proof.

Longevity

Most wooden fences aren’t going to last half as long as solutions meant for livestock. Even cedar fencing isn’t going to last a third as long as a cattle panel, and you’re going to need to buy it twice as thick as normal to stand up to the goat’s weight.

Durability

Common fence materials meant for aesthetic housing purposes are thin woods or weak vinyl. There are post and rail fences which can be strong, but they won’t retain smaller goats without a lot of extra lumber.

Vinyl isn’t (usually) a solution to this. There are some newer products which you could consider (plastic wood look-alikes). Whatever you choose, consider the strain it’s going to be under when choosing the fence material and the consequences of a possible failure.

Strength

Most aesthetic fencing isn’t meant to hold multiple 150lb animals that will constantly rub against it with all their weight (sometimes simultaneously). “Custom” means you can do anything, so be sure you consider strength if you’re looking at this kind of fencing.

Notes on Goat-proof-ness

You probably want someone involved in the design of your fence who knows goats. Retaining goats can take lots of forms, not all of them requiring huge additional cost. But if you mess up the design then it’s going to be a very expensive mistake. Besides having a fence that isn’t really goat proof, you will end up with goats loose on your property, which is dangerous to your vegetation and, possibly, the goats themselves.

Dual Purpose: Heavy-weight plastic elk fencing

Overview:

This is specifically discussing high-quality, high strength “elk” fencing. Cheap bird-netting style “deer” fence is in the “highly not recommended” section. There are some cheaper products between that category and this one. If you decide to go this route, make absolutely sure you go with the best you can find. It isn’t worth spending the money on cheaper products that will only fail in a year or two.

Personally, I only think this is a good option if you are using it as dual purpose. For those with heavy deer and elk pressure trying to grow vegetables (and retain goats), this can be a nice solution that fits for both needs. Or you can just make a 12 foot tall woven wire fence around your veggies.

Pros:

Strength — for the cost and size

If you’re looking at stuff like this then you are probably need to keep bigger animals than goats out. Research the best product for that purpose and the goats won’t be a problem. Make sure you understand height requirements for keeping out deer and elk. They can jump a lot higher than a goat can. That said, it’s not as strong as cattle panel or woven wire.

Longevity

Good elk fencing will last a very long time. Plastic eventually becomes brittle due to UV exposure, and goats rubbing on it won’t help, but this will still last a very long time under normal use conditions. But probably not as long as woven wire

Multi-purpose

Like I said in the summary, don’t consider this unless it’s for the intended purpose. This isn’t real goat fencing, but you can use some of these products that way if you need to also keep out larger ruminants.

Cost

The costs I have observed are on par with woven wire. It can get more expensive for extreme-strength products meant to keep out actual elk, but that’s a bargain in my mind compared to the damage a herd of elk can cause.

Cons:

Additional work required to Goat-Proof

Goats are smaller than elk or deer and act differently. Deer usually look at elk fencing and think “I can’t jump over that” and walk on. On the other hand, goats will rub on the fencing, back and forth, for years. That can stretch this stuff in a way it isn’t meant for.

Goats may also be able to “lift” the flexible fencing to push under it.  Shorter breeds ,like Nigerian Dwarf goats, will often slip under just by rubbing against this fencing if the supports are spaced too far apart. This can be mitigated by leaving a section of fencing folded over along the ground and spacing posts closer together. I recommend experimenting to see what works for your goats before you install several acres of this stuff.

Other Animal Proof-ness

Some animals can chew through this stuff. Namely dogs. That isn’t an issue with many dogs. My livestock dogs aren’t chewers. If you have some pups that are chewers, or if you have heavy coyote or wolf pressure, this won’t keep them in or out.

Availability

The really strong versions of this stuff aren’t widely available at big box stores. You’ll probably need to order it, and there’s no guarantee that the company will be there in 10 years to replace whatever you have. Of course you could just replace it with other kinds of fencing, so it’s not really a huge problem. Just make sure the support posts the use or recommend are strong enough to support other kinds of fencing and actual animal pressure from rubbing on the fence.

An option that doesn’t work for everyone: Portable Electric Goat Fencing

Overview:

Some might be surprised to see this one so low. Personally, I have trouble putting it up high enough where it works for goats. Portable electric fencing can work, but it can also get your goats injured as well. That’s what happened to me - a goat got stuck in the fencing and luckily we were home to rescue her. Many people never have a problem with it. I leave it to you whether you take that risk.

Pros:

Cost

Portable electric fencing isn’t going to be as cheap per foot as most other reasonable forms of goat fencing, but it’s a lot cheaper than fencing your entire property. Many people want to have portable areas where they keep their goats. This makes rotational grazing much easier than with fixed fencing. Nothing else will work as well for that purpose for this kind of cost. It’s a purpose driven solution, but I decided against it for myself due to the injuries one of my goats received.

Flexibility

These fencing systems typically come with ground stakes that allow you to quickly and easily build out an enclosed area into almost any shape you like. The posts tend to be close together because they don’t go deep into the ground, making curves and corners easy. It’s quick to setup in all but the rockiest soil. It’s quick to takedown and move. This makes it a great option for rotational grazing systems.

Mobility

This is pretty much your only option if you need mobility. These fences can be equipped with solar chargers that don’t require a direct connection to your wired electricity. That’s very useful for fencing areas out in a large field.

Durability

The fences I’ve used have been in service for a decade and look basically new. The plastic netting is filled with metal wires which conduct the electricity, further strengthening the fence. The poles are typically sealed fiberglass, which I have never had a problem with. I wouldn’t be surprised if these fences outlasted cattle panel.

Cons:

Dangerous

This is my main concern. I trained my goats on electric fencing. I made sure they knew it would shock them. It worked. They respected the fences and stayed away from them — for a time.

I have observed that goats will often do the same behavior over and over, even if they have suffered from it multiple times in the past. Electric fencing was no different. They would go up, try to put their heads through it to get to other grass and plants. Sometimes they would get shocked and back off. Other times they would get shocked, run straight ahead, and rip down the fencing. Finally one got tangled up in the fencing and spent a while tied to the ground being shocked constantly before we heard her and ran out to resuce her.

As a result of that, the goat was rejected by the herd. That can happen when they sense weakness in a higher ranking goat. They all attacked her and it took months for me to properly reintegrate her. I’m just glad she wasn’t killed.

Landscape maintenance

These fences will become ineffective if grass is leaning against them. The electric shock will travel down the grass to the ground and the rest of the fence will be weaker. If there are a few pieces of grass touching the fence like this, the fence will be extremely weak. That means you will need to keep grass short around the fence line. For small areas that might be practical, but I found it too time consuming and failure prone.

Can fail

There wasn’t a single week that went by when I was using this kind of fencing that the goats wouldn’t get out into the larger pasture space. They would trample the fencing or get spooked and run through it. It would ground out, become ineffective, and then they would just walk to freedom. I tried higher shocks, lower shocks, kept the grass short around the perimeter, and eventually I gave up and just installed strong fencing that doesn’t require electricity at all.

Recommended with caveats: Welded wire fencing

Overview:

This is a very similar looking product to woven wire but vastly inferior and cheaper. Instead of having a long length of wire that is wrapped around other wires, the individual strands are connected with “welds”. It’s faster to manufacture that way but also much weaker. Goats which rub against it constantly will eventually break through it, though it make take many months.

I found it works ok for sections of fence my goats don’t like to hang around. It’s a barrier they respect. If they don’t test it much then it is a cheap solution.

Pros:

Cost

There’s no question that this is some of the cheapest crap you can purchase that “works”. Just take note that it only works if it isn’t constantly subjected to the goats rubbing against it.

Cons:

Inconsistency

The most inconsistent product I have ever worked with. I have purchased multiple reels of welded wire fencing of the same brand, from the same store, in the same shopping trip, and had some which held together ok for years. Others fell apart while I was unrolling them. As far as I can tell, there aren’t any luxury brands of welded wire fencing that are better. I have tried all the brands I have access to. They are all inconsistent junk.

Durability

Goats rubbing against this will cause the welds to snap apart. Eventually this means the fence will be nothing but a loose connection of wire strands which most goats can walk through. That’s if you get lucky with you wire. If you’re unlucky it may snap welds while you’re just unrolling and installing it.

Installation

Has all the negatives of woven wire. It’s just as much of a pain to deal with but worse because you may end up breaking the welds while also deforming sections of the fence. Additionally, you cannot unroll this using a tractor because too much tension may snap the welds and destroy the fencing. You will probably be installing this by hand even if you have access to a tractor.

The absolute worst option: Lightweight Deer Netting

Pros:

None. This is not practical goat fencing.

Cons:

All. Do not buy. Don’t bother. Much of this wouldn’t keep out a determined deer and is usually only effective because the deer won’t try to push through it. Goats like to rub against fencing. Any goat with a good amount of weight will tear this fencing apart very quickly.

Please note that I am not talking about heavy-weight “actual” deer fencing. That is discussed above as “elk fencing”.

The options for goat fencing depend on your needs and budget.

Overall, our top recommendation is heavy gauge fence panels - they are durable, will keep goats in, and look good too. This option is more expensive than woven wire goat fencing, but it’s also more durable and it doesn’t require a tractor to look decent.

Woven wire goat fencing is the most affordable option that we recommend, and chain link fencing is the most durable. Electrified high tensile smooth wire goat fencing is the longest lasting option that we recommend.

Before you go: Guide to Raising Goats Sustainably

if you’re looking at goat fencing here on eco friendly homestead, you might also be interested in our guide to raising goats in a way that reduces their carbon footprint (or hoof print, as it were).

Also, check out our handy goat gestation calculator here to find the due date of your pregnant does.

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