Electric Fence - Goats

[Jlblake]

Hello everyone!

I have 50+ Boer/Kiko goats that I keep fairly well contained on my property. Some of my fencing has 12" openings and a couple of the goats have learned to escape. I have a couple that seem to constantly get their horns stuck too. I've been lucky to get them all out so far...with the help of great neighbors. I'm not at the property daily so my thought is to add a strand of electric fence inside the current fence. I haven't found conclusive information to tell me how high to put the wire. Do any of you have experience with this?

On another note, I bought the 2 mile solar charger for it and I'll run the wire about 3/4 of a mile around the perimeter. I'm now reading that the joule level should be much higher than the 0.04 the tractor supply unit produces. Any recommendations for what would be the best approach to the charger? I could run electricity but the solar is much simpler.

Thank you!

 

[hosspuller]

What ever your choice of fencer, chose the highest joule rating AND install a ground system of at least 3 connected ground rods. Grounding is the most frequent long term issue with poor performing electric fence (besides shorts) Take the advertised mileage rating with a grain of salt. The shock is reduced with fence length, insulator condition, weed pressure, conductor type, number of wires and configuration(loop circuit is better than a straight run).

Remember the deterrence of an electric fence is mental. Each animal needs to remember the awful pain it got touching the wire and avoid it. It's a dirty trick but, I teach my horses to avoid the wire by holding a treat close to it. The spark that jumps to the nose usually sends them backwards at warp speed.

I don't know about goats, but the animal is trying to get to something beyond the fence. Place the wire there... low to block nibbling at the grass or higher to prevent escape.

 

[Jlblake]

Thank you! Do you have any recommendations for a solar charger? Where to buy it or what size?

 

[ponytug]

I recommend chargers, fencing, and supplies from Premier 1 Fencing supplies. They have lots of great advice on the website.

I would second @hosspuller that the length recommendations are under some "ideal" condition. As soil dries out, or young weeds grow on the fence, or heavy rain, you will need more joules. I have gone for 10x distance of what we have, and we probably lose 2kV from the charger to the end of the fence, and that is using Gallagher wire rope, with copper and stainless wire in it. We have multiple ground posts. After fourteen years, we still have to tighten the rope occasionally, and have begun to renew the insulators that are disintegrating due to age (intense sun, ozone). As the insulators and rope only came with a projected five year lifespan, we are happy.

We have run Gallagher B-100 solar chargers for fourteen years, and are on our second, with one repair each done by Fence Fixer, (fencerfixer816@gmail.com).

We run one electric rope at nose level to keep calves inside. I have no idea if it is good enough for goats, but it might be cheap enough to try. I have never thought that my existing fences were anywhere near good enough for goats, so I have zero experience. If you are adding fencing inside, you might want to consider goat netting.

All the best,

Peter

 

[RUSTBUCKET BRONCO]

Power Wizard AC-Powered Energizer

Power Wizard AC-Powered Energizer - Mains Energizers - Electric Fence Energizers

kencove.com

This is what I have. The remote is great when your in the back of the property and need to turn off the fence. I have 15 acres fully fenced with 5 strand. I run kikos and none have ever gotten out that I have seen.

 

[Jlblake]

Thank you guys. I probably should have mentioned that I'm fencing around 4,000 feet, maybe a little more. I'm hoping the single strand will work for cost purposes. Looks like in my area I could have the fence replaced for around $3 per foot but I don't want to spend that much money unless I have to.

 

[bullbreaker]

Cyclops Electric Fence Chargers and Energizers | Mains Battery Solar also makes good units . From the cheaper brands we have had good success with Parmak . Nether brands sold @ big box stores @ least not around here . Kencove has some good do it yourself vids on their websites as far as installs and even lightning diverters . Jury still out on them could be "snake oil".

ELECTRIC FENCE LIGHTNING DIVERTER THOUGHTS ?

Howdy too All ! Maybe its just me but I don't think so . Of the countless TBN threads /posts I have read throughout the years , it seems like when it comes to electric fence threads rarely do you hear someone mention a lightning diverter installed inline to protect especially their high $...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[weldingisfun]

From our website, talking about fencing, http://www.walkinghgoats.com/Fence.html . As already stated, you need lots of joules for goats. Dare Dare Products, Inc - 70 Years of Electric Fencing makes good products, but sounds like you are on a tight budget. Bottom line is high joule output. What is used for cattle and horses won't even be noticed by a goat, especially a buck in rut, Take that from 20+ years of experience. Good luck.

 

[Jlblake]

I'm just new to this really. Not sure how tight the budget is, just want to make sure I spend the money in the right places. Everybody on this site helps me tremendously. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[fishheadbob]

I kept cows and sometimes a bull fenced with 2 strands of electric. No problems. 2 things: 1. Train them well. and 2. make sure there is enough to eat INSIDE the wire cause you know where the grass is always greener.

 

[CobyRupert]

What ever your choice of fencer, chose the highest joule rating AND install a ground system of at least 3 connected ground rods. Grounding is the most frequent long term issue with poor performing electric fence (besides shorts) Take the advertised mileage rating with a grain of salt. The shock is reduced with fence length, insulator condition, weed pressure, conductor type, number of wires and configuration(loop circuit is better than a straight run).

One has to remember, that if your fence is not shorting to a post, or weeds, or through a bad insulator; that when it’s normally operating, there’s no real current being conducted. The fence just gets energized (voltage) on and off. With no current, the conductor type or distance doesn’t come into play. (There may be some brief “charging current”, as the fence cycles on off.)

When an animal touches the fence, the current then travels through the wire (for whatever distance is from charger to point of animal contact), through the animal, through the earth, onto the chargers ground rods and back to the charger (the loop is completed).
Only when the loop is completed does current flow and a shock result.

The resistances limiting the amount of current (shock) are:
-how conductive the wire is,
-how conductive the earth is (moisture content, material, etc..), and
-how conductive the animal is (2 or 4 feet?, sweaty? wearing rubber boots?), and
-the distance of the wire and earth from point of contact back to the charger. I think if you have a 400’ fence and a 2 mile fence, the shock at 100’ feet for both fences would be similar.

How to improve:
Don’t rely on only the earth for a return path over long distances. If you already have an existing fence, ground it to earth at several points along the fence (and at furthest distance from charger) and near the charger (or to charger’s ground rod). This makes your old fence the “ground path” back to the charger instead of the earth. (Current flows from fence to animal, to earth, onto old fence, and back to charger. ) Because old fence is “ground”, no insulators are required on the old fence. Because the old fence is metal it conducts a lot better than earth. A new wire, with no insulators required, can also be installed for this purpose.

Also, if you run your fence in a full connected loop so that there is both a clockwise and counterclockwise electrical path to the point of contact from the charger, it’s like the fence is 1/2 as long. That is, the current sees 1/2 the resistance (because it has 2 paths to take to the animal). Also, if weeds, branches, vandals, or a gate interrupt the fence at one location, the fence is still completely energized from the other direction.

 

[r porter]

goats and mules are especially good at squirting through a fence between pulses or just getting shocked on the butt as they clear the far side.

there is some super good info above.

 

[Jlblake]

OK, I bought all of the material according to the input that you guys offered. I am going to run two strands around the 30+ acres that the goats have access to. My only question now is how high should the strands be from the ground?

Thank you

 

[weldingisfun]

6 and 18 inches.

 

[cqaigy2]

Been many years ago having goats, but first thing we found out was higher voltage was needed, especially in the summer when the ground dried out. And a few ground rod 4 feet deep, attached to a ground wire running above the bottom hot wire.

 

[Jlblake]

I bought this charger:

Parmak Magnum Solar-Pak 12 Low Impedance 12 Volt Battery Operated 30 Mile Range Electric Fence Charger MAG12-SP​

and 4 ground rods. I'm running two strands around roughly 30 acres...two gates to go under. Hopefully this will work. Thank you all for the advice and tips.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I bought this charger:

Parmak Magnum Solar-Pak 12 Low Impedance 12 Volt Battery Operated 30 Mile Range Electric Fence Charger MAG12-SP​

and 4 ground rods. I'm running two strands around roughly 30 acres...two gates to go under. Hopefully this will work. Thank you all for the advice and tips.

Good luck with the goats. We had a few really nice Boer goats several years ago. I had a nice tight horse fence 5' tall and they managed to go under it quite often. I strung high tensile wire around the bottom and that slowed them down but didn't stop them. They were far pickier about what they wanted to eat than I had anticipated and were always trying to get out for better choices. I had a hard time keeping my fence charger running since the fence runs along the woods and branches and sticks would fall on it. I wasn't sad the day our Filipino friends came over and butchered them in the back yard. The backstrap was pretty tasty too but that's the only cut I would want.

Kevin

 

[cqaigy2]

Yes, i think that was about the voltage we used 11K open 7K on the fence.

 

[Alan W.]

I bought this charger:

Parmak Magnum Solar-Pak 12 Low Impedance 12 Volt Battery Operated 30 Mile Range Electric Fence Charger MAG12-SP​

and 4 ground rods. I'm running two strands around roughly 30 acres...two gates to go under. Hopefully this will work. Thank you all for the advice and tips.

Went through two of those. First one under warranty and its replacement shortly after warranty expired. Good while they worked.

If you have woven wire it helps to ground it to the charger especially if your using wood post.

From what my friends who have goats tell me, if the electric fence dont occasionally incinerate one its probably not hot enough to keep them in.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have this 3.1 joule charger for my pigs. Magnum 12UO - ParmakUSA. I run it off a 12 volt deep cycle battery which goes all summer without a charge. However, so far I've only used it to charge a couple hundred feet of wire.