Goat fence for Kudzu Control

[sksmsllc]

Once I have my 21-acre jungle completely fenced I plan to get some goats. I'm enjoying your pictures :thumbsup:

It's been a good experience so far?? I'm glad you are enjoying the photos. Each doe is supposed to produce 4 Kidd a year. You can usually get $100 to $200 per goat. My hope is that the goats pay for the fence after a couple of years; kill all the Kudzu in the fence and then I can plant over in pines within the fence. The fence was expensive - about $5,000 material and labor. However, it's built right and should last many years.

 

[TNTractor1]

Speaking of the war against Kudzu... Here's a kid who says helium kills kudzu roots and all. This kid's technique should get some of you engineering types to thinking:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/07/18/kudzu.killer.teen.inventor.cnn?&hpt=hp_c2

 

[atgreene]

Great thread. Just bought two Nigerian dwarfs and two Nubians. Decided that wasn't good enough, so we went out and bought a Llama to watch over them.

I'm hoping to keep some newly logged property free of re-growth and work it into pasture for beef later. It's a 20 year plan.

Thus far I'm using electric woven portable fence to do about 1/2 acre at a time. 2 weeks in with no issues yet.......

I'm anxious to see how things go for you.

 

[sksmsllc]

I like your approach with the rotation. I cannot rotate using electric due to massive quantity of organic growth around my fence - mostly kudzu. This would short out an electric fence very quickly.

I like that your grey goat has a bell around her neck! I could use one to know were the goats are.

 

[atgreene]

Yes, the bell was an afterthought in case they decided to rush the fence.:laughing:

Thus far, once they learned the fence (I enticed each to touch it by holding grain on the back side) they won't go near it as long as they have food. I have some areas where I simply pushed the growth down with my feet, snapped off some low branches and ran it right through. It's loosing a fair amount of juice due to the brush, but they don't know that.:laughing:

I'm not so sure on the llama yet. He could easily run through, but supposedly once he learns the fence line is his area he won't cross it. We'll see.

 

[sksmsllc]

Speaking of the war against Kudzu... Here's a kid who says helium kills kudzu roots and all. This kid's technique should get some of you engineering types to thinking:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/07/18/kudzu.killer.teen.inventor.cnn?&hpt=hp_c2

Wow! Had to watch that twice! Need more information. Thanks for the link!

 

[sksmsllc]

I've had goats here and there since I was a kid. Great critters, lots of personality. Not as bad tasting as lamb. When I was young we lost a beautiful nubian buck when his horns got stuck in the fence (field fence as I recall). Dad suspected some kids where shooting him with a pellet rifle or someone was shooting on the hill behind the pens and scared him into trying to get way. With 25 acres and open spaces (no tight chutes) that shouldn't be a problem for you.

I saw a weed control contractor using what looked to me like equine based portable electric fence products to get the goats to focus on select areas. Sounds like a learning curve item to me (part of the experiment).

The only other concern with horns are short kids around the goats. Unintentionally loosing an eye or other facial damage when handling the goats by the kids.

I know of some folks that put a llama in with them. The rejects are often used for this (even friendly llama's are apparently not too nice, so those not handled at all are very protective of there herd). Something to try if the donkeys don't work out. This time of year it ought to be easy to find wethers for next to nothing on craigslist (watch the sale barn auctions too).

As I understand it, there are 3 distinct preferences for goats, based on culture: hispanic, asian, middle-eastern. Different ages. The Muslim and Jewish require the same thing (albeit different faiths): a ministers blessing and ritual killing (I understand it is very similar). Just thoughts when researching your markets.

Thanks for your input and experience. I was looking over this thread and noticed you had many very important points about goats.

 

[sksmsllc]

Please do not be a bad goat owner. Down the county road goats are constantly getting their heads stuck in the 6"X6" fence and I stop to push their heads back through. The problem is their horns face backwards and once they push their head through they cannot pull out without help. Sometimes I see them in time, sometimes the buzzards are having breakfast, it is a sad, sick site to see.

Txdon, over one month and no goats stuck yet. Still watching close though.

 

[sksmsllc]

How is that "no stick fence"?

I have goats. My two large does have horns. We dehorned our two baby does.

One of the big goats will stick her head through anything it will fit through, and even some things it won't. Once the head is through, they are pretty silly about trying to get back out. The best "no stick fence" is one they simply can't get their head through.

ac

It's been over a month and so far not one stuck goat!

 

[sksmsllc]

I can't wait until I'm old enough to pull of the classic blue jumpsuit.

What kind of hay do you feed your goats? Ours are picky eaters!

We don't feed them any thing except the weeds and Kudzu. Your goats won't be picky eaters if all they have to eat is the weeds you want them dead. The hay is for winter.

 

[sksmsllc]

No goats stuck in fence.