Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[<blademan25@yahoo.com>]

I just completed constructing pens for my dairy goat herd in January.  It has the 2X4 openings and is 68 inches high and VERY HEAVY GAUGE.  The panels were 24 foot lengths and we put posts every 10 feet.  I have had no issues with escaping goats or any predation from coyotes although the raccoons wasted no time in wiping out all my laying hens in there.  We also laid some thin gauge fencing on the ground outside of the pen to prevent coyotes from attempting to dig under.  The males are separated from the females and they will not be able to scale that fence either.  The fencing dealer referred to these panels as "stud panels."    I have had goats for over 20 years and this is the first fencing that I doubt will ever need to be replaced as compared to all other fencing being destroyed every 2 years (by the goats). 

Stephen Heilman
Escondido CA

rom: Norma Sutton <sweetspringfarm@gmail.com>
To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tue, May 11, 2010 7:58:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] fencing for livestock

Hi Doug,
That is what I have for my winter barn pen.  I have to tighten it up periodically and I do have a break along the bottom.  I'm slowly switching over to the horse panels.  They are 5 feet high with 2x4 openings.  The cattle panels work, but don't contain the kids when they are young.  It also doesn't flex like the woven wire does and I've found my dairy girls are really hard on any fence that will flex and will eventually walk it to the ground.
Norma

To contain our goat herd we use heavy duty, 12-gauge wire, five foot tall, horse fence with two by four inch rectangular openings. (Not the thinner, welded wire.)  12-gauge, 2" X 4" wire horse fence is commonly available.  We go to our local Home Depot Pro Desk and ask them for a bid (on orders exceeding $2000.)  They fax our request to their home office and generally phone us the next day to offer a 10% discount.

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