We have a 4-ft (1.2 m) high fence (with a hog wire mesh) between our house yard and pasture.
I want to release Nubian goats into the pasture. But a Nubian will rear up, butt the front feet on the fence, and can extend the head and neck out 3 ft (90 cm) horizontally (the rascals!) to eat the dwarf trees and bushes on the other side of the fence.
How can I modify the fence so the goats cannot get at the yard plants?
I can't use an electric fence, due to grandchildren.
If the grandchildren are not going to go in the pasture, then it would be cost-effective to use pigtails (that's what they are called down under) and put an electric fence inside the current fence, perhaps 2 ft in. You can get solar-powered energizers for them.
You push them into the ground with your foot (on the white hook at the bottom) and lay out the electrical tape through the pigtail. They work for horses, cows, and sheep. Haven't tried it with goats. Your local farm shop may be able to advise you.
A pack of them -
In Use
Horizontal fence.
This will be on the pasture side, mounted at right angles (black) to your existing fence (brown). The pink stuff is meant to be chicken wire or something similar. Goats can go under it but they cant poke their heads up thru it. Goats can prop themselves up on the black new right angles but they will be too far away to reach heads over the brown existing fence.
If instead of chicken wire it was made of something opaque or semi-opaque it could also serve as a sun shade for the goats and they could rest underneath on hot days.
