Living the Country Life - GOATS!
- Media Logic Radio
- Nov 10
- 12 min read
A Farmer’s Guide to Electric Fencing for Goats
By Raylene Nickel Updated on July 8, 2025
Using electric fencing to confine goats can be a convenient way to pasture the animals where they can keep grass and weeds clipped in hard-to-mow places. Electric fencing also affords the flexibility of rotating grazing areas so that goats are moved frequently to clean ground and fresh grass.
But there’s no one-size-fits-all way of finding the system best suited to your needs. Success with electric fence comes from mixing trial and error with borrowed ideas from others.
Here are some tips for optimizing electric fencing for your goats.
Balance Freedom and Control
At Rumbleway Farm near Conowingo, Maryland, Mark and Robin Way have had mixed success with electric fencing, occasionally finding their small flock of Boer goats outside the fence and nibbling the flowers in the yard. But for them, the benefits of electric fencing outweigh the risk of the goats getting out.
“Our farm has stonewalls and hedgerows, and we have been using the goats to work the hedgerows back,” Mark said. “Our grazing paddocks are the size of a stone-fence hedgerow. The goats graze young saplings and weeds, and we supplement with a small amount of sweet feed. Rotating the goats every two to three weeks keeps the worm load at a controllable level. We use a semi-permanent electric fence of four to five strands of smooth wire. This gives us the flexibility to move the fence closer to the over-grown hedgerow as the goats keep clearing the fence row.”
Train Your Goats
Paying attention to a few basic details improves the effectiveness of electric fencing for goats. For starters, when goats are first turned out, take time to “train” them to the electric wire. This can be done by enticing goats to walk up to the electric fence and touch it with their noses. This first lesson often teaches a lasting lesson about respecting the fence.
Second, spend some time making sure the bottom wire or two are free from debris. When weeds or grass contact the wires, the green plant material can short out the electrical current. Finally, make sure goats have plenty to eat, so that they have less cause to test the electric fence. Web sites of the major electric fencing companies offer tips for designing effective electric fences and proper grounding systems.
Choose a Power Source
Fiberglass posts spaced every 20 feet support the wires, which are attached to the posts with metal clips. The Ways have used both solar-powered and plug-in chargers to electrify the wires. “Solar fencers gives us flexibility, and the plug-in models give us a more consistent source of electricity,” Mark said.
Use a Moveable Shelter
When goats get out of the fence, the root of the problem stems from the fact that an electric fence is “a psychological barrier and not a physical barrier,” Mark said. That means that when goats get excited or frightened, they can run through an electric fence. Because goats are ready learners, running through the fence can easily become a habit.
To reduce the chance of fear causing goats to run through the wires, the Ways provide the animals with a moveable shelter. “The moveable goat shelter moves with the goats from paddock to paddock, and this gives them security,” says Mark. “They know that their house is where they are supposed to be.” A two-horse trailer presently provides shelter, but it is too small for a flock of five does and 10 kids. A four-horse trailer would be more ideal, Mark said.
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Keep Goats In, Predators Out
Like the Ways, Susan Schoenian favors an electric fence made from multiple wires. She recommended five or six strands of high-tensile wire, particularly when an electric style of goat fence is chosen for use as a boundary fence. Schoenian has used such a fence to confine goats on her own small farm at Clear Spring, Maryland, and also in the course of her work as a sheep and goat specialist at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center.
“The purpose of a boundary fence is not just to keep goats in, but also to keep predators out,” she said. The safest practice is to keep all the wires ‘hot,’ with the first wire placed about 6 inches from the ground. From the bottom wire up, wires should be spaced at intervals of 5 inches, 5 inches, 8 inches, and 10 inches.
“Keeping the bottom wire hot is particularly important because goats are fence-line grazers,” Schoenian said. “The way they are most likely to learn to respect an electric fence is to be hit by the current on the bottom wire.”
Some classes of goats will test, or challenge, the wires more readily than others, making it of particular importance to keep the wires hot. “At the Research Center, we conduct a meat-goat performance test,” Schoenian explained. “We get goats from many different places, and we find that the bucks are always testing our fences.”
RELATED: Fencing for Goats
Use Cross Fences
At the Center, the interior crossfences used to create smaller grazing paddocks within the boundary fence are simply two strands of smooth wire. But the goats often challenge this fence. An improvement, said Schoenian, would be crossfences made from three stands of polywire, supported by step-in plastic posts. The white polywire would tend to create more of visual barrier. While more costly than other forms of electric fencing, commercially manufactured netting made of polywire can be particularly effective at keeping goats confined.
The netting fence stands about 4 feet high, and the squares are small enough to discourage even young goats from sticking their noses through the netting. The fence is designed so that the bottom wire can rest on the ground without shorting out the electric current running throughout the netting.
“Electric netting works great if you don’t have to move it a lot, because it can be difficult to move,” Schoenian said. “One way to move it is to fold it in sections one on top of the other.”
RELATED: 23 DIY Fence Fix-ups for Your Farm
ARTICLE: Successful Farming, November 9, 2025
What to Feed Your Goats (and Why It Matters)
By Mariah Squire Updated on April 23, 2025
Feeding goats isn’t complicated. A little bit goes a long way when it comes to a goat’s diet, like making sure they’re getting enough trace minerals or tweaking your feeding strategy based on your primary reason for raising them.
Whether you have pet goats or are raising market animals, here’s how to handle their diet based on advice from a large-animal veterinarian.
Goat Feed Basics
Goats are ruminants, which means that their stomach has four parts, each of which aid in food digestion. According to McKenna Marshall, a large-animal veterinarian in eastern Indiana, that makes goat feed basics pretty straightforward. “Thanks to their elaborate digestive system and the bacteria and other microorganisms associated with it, goats can get their basic food needs from fresh grass in the pasture or even just grass hay,” Marshall said.
Even though goats in general can be low-maintenance when it comes to their food, it’s important to consider whether they’re getting all the micronutrients they need. For example, depending on where you live in the U.S., selenium deficiency may be an issue.
According to University of Georgia Extension, soils containing less than 0.5 mg/kg total selenium are classified as selenium-deficient. Many counties in the U.S. fall into this category.
“Be sure you know if your area is selenium deficient so you can add it to the diet in the form of a loose mineral or mineral block. Selenium is an important trace mineral for goats that acts as an antioxidant,” Marshall said.
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Special Considerations for Market and Dairy Goats
If you’re raising goats for market, Marshall said you can supplement grass hay with other products to improve their rate of gain.
“In addition to the grass hay, you’ll want to add a grain into the diet to add protein and carbohydrates for the rumen to speed up the growing and finishing process of the market goat,” Marshall said. “You can even add in alfalfa hay.”
Marshall said it’s fine to mix and grind your own feed using a variety of grains, but it’s critical to include ammonium chloride when feeding a concentrated feed, especially to wethers.
“Wethers, and even does, eating a concentrated feed are prone to calcium urinary crystals — the ammonium chloride aids in acidifying the urine to make it more difficult for the goat to form crystals,” Marshall said.
If you’re raising dairy goats, the main considerations are pretty simple. Marshall said it’s important to ensure they’re getting calcium-rich feed, including alfalfa hay, and foods rich in protein, like grain.
RELATED: Poisonous Plants for Goats
Editor’s Note: McKenna Marshall is related to author Mariah Squire.
Goats Add Grazing Diversity
“They choose the grasses that our cows don’t want, so it’s a diversity win between the cattle and the goats,” says Marcie Dell.
By Mitch Kezar Updated on November 9, 2025
Jeff and Marcie Dell quickly move a polywire gate, stringing a few poles as they go. Flailing outstretched arms, they move their herd of goats across the driveway into a small paddock, host to a tangle of weeds. The first animals into the new field busy themselves by chewing their way into the stand of broadleaf weeds. Some stretch necks as high as they can, while others knock down stalks of Canada thistle, common burdock, and creeping Jenny.
Jeff and Marcie are trying out a lot of innovative things on their cattle ranch near Nisland, South Dakota – polywire fence, bale grazing, rotational grazing, irrigation systems, no-till, and goats.
They have to be creative, says Marcie, because the heavy, clay-based soil is a challenge. “We call it gumbo. It’s very difficult to get water to infiltrate into that soil. It likes to seal up on the top and shed water off.”
To improve the soil, they are using rotational grazing. That means noxious weeds have to be controlled. To that end, the Dells purchased a small herd of Boer meat goats. It worked. “We estimate that 60% of their preferred diet is weeds,” says Marcie. “They choose the grasses that our cows don’t want, so it’s a diversity win between the cattle and the goats.”
Goats roam and browse more than cattle, she says. “They don’t want to be in a small spot for too long.” The Dells move the goats into different paddocks every four to five days, using electric fence. “We run them in irrigation ditch areas and our canals and drains – places where the cattle don’t prefer to go,” Marcie explains.
“Part of the reason that we moved into raising goats was the need to create more diversity with our livestock,” says Marcie. “We thought adding the goats could have a financial benefit, too. It’s another crop we can sell twice a year, and now we’re growing more native grass. The goats are consuming what our cows aren’t eating, plus we don’t have to spend time and money spraying fields.”
You can run five goats to one cow when you’re grazing them, says Marcie, and “the monetary difference is about 200% percent vs. a calf. It’s significant!”
The goats are prolific, she explains. About 60% of the kids born are twins, and the other 40% are singles, triplets, or quads. “We’ve had a lot of triplets, and most of the mammas do a really good job raising triplets,” says Marcie.
The ranch is in the Belle Fourche Irrigation District Project, so water is delivered either through canals or pipeline. It takes 7 miles to get to the Dells' house, and from there they use pivots, open ditches, or pipe to get to pastures. The irrigation pipe is gated pipe, so every foot to 18 inches there is a slot that opens and the water flood irrigates the land. “We found with the pipe we get a lot better coverage in a shorter time frame because we’re not having to soak up the open ditch and run it out the end,” says Marcie.
Marcie grew up on a dryland ranch, so irrigation was something new to her on their new place. “Being able to irrigate the fields throughout the year is super beneficial. There are definitely challenges that go with that because it takes a lot of time and work to water the different fields. We make sure our fields are irrigated, but not flooded totally, that the water’s draining, and that you’re spending time making the fields get the most benefit.”
Co-mingling the cattle and goats is a priority, says Jeff, who is looking out over the hungry goats chewing their way into the weed patch. “We would like to try to start grazing the cattle on a rotational grazing system with them, and follow with the goats. The undesirable plants that the cattle don’t want to eat, the goats will come through and consume. That will take care of the leftover weeds and other undesirable plants the cattle would never touch. We feel that cattle are putting down a heavier hoof impact on the land. They’re defecating and urinating on the land, and then the goats are coming through after eating a whole different group of plants. They have a different form of hoof impact.”
Build It and Goats Will Climb It
Illinois couple creates an eye-catching tower for goats.
By Celeste Huttes Published on September 16, 2019
Of the many charms you’ll find on the acreage of Marcia and David Johnson in rural Windsor, Illinois, one reigns supreme. Where wheat once grew, a whimsical, seemingly misplaced medieval tower rises into the sky.
But you’ll find no damsels in distress here. In fact, the snow-white goats who spend their days traversing the tower seem downright happy.
"We like to think of it as a folly," says David, drawing on an architectural term for an eye-catching, but less-than-useful structure (though the goats would disagree).
This towering achievement was inspired by a Decanter magazine story featuring photos of Fairview Winery’s famous goat tower in South Africa. So with spare bricks and more than a little imagination, a passion project found its footing in central Illinois.
Bleat Street
The unique structure makes fanciful form of 5,000 handmade bricks from North Carolina. Measuring 31 feet tall and 7 feet across, the tower features 276 cantilevered concrete steps that wind their way up toward a copper roof.
Using a goat pictured in the Decanter story for scale, Johnson worked with a local bricklayer to design and build the tower over a three-month period in 1998.
“When we got past the second level, we realized it was out of scale, so we added an extra wrap, and it became the world’s largest goat tower – by accident,” says David, a former school principal who went on to launch a successful crop insurance company.
The fact that he lacked goats – and his wife’s approval – proved minor hurdles.
“It was already in the works before I found out about it,” recalls Marcia. “The one decision I got to make was where they put it. I made sure it was right outside the kitchen window. Every morning, the goats watch for me, and I watch for them.”
Led by Queen Goat Bella, the happy herd of six Saanen goats spends its days climbing up and down those winding steps and savoring the view. Six cozy compartments offer relief from the summer heat and warmth in the winter.
“Saanen goats are a Swiss mountain goat that loves to climb. They are very calm and sweet,” says Marcia.
The tower and its occupants never fail to generate double takes (and full stops) among passersby. In fact, this whimsy in Windsor has become a tourist attraction in its own right.
Every year, the Johnsons welcome visitors from around the world – as far away as Costa Rica and Poland. One St. Louis man even chose the tower as the site for an “unfor-goat-able” marriage proposal.
“You don’t build something like this if you don’t want to share it,” notes Marcia, a retired English teacher. “The most common reaction we see is disbelief.”
Pieces and Places That Inspire
But the extraordinary is ordinary for the Johnsons, who share a love of nature, travel, art – and a penchant for the past.
They modeled their 4,000-square-foot Georgian-style home on the historic houses of Williamsburg, Virginia; while their quaint carriage house has a doppelganger in Germany.
Their home is brimming with pieces that have a story to tell: an iron stairway that once led patrons into a small town post office; a 19th-century square grand piano that played hymns from its perch in a church balcony; the century-old wood that once adorned David’s grandfather’s home.
On the grounds, you’ll find a striking piece of natural history: a 1-ton glacial stone, or “erratic.” Up on the chimney, a life-like metal sculpture of nesting storks brings a bit of European folklore (and good luck) to central Illinois.
“Some people think the storks are real and the goats are stuffed,” notes David with a laugh.
“The goats stand very still for long periods of time,” adds Marcia. “A lot of people think they’re statues.”
Along with eye-catching art, you’ll find ear-catching singing stones in the yard. Made by an artist in Paris, France, the set of five curved slabs of granite make soothing, wind-chime-like tones when struck.
Nurturing Nature
While those notable goats steal the show, the Johnsons are committed to making a happy home for wildlife, as well.
“We wanted to help the environment, so we dedicated this 93 acres as a wildlife habitat,” says David.
The couple created six ponds, planted 250 trees, and set aside acreage for prairie habitat and wildflowers to attract birds, bees, and other pollinators. Recognizing their efforts, the National Wildlife Federation declared the Johnson homestead a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
“I have identified 100 different species of birds on this property,” says David, who – perhaps as much as the wildlife – savors the sanctuary they have created.
The Johnsons grow their own organic food and generate enough power to meet all of the farm’s needs, due to a large solar installation.
Love for the natural world runs deep on the Johnson farm, where a simple philosophy has taken root: “You have to take chances in life,” says David. “It’s important to think outside the box and do things that are different.”
Whether preserving the past, protecting the environment, or adding a bit of whimsy to a weary world on the Johnson farm, the goats aren’t the only ones with a grand view.
