Dangers of goats grazing in the woods

[cassie]

Field fence in too big unless you use it to build a fence around the tree. Stucco wire is heavier and has smaller holes than chicken wire. It does a good job.

 

[waddles99]

Field fence in too big unless you use it to build a fence around the tree. Stucco wire is heavier and has smaller holes than chicken wire. It does a good job.

Yeah i figured they could get in there and nibble the bark, and i didn't want to go to the effort of making an actual fence and the cost of poles.

 

[cassie]

Yeah i figured they could get in there and nibble the bark, and i didn't want to go to the effort of making an actual fence and the cost of poles.

If you have a lot of field fence lying around you can use it to protect your trees. You can drive in some tee posts around the tree and secure the field fence to them. Just be sure the tee posts are far enough from the tree so even if the goats reach through the wire they cannot reach the tree.

 

[scot123]

Our goats killed an apple tree that I had tried to protect. They can be very persistent.

 

[waddles99]

Our goats killed an apple tree that I had tried to protect. They can be very persistent.

Are you serious? Man that stinks cause I have some 100 year old trees i would like to protect and not have killed and I'm gonna be pretty ticked to say the least if that happens to me.

 

[H Diamond]

Are you serious? Man that stinks cause I have some 100 year old trees i would like to protect and not have killed and I'm gonna be pretty ticked to say the least if that happens to me.

If and/or when it happens, just don't blame the goat. Browsing is what they do. They don't know that tree is 100 years old, all they know it looks like a good food source. If you are that concerned about those particular trees, I would get some t-posts and some cattle panel. Figure out how far your goat can reach if they stand up on the panel, then put them several feet further out from that. Field fence won't work well because they will just climb on it and trash it. If you have the resources and availability, a nice hot wire running around the top of the cattle panel will be a good deterrent also. Small kids will be able to go through the cattle panel, but they won't do enough damage to make a difference to a well established tree. And by cattle panel, I mean the 4 foot tall x 16 feet long panels. They are like $20 each around here. You'll need a pair of bolt cutters also to cut it down to size. You probably could just do a circle around the tree though also, then you wouldn't need the cutters. Put your t-posts in, then wire tie the panel to the t-posts. You want the t-posts to the inside (tree side) of the panels. I would imagine a circle 5 foot out from the tree would work, but I don't know for sure. That's just a guess.
Other options would maybe be the electric net stuff from Premier1... and I think someone makes a no climb field fencing/woven wire fence, but I have no experience with either of those two.

 

[waddles99]

If and/or when it happens, just don't blame the goat. Browsing is what they do. They don't know that tree is 100 years old, all they know it looks like a good food source. If you are that concerned about those particular trees, I would get some t-posts and some cattle panel. Figure out how far your goat can reach if they stand up on the panel, then put them several feet further out from that. Field fence won't work well because they will just climb on it and trash it. If you have the resources and availability, a nice hot wire running around the top of the cattle panel will be a good deterrent also. Small kids will be able to go through the cattle panel, but they won't do enough damage to make a difference to a well established tree. And by cattle panel, I mean the 4 foot tall x 16 feet long panels. They are like $20 each around here. You'll need a pair of bolt cutters also to cut it down to size. You probably could just do a circle around the tree though also, then you wouldn't need the cutters. Put your t-posts in, then wire tie the panel to the t-posts. You want the t-posts to the inside (tree side) of the panels. I would imagine a circle 5 foot out from the tree would work, but I don't know for sure. That's just a guess.
Other options would maybe be the electric net stuff from Premier1... and I think someone makes a no climb field fencing/woven wire fence, but I have no experience with either of those two.

You're right. I guess if it happens it happens. Cant keep them from loving what they do. It better then them killing themselves on something i guess...