goat people..!

[Epona142]

Well it depends on the welded wire you're mentioning. The welded panels you can buy that are sturdy and rigid, are awesome, we call these "cattle panels", though they also come in hog panels, or sheep panels (which usually aren't recommended for goats with horns, they get themselves stuck.).

Then there's wire fencing which is flexible and comes in rolls, and is put up by stretching. This wire will eventually, no matter how well its installed, sag down from the goat's constant attention to it. I saw this in action just last Saturday, a friend put up some of it to separate some of her does, and the fence is already sagging from the goats standing on it, rubbing against it to scratch themselves, or just being plain obnoxious to the fence. This too can cause stuck goats. A strand of hot wire around the inside can discourage this type of fence damage, which makes it cheaper than chainlink or panels, just a bit more time consuming. I've seen this type of fencing work in some situations, but every goat is different, just like dogs.

Speaking of dogs, I'd be careful. I just finished treating the neighbor's goat; their dog, who "loved" the goats and was allowed in with them, tore one goat's ear to shreds and took a chunk so deep out of the hindquarters I could stick my finger up to the middle knuckle inside. The vet will be out later, but goats can die from stress, and I had a few essentials to help calm her down and clean her up until then. I do not trust any dog near my goats, its just natural instinct for dogs to chase them, as goats run and buck and act like prey, I certainly don't blame the dog. This includes even herding breeds; I used to exhibit German Shepherd Dogs, and one of ours killed a lamb we had (our fault for not securing the fencing better) and another killed a goat (again our fault). They were simply not raised from young puppyhood to be guardians of them, which is a must in a guardian dog.

There's so much to learn about goats, but the fencing is the most important! You should never bring home goats without secure fencing first.