6 Best Fence Wire Nettings For Goats That Outsmart Escape Artists
Secure your herd with the right fence. We review the 6 best wire nettings, comparing height, spacing, and durability to contain any escape artist.
There’s a certain look a goat gets right before it tests a fence—a mix of idle curiosity and calculated physics. If you’ve seen it, you know the sinking feeling that follows. Keeping goats contained isn’t just about putting up a barrier; it’s about understanding how they think, move, and exploit every tiny weakness. The right fence isn’t just a purchase, it’s peace of mind that lets you sleep at night without wondering if your herd is happily munching on your neighbor’s prize-winning roses.
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Red Brand Woven Wire: The Classic Farm Choice
Woven wire, often called field fence, is the backbone of many farm perimeters for a reason. Its strength comes from the interwoven vertical and horizontal wires that flex on impact, absorbing pressure from a leaning goat without breaking. Unlike welded wire, where a single broken weld can create a dangerous hole, the knots in woven wire hold fast.
For goats, the key is the opening size. You must choose a 4×4-inch square pattern. Anything larger, like the graduated spacing common in cattle fencing, becomes a ladder for agile does and a perfect head-trap for horned animals. A 48-inch height is a solid minimum for most breeds, discouraging all but the most athletic jumpers.
The tradeoff is that persistent climbers can still learn to sag woven wire over time. It’s a fantastic physical barrier against pushing, but it’s not foolproof against a goat that treats fencing as a personal challenge. For a permanent perimeter where you need reliability and a long lifespan, it remains a top contender.
Bekaert High Tensile: For High-Pressure Areas
Secure your property with BEKAERT High Tensile Barbed Wire. This 1,320' roll of 15.5-gauge, high-carbon steel wire boasts a 950 lb breaking load and a reverse twist design to prevent sagging.
High-tensile fencing is what you use when you mean business. It looks similar to standard woven wire but is made from stronger steel and is designed to be installed under significant tension. Think of it as the reinforced, high-performance version of a classic fence.
This isn’t your average perimeter fence; it’s for problem areas. Use it along driveways, near barns, or in holding pens where goats congregate and put constant pressure on the fenceline. A well-installed high-tensile fence has almost no give, which deters leaning and rubbing. It’s incredibly durable and can withstand significant impact from a running animal.
The catch is the installation. You can’t just unroll it and staple it to posts. It requires proper bracing at corners and ends, a spinning jenny for clean unrolling, and specialized crimping tools to secure the wire. It’s a serious project, but if you have a high-traffic spot where other fences have failed, this is the permanent solution.
Premier 1 ElectroNet: Flexible Rotational Pens
Electric netting is the single most valuable tool for rotational grazing on a small farm. It’s an all-in-one system of polywire mesh integrated with step-in posts, allowing you to set up a secure paddock in minutes. This flexibility lets you move your herd to fresh pasture effortlessly, improving soil health and animal nutrition.
The power of netting is psychological. The sharp but safe shock teaches goats a healthy respect for boundaries very quickly. Most learn not to even get close. It’s remarkably effective for containing entire herds, including bucks in rut, as long as your charger is properly sized and your ground is good.
However, it is not a physical barrier. A panicked animal will go right through it, and if the power is off, it’s just a tangle of string. You have to keep the fenceline clear of tall grass, which can short it out and drain the battery. For temporary fencing and intensive grazing, its benefits are unmatched, but don’t rely on it for a permanent outer perimeter.
Stay-Tuff Fixed Knot Fence: The Climber Stopper
If you have a goat that views your fence as a climbing wall, the fixed knot design is your answer. Unlike a standard woven wire where the vertical "stay" wires can slide along the horizontal wires, a fixed knot fence locks them together. This creates an incredibly rigid, almost immovable mesh.
This fence is specifically engineered to resist being stretched, sagged, or pushed through. Goats can’t force their heads through the openings and slowly widen them over time. The solid structure makes it exceptionally difficult to climb, as the wires don’t give way under their hooves. It’s the maximum-security option in non-electric physical barriers.
The main consideration here is cost. Fixed knot fencing is a premium product, and its price reflects that. Like high-tensile wire, it also requires significant tensioning and robust corner bracing for a proper installation. It’s an investment, but for containing valuable animals or stopping a chronic escape artist, it pays for itself in security and saved labor.
Gallagher SmartFence 2.0: Ultimate Portability
The SmartFence is less a fence and more a rapid-deployment system. It combines four strands of polywire, ten posts, and a reel into a single, easy-to-carry unit. You can literally walk out a 330-foot fenceline and have it set up in under five minutes.
This is the tool for surgical grazing. Need to keep the goats off a newly planted patch of trees for a few weeks? Want to strip-graze a small section of overgrown pasture? The SmartFence is perfect. It’s far quicker to set up and take down than electric netting and is less prone to shorting out in vegetation because it has fewer contact points with the ground.
It’s not a complete enclosure on its own; it’s designed to be used as a single, straight line or to quickly subdivide a larger, permanently fenced pasture. It provides a strong psychological barrier but is less of a visual deterrent than netting. For quick, temporary animal control, it’s an incredibly efficient piece of gear.
OK Brand Welded Wire: Ideal for Kids & Small Areas
Welded wire panels are constructed from rigid wires welded together at each intersection, typically in a 2×4-inch grid. This creates a stiff, non-flexible panel that’s perfect for specific, small-scale applications.
Its primary role in a goat operation is for kidding pens and small enclosures for young kids. The small 2×4 openings are too small for even the tiniest hooves to get caught in and prevent newborns from slipping out. The rigid panels are easy to work with for building small, secure pens inside a barn or a protected outdoor creep area.
Do not use welded wire for large perimeter fences. Its weakness is right in the name: the welds. A large, determined goat can break the welds with repeated pushing, creating sharp, dangerous holes in the fence. Think of it as a tool for low-pressure, high-security situations, not for containing your main herd.
Zareba Electric Wire to Fortify Existing Fences
Sometimes the best new fence is the one you already have, just with a simple upgrade. Adding one or two strands of electric wire using offset insulators is a highly effective and budget-friendly way to make an existing fence nearly foolproof. It addresses the two biggest failures of non-electric fences: climbing and leaning.
Place one hot wire at goat-head height and another about a foot off the ground. The higher wire stops them from standing on the fence, while the lower one prevents them from pushing through the bottom. This simple addition teaches them to give the entire fenceline a wide berth. The psychological deterrent of the shock does 90% of the work.
This strategy can extend the life of an older woven wire fence that has started to sag. It’s a force multiplier, turning a decent physical barrier into a formidable psychological one. All you need is a good fence charger, insulators, and a roll of wire.
T-Post Safety Caps: An Essential Fencing Add-On
This isn’t a type of fence, but it’s a non-negotiable part of any fence that uses metal T-posts. Goats are curious, agile, and prone to jumping, especially when startled. An uncapped T-post presents a serious impalement risk.
T-post safety caps are simple plastic covers that fit over the sharp top of the post. They are inexpensive and take seconds to install. They transform a dangerous stake into a blunt, visible surface, drastically reducing the risk of a fatal injury.
There is no scenario where leaving T-posts uncapped is acceptable with goats. It’s a small detail that can prevent a horrific and costly accident. Consider safety caps a required component of your fencing system, not an optional accessory.
Ultimately, the best goat fence is a system, not a single product. A tough woven wire perimeter fortified with an offset electric line, combined with portable electric netting for rotational grazing, creates a secure and flexible environment. Analyze your property, understand your goats’ behavior, and invest in the right combination of tools for the job. A good fence buys you freedom from worry, which is one of the most valuable things a hobby farmer can have.
