Eleanor Whitaker
Start with the layout, not the wire
Before you buy a single post, walk the paddock with a length of baler twine and a few canes and mark out what you actually want. A good sheep and goat fence is only as sensible as the shape it encloses. Aim for straight runs wherever the ground allows, because corners are where animals rub, push and eventually find the gap you did not spot. A rectangle with one gentle dog-leg will always outperform a fiddly shape with six tight angles.
Plan a central track or gateway that lets you move a trailer, a quad and a topper in and out without reversing through mud. If you intend to rotate grazing in strips, decide now where the cross-fences will land, so you can put proper strainers in at those points rather than fudging them later with a fence energiser and hope.
Water is the other thing to settle first. A trough that sits inside the paddock rather than at the gateway saves you a daily walk and prevents a poached, churned-up entrance that never recovers.
Posts, strainers and bracing that hold their shape
Stock netting is a heavy load, particularly when a wet fleece pushes against it in a January gale. Your end posts, corners and gateposts do the real work, so this is not the place to economise.
- Strainers and gateposts: 100–125mm diameter treated round posts, ideally 2.4m long, driven or dug 750mm into the ground and backfilled with rammed hardcore or concrete.
- Intermediates: 75–100mm posts, roughly every 3m on straight runs, sunk at least 600mm. Closer spacing on soft ground or exposed hillsides.
- Bracing: every strainer needs a diagonal strut set at about 45 degrees, notched into both posts and fixed with galvanised nails or coach screws. A single post with no brace will lean within a season.
If you are fencing on a slope, step the netting down in short drops rather than trying to stretch it in one long diagonal. It looks tidier and it tensions far more evenly.
Choosing the right stock netting
Sheep and goats need different thinks, and the honest answer is that goats are the harder of the two. Sheep will respect a well-tensioned net with a 75–100mm vertical wire spacing and a finished height of 900–1050mm. Goats will test every part of it, lean over the top, and treat a sagging section as an invitation.
For a mixed paddock, work to goat spec and let the sheep enjoy the benefit:
- Height: 1200mm minimum for goats, with a line of plain wire above the netting to discourage leaning over.
- Vertical spacing: 50–75mm. Anything wider and a young kid or a horned goat will find a way through.
- Wire gauge: look for galvanised netting around 2.5mm on the horizontal wires. Heavier gauge holds tension and lasts far longer in coastal or upland weather.
- Bottom edge: bury it or run a tensioned plain wire along the base to stop animals lifting it with their noses.
Electric fencing is an excellent addition rather than a replacement. A single offset wire on the inside of the net, or an electric top wire on a goat fence, teaches respect quickly and cheaply. Just keep vegetation clear of the wire and check the energiser earth stake, which is where most fencing faults begin and end.
Gates wide enough for real life
This is the point people regret most. A 3.0m gate looks generous until you are trying to get a livestock trailer or a tractor and muck spreader through it at an angle in the rain.
- Vehicle gate: 3.6m (12ft) is the sensible minimum, and worth it even if you have no tractor today. Hanging it on a proper 150mm gatepost with a brace behind.
- Pedestrian gate: 1.2m, set alongside the main gate so you can slip in without swinging the big one. Fit a spring latch that closes itself.
- Position: hang gates so they swing into the paddock and away from the prevailing wind, and set them on level ground with a hard standing underneath.
Check that gateways line up with each other across the holding. Being able to drive straight through from the lane to the far field, without unhitching, is a quiet daily pleasure.
Rotating grazing and keeping the fence honest
Once the perimeter is secure, the real value comes from splitting the paddock into two or three smaller blocks. Sheep and goats both benefit enormously from rested grass, and goats in particular will strip a pasture to bare earth if left to it. Move animals every seven to fourteen days in summer, sooner in wet weather, and let each block recover for at least three weeks.
Permanent netting is best kept for the boundary. Inside, use lightweight electric netting or a few reels of polywire on pigtail posts so the layout can flex with the season. Keep a wide gap between the boundary fence and any hay rack or shelter, because animals standing in one spot will rub, dig and undermine the best-built fence on the place.
Finally, walk the fence line once a fortnight with a pair of pliers and a spare staple in your pocket. A loose clip or a sagging bottom wire found in five minutes on a dry morning saves an afternoon of chasing ewes down a lane. Good fencing is mostly maintenance, and the animals will tell you plainly enough when you have let it slip.
