Has anyone tried invisible dog fence?

[mollymckee]

We have a steep wooded hill that I would love to put the goats on. However it is almost impossible to safely fence. Not only is it steep and wooded, it has granite close to or sticking through the surface of the dirt. I have been thinking about trying the dog fence on the hill. The goats do come when I call them so they would be easy to catch them if they get out. It would be much safer if we could eliminate some of the underbrush. The prediction is for a bad fire season.

Has anyone used the dog fence?

[Wendy]

I use it for my dog. You would need collars for each goat if you used that type of fence & the collars aren't usually very cheap. I think for the fence I have the collars run about $200.

[Bear Foot Farm]

I'd be surprised if goats are smart enough to figure out how it works and it will do nothing to keep out predators, which to me is over 50% of a good fence's function.

I'd run "polywire" electric fence, and improvise on posts by using something like a short T post in a weighted container, such as a coffee can or half a cinderblock full of cement for line posts, and maybe some tire rims at the corners

If the goats are well fed they should stay inside and even a 3 ft fence will deter a lot of predators of they get shocked once or twice

I used to have a dog so aware of electric fencing that I could contain him by running masonry twine 6" above the ground and he wouldn't cross it

[mzgarden]

My concern would be predators getting in. I've worried about that for dogs as well - something can get in and hurt them and they hestitate to get to safety by crossing the electric fence.

Our two nubians have never challenged our cattle panel fencing - maybe we've just been lucky.