Goat Fencing: Why Standard Stock Netting Fails Twice

We keep pygmy goats in west Cornwall, where the traditional boundary is a Cornish hedge, which is a faced earth bank. That turns out to matter, and not in our favour. This page sits alongside our guide to keeping pygmy goats.

What the published standards actually say

DEFRA, in the statutory code of recommendations for the welfare of livestock, paragraph 16: goats have a tendency to jump and clamber, fencing should be strong enough and of sufficient height, at least 1.2 m, to prevent them escaping, and it should be designed, constructed and maintained so as to avoid the risk of injury. That last clause is doing as much work as the number.

The RSPCA says at least 122 cm above ground level, depending on the height of the goats, which leaves the door open for taller stock. It is also the only source we can find that publishes a specification for the mesh itself: well tensioned and secured chain link or stock proof galvanised wire mesh, at least 12 gauge or 2.6 mm diameter wire or thicker, with 50 mm or smaller apertures. Gaps must be small enough that goats cannot get their heads and limbs stuck and that small goats cannot squeeze through.

The Pygmy Goat Club says a minimum of four feet, and adds flatly that hedges will not be a sufficient boundary. The English Goat Breeders Association gives around 1200 mm. The British Goat Society publishes no height at all.

So on the number itself there is no real disagreement. Everyone lands on about 1.2 m. The disagreement is between all of them and what is actually sold.

Source	Height	Mesh aperture	Status
DEFRA welfare code, paragraph 16	At least 1.2 m	Not specified	Statutory code
RSPCA	At least 122 cm	50 mm or smaller, wire 2.6 mm or thicker	Charity guidance
Pygmy Goat Club	Minimum 4 ft	Not specified	Breed society
English Goat Breeders Association	Around 1200 mm	Warns on stock fence entrapment	Breed society
British Goat Society	No figure published	Not specified	Breed society
C8/80/15 stock netting	80 cm	150 mm spacing	What is commonly sold
Electric netting sold as Goat Net	105 cm	Mesh, so ruled out for horns and kids	What is commonly sold

The bottom two rows are the point of this page. All read 7 September 2026.

The netting problem, in two figures

Ask anyone what to fence goats with and you will be told stock netting. The commonest specification on British farms is C8/80/15: eight line wires, 80 cm high, with 150 mm vertical spacing.

Set that against the published standards. It is two thirds of DEFRA's minimum height, and its gaps are three times the RSPCA's maximum aperture. It fails both, and the second failure is the dangerous one, because 150 mm is close to the exact geometry that traps a horned head.

The English Goat Breeders Association describes the mechanism plainly: young goats growing horns become entangled in stock fence because they can push their heads through one way but cannot easily pull them back. A goat caught like that in July, unfound, does not simply escape.

Netting that does meet the aperture rule exists. High tensile fencing sold at 1800 mm with 100 mm by 50 mm apertures satisfies both figures, at roughly £392 for a 50 m roll against about £185 for 100 m of the standard netting. That is a real difference and it is worth knowing you are buying a different thing, not a dearer version of the same thing.

Electric netting, and a warning that is not on the product

DEFRA, paragraph 17, is unambiguous: electric fences should be designed, installed and maintained so that contact causes no more than momentary discomfort, and electric mesh type fences are not suitable for horned goats and young kids. The RSPCA says the same independently, that netting type electric fencing should be avoided, particularly for horned goats.

That is a statutory code and a national charity agreeing. Meanwhile electric netting is sold in Britain under the name Goat Net, at around £144, and carries no such warning where you buy it. It is also 105 cm tall, which is below DEFRA's 1.2 m. Buying the product named after the animal does not get you to the code.

Electric strands are a different proposition and the EGBA gives usable heights: two or three wires at something like 150 mm, 450 mm and 900 mm, or 200 mm and 750 mm. The RSPCA's framing is the sensible one, that electric fencing is used in addition to normal fencing rather than instead of it. A wooden fence can be protected with a single strand at about 450 mm to stop goats leaning on it.

On energisers, AHDB's electric fencing guidance is for cattle and sheep and gives no goat figures at all, so we are not going to convert its numbers and pretend they are goat numbers. What does transfer is the earthing principle, that earth stakes are sized to the energiser's output and that a reading above 200 V on the earth means you need more of them, and the training principle, that animals learn the fence over three to five days inside a permanent stock fence.

What does not work, and why hedges are a Cornish problem

Three separate bodies rule hedges out. The RSPCA says goats will get through any hedge, however thick, and climb most banks and stone walls. The Pygmy Goat Club says hedges will not be a sufficient boundary. The EGBA says, more briefly, that hedges will be eaten.

Read the RSPCA's sentence again if you farm here. A Cornish hedge is a faced earth bank, which is precisely the structure it names as climbable. The traditional boundary of this county is not a goat fence, and treating it as one is how a herd ends up in the lane.

Barbed wire must not be used. The RSPCA says goats may try to leap over it and injure themselves; the EGBA agrees. Note also that under section 164 of the Highways Act 1980 a barbed wire fence adjoining a highway can be required to be abated if it is a nuisance to the highway. We checked, and that section contains no height or set-back measurement, so the commonly repeated eight feet from the road rule is not in it.

Gates, latches and the bit everyone underestimates

DEFRA, paragraph 20: goats are very inquisitive and all gate and door fastenings should be goat proof. The RSPCA notes that goats often manage to open door bolts and tied knots.

Neither names a latch type, and nor will we, because nobody has published one. What we will say from keeping them is that a fastening a goat cannot operate is a fastening that needs two separate actions, and that the day you find out yours does not is the day it rains.

The gate itself has to meet the same standard as the fence beside it, which is the bit that gets forgotten. A 1.2 m fence with a 900 mm gate is a 900 mm fence. The gap under it counts too: goats go under before they go over, and a kid will use a gap an adult cannot. The same applies to the gap at the hinge end, where a determined goat will work a shoulder in.

Gates and hurdles made for sheep are sold widely and are the obvious thing to reach for. They are usually shorter than the goat standard and their bars are spaced for a sheep, so check both against the figures in the table above before buying rather than afterwards.

Electric fences and public paths

If your boundary runs along a public right of way this is a real duty, not a formality. Cornwall Council's guidance for landowners says the public must not be exposed to the risk of a shock, fences must be clearly identified as electrified, and warning signs should be repeated at intervals of 50 metres or less.

Where a temporary fence crosses a footpath it must be insulated with tubing to a width of no less than one metre, with a means of breaking the current at the crossing point. A permanent crossing needs a gate or stile authorised under section 147 of the Highways Act 1980. Cornwall Council will not allow electric fences across a public byway at all.

One honest note on the sign spacing: Shropshire Council's guidance says 100 metre intervals. AHDB says 50 metres or less, and Cornwall says 50 metres or less. Cornwall is the highway authority here, so 50 is the figure we work to. If you are elsewhere, ask your own authority rather than taking ours.

If they do get out

Section 8 of the Animals Act 1971 abolished the old common law rule that limited a keeper's duty over animals straying onto a highway, so a duty of reasonable care applies. Section 4 makes the person in possession of livestock liable for damage and expenses where they stray onto someone else's land. Under section 155 of the Highways Act 1980 it is an offence if goats are found straying on or at the side of a highway, carrying a fine up to level 3 on the standard scale, with removal expenses recoverable.

That is what the statutes say and it is not legal advice; take your own if it matters to you. The practical version is simpler. The fence is not just for the goats.

Where to read on

Fencing is one half of the ground question. The other is how much of it you need and what shelter goes on it, which is in land, space and shelter. If you are still deciding what you are buying, what miniature goat means in Britain covers that.