Pallet Fencing for Goats

Anyone have experience with pallet fencing for goats? Look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWQ

Your link got cut off:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWQ13GCgc-M

I am all for using existing resources to not only reduce cost but to reduce waste, but using pallets in such a way is problematic.

The first problem you run into is getting the pallets there. You can get a few pallets for free here and there and even find lots filled with them for the taking on occasion, but how will you get them from point A to point B? For many of us that means making a trip with 1-8 of the things (depending on size of vehicle). Depending on how far you live from civilization (often where the warehouses and such are that have surplus pallets) this may or may not be the tipping point by itself but there are other problems. The video shows a great design that will work very well, but to do so you have to use two pallets every 4 feet, to fence in a 100x100 area (roughly a quarter acre) you will need then about 200 pallets.

The second problem is fastening them together. Will you use nails or screws? Even with the design shown you still need to fasten them together or the goats can "accidentally" knock one over. Figure a conservative estimate of thee nails per pair (which would be rather flimsy) for a total of 300 nails. Try driving a nail into a free pallet. Some are easy to work with others are so hard you need practice to drive a nail straight - especially doing it sideways. How many nails will you use and how much time will it take?

If somehow you get past the delivery of so many pallets to where you need them and have no issue with fastening together and can still save money they I congratulate you, it is truly an accomplishment and I always love to see resources used well. For a lot of people (like us) we would look towards other options for fencing first and save the pallets for small projects.

Pete,

I've constructed a a pallet fence for goats and I must say that they are quite sturdy, but it can take quite a bit of work to install even when using screws. Though, it really depends on how large of an area you want to fence off. For me, I fenced off about a 200 ft length using about half pallets and the other half with a metal fencing and while the pallets did require a bit more work they ended up being more durable, especially with the design in the video, but I went with placing 2 pallets in the same direction with one cross brace in between to cut down on how many pallets I needed even though it reduced the strength a bit. Also, as Thomas stated, there can be much work involved with just transporting the pallets as well, especially if you will be using a smaller vehicle, so you may want to consider finding large quantities of pallets in one place and using a trailer to transport as much as possible with as little time as possible. Overall, I would say that constructing a pallet fence is well worth it since it provides a strong, long lasting fence for little money, but the labor involved is the main drawback in doing so. Hope this helps.

-Alexander

I hadn't had my does an hour before one of them skinnied through a larger space in the pallet fencing while I still had her on a lead! lol Watch the spacing would be my advice, especially if you are to have little ones born. We still use the fence but have put up some heavy duty netting so there are no spaces for the little ones to get through when they are born. I have Nigerian Dwarf goats though and with larger breeds this might not be an issue. I would love to see some pics of your fencing to give me more ideas if you do use it though!

I'm all for reusing things. But has anyone has thought about this... unless you know exactly where the pallets have been used, and what they've come in contact with, there's no way to know what chemicals it may have come in contact with. I'm multiple chemical sensitive so chemical transference is always on my mind. I know pallets can come in direct contact with any number of very toxic materials by ruptures, spillage, placement on toxic substances etc.. Food for thought.