The type of fence you build for your animals will be most effective if you've first considered the nature of your animals and the size of area to be fenced. The size and location of the enclosure determine the pressure the fence will receive from animals. Also, you have to consider the labor and skill available for installation.

For many applications, electric fencing, in particular, offers flexibility of design and construction. Properly designed electric fencing can effectively restrain many types of animal – from bison to geese and rabbits. While not a good choice for deer and elk, electric fencing works well for pigs, cattle, and horses. With effective design and animal training, electric fencing can even work for sheep and goats.

After animals are trained, electric fencing presents a psychological barrier rather than a physical one. For instance, sheep grazing good pasture in a large acreage may be restrained by electric fencing because they behave differently from sheep confined in a small area where they are fed hay.

Sheep confined to a relatively small area might best be contained by physical-barrier fencing. Sorting alleys or small enclosures, too, are high-pressure areas also best suited to physical-barrier fencing.

Fencing that creates a physical barrier is constructed of fixed materials such as wooden planks, livestock panels, fence chargers, welded wire, or high-tensile mesh wire well supported with line posts set in the ground.

Behavior Issues

If you choose to install an electric fence, first consider that its effectiveness will be influenced by two aspects of animal behavior.

1. Imprinting.When animals learn for a fence at a very young age, they tend to carry this obedience into adulthood. For instance, electric fence built from two well-energized polywires can imprint baby goats, even as adults, they will respect two-wire electric fencing systems. Effective first lessons are the key and depend on proper wire height relative to the baby goat and a powerful energizer.
2. Escaping.Any weakness in the fence that permits or encourages animals to escape trains an escaping behavior into the animal. Once an animal finds a way out of an enclosure, it tends to repeatedly return to the weak spot, seeking a way out.

Designing Electric Fences

All fences must be connected to a dedicated energizer, which is a unit that converts regular household power into the proper electric pulse for the fence. 

When designing electric fencing, consider that multiple wires and posts set at a relatively close spacing strengthen an animal's perception that the electric fence, indeed, presents something of a physical barrier.

Animals well trained to electric fencing may require only one wire.

Equipment

1. PolywireWhile conducting electricity is slightly less effective than metal wire, light and flexible single-strand polywire offers ease of installation for temporary fencing for domesticated livestock. Wider and more visible polytape is an alternative choice for horses. Handheld reels permit ease of unrolling and rolling up the wire. Any type of step-in, insulated line posts will support the polywire.
2. Electric FenceNetting This portable mesh fencing suits all classes of livestock, particularly sheep and goats. Netting squares range from 5cm. Netting comes in rolls with built-in step-in posts. Height varies from 90cm-150cm
3. EnergizersThese are available in plug-in, battery-powered, and solar models. A fencing supplier can help you match energizer size to the design of your fencing system.Purchasing an energizer of more-than-sufficient power helps ensure conductivity even under less-than-ideal conditions such as tall grass or weeds, which impede electrical current when touching the wire. Install with one or more ground rods.

4. Fence TestersDigital voltage fence testerstell you the strength of the electrical current in the wires. Low readings indicate electrical shorts or poorly performing design components in the fence.