Moving Goats, Sheep & Pigs: Fencing, Trailers & the Escape-Artist Problem

This is part three of a short series on moving farm animals. Goats, sheep, and pigs get lumped together in a lot of generic moving guides, but they behave very differently on new ground, and the fencing that held your last herd is genuinely not a reliable guarantee for the next property.

Health Papers and Basic Requirements

As with cattle, a certificate of veterinary inspection is standard practice for moving goats, sheep, and pigs any real distance in Texas, particularly across county lines. Scrapie tags are required for sheep and goats under the USDA's National Scrapie Eradication Program if you're selling, showing, or moving animals off your property in most circumstances — if your animals don't already have them, this is worth handling before moving day, not after. Pigs moving any distance, especially across state lines, may require additional health documentation depending on destination, so check with your vet on current requirements for your specific route.

Trailer Setup by Species

Goats and sheep transport reasonably well together in a properly sized stock trailer with good footing and ventilation, similar in principle to cattle but at a much smaller scale — overcrowding is still the main risk, since animals packed too tight can trample each other if the trailer sways or brakes hard. Goats specifically are notorious for finding any gap in trailer construction, so check for loose panels or gates before loading, not after you're already on the highway.

Pigs need their own consideration: they're heavier per animal than goats or sheep of similar size, don't tolerate heat well at all — pigs can't sweat effectively, so heat stress during a Houston summer transport is a real and fast-developing risk — and benefit from bedding on the trailer floor for cushioning and traction. Never haul pigs in direct midday summer heat; early morning is the safest window by a wide margin.

The Fencing Reality Check

This is the section I'd tell every client to actually read closely. "Goat-proof" fencing is a genuinely different standard than fencing that works for cattle or horses — goats are climbers, testers, and problem-solvers in a way most other livestock aren't, and a fence that's perfectly adequate for sheep can be a joke to a determined goat. Woven wire fencing with openings small enough that horns and heads can't get stuck, set at a height goats can't simply jump, is the realistic baseline — field fencing designed for cattle often has gaps wide enough for a goat to squeeze through or get a head caught trying.

Pigs are diggers, not climbers. A fence that stops goats from going over won't necessarily stop a pig from going under. Pig fencing needs either buried wire, a bottom strand close enough to the ground to prevent rooting underneath, or hot wire at snout height to discourage digging in the first place. If your new property's existing fencing was set up for horses or cattle only, budget time and money to actually pig-proof any section pigs will access before they arrive, not after the first escape.

Sheep are the easiest of the three to contain with standard field fencing in reasonable condition, but don't assume "easiest" means "no work needed" — check for any low spots or washouts that a determined ewe could push through, especially along creek beds or drainage areas where fence maintenance tends to get neglected.

The First Days on New Ground

Like cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs all benefit from a contained adjustment period rather than immediate full turnout onto unfamiliar acreage — a smaller paddock lets them learn the boundaries of their new space with lower stakes if the fencing has any weak points you haven't found yet. This is especially true for goats, who will test every inch of a new perimeter in the first week in a way other species generally won't.

Shelter from day one matters more for pigs than people often expect — they're vulnerable to sunburn and heat stress without shade, so confirm functional shelter is available immediately on arrival, not something you'll build once they're settled in.

Watch for pecking-order stress if you're introducing new animals to an existing herd or flock of the same species. Give new arrivals a period of visual-but-separated contact with existing animals before full integration where possible — this reduces the intensity of dominance conflicts that happen when unfamiliar animals are thrown together all at once.

Next in this series: horses, donkeys, and mules, followed by llamas and alpacas, then emus and honeybees, each of which has genuinely different handling and transport needs from everything covered so far.