How to Fence Pigs: Electric vs Permanent Fencing and How Much You Need

Pigs are strong, curious and single-minded about rooting, so a pig fence has to do two jobs: stop them pushing under or through it, and teach them to leave it alone. Getting it right before the pigs arrive is far cheaper than fixing it after the first escape.

Permanent fencing: height and depth

The Government of Ontario's guidance on fencing outdoor pigs says fences for adult pigs should be at least 1.5 m high. To stop pigs rooting underneath, it recommends burying part of the fence, or attaching a mesh skirt buried to a depth of 60 cm.

What a UK pet-pig charity recommends: stock-proof fencing

Every Pig Rescue Service calls stock-proof fencing “the best way to create your piggy enclosure”, with posts dug to the correct depth and secured with concrete and the wire mesh suitably tense, and advises checking the fencing often in the weeks after the pigs arrive and at regular intervals afterwards. It does not recommend electric fencing alone: results are inconsistent, and while pigs taught to respect it from a young age will respect it for life, it warns against letting adult pigs learn through repeated shocks. It says hedges alone are not suitable, dry stone walls generally won't contain pigs reliably, and it strongly advises against relying on temporary barriers such as heras fencing for a permanent perimeter. It gives no fence heights or burial depths (Every Pig Rescue Service, fencing), so the Ontario figures above are the only dimensions we found from a government source.

Electric fencing: low wires, high wires, checked every day

The same guidance recommends combining electric wires set low — at pig height — with wires set high to prevent jumping, and stresses that electric fencing should be tested daily. That last point matters most. An electric fence works because the pig learns to respect it; one that has lost its charge teaches the opposite.

Beyond that, detail comes from experience rather than standards. One experienced keeper, writing for Countryside, uses three strands at about 4, 8 and 12 to 16 inches above the ground and says a quality low-impedance charger matters, with a proper earth of at least three earth rods in a line about 10 feet apart. Treat that as one keeper's working setup rather than a published standard, and follow your fence supplier's instructions for your particular charger.

Double fencing, for disease control

AHDB's biosecurity guidance on boundary risks and fencing advises double fencing, three metres apart, where livestock grazing adjoins other land, and electric fencing as the option where permanent fencing isn't possible. It is written for farm boundaries generally rather than pigs specifically, but keeping a gap between animals on either side of a boundary is why the same idea is common around pigs, where diseases like African swine fever are a live concern.

How much fence does a paddock need?

Outdoors, the RSPCA free-range labelling figure is 12 m² per pig where the ground is rotated (see how much land pigs need). For a square paddock at that size, the fence length is four times the side:

These are for one square paddock. Rotating pigs to fresh ground means several paddocks (adjoining ones share a side), and a double-fenced boundary doubles the perimeter, so treat the table as a floor. A long, narrow paddock needs more fence than a square one of the same area. Our land needed calculator gives the area for your own numbers, and our fencing calculator works out the fence length for your actual paddock shape, minus any side that's already fenced and your gate width.

What you'll need to buy

For an electric system, the pieces are: an energiser (charger) matched to the length of fence and the animals; wire, tape or netting; posts; insulators; earth rods; a fence tester so you can check it daily; and a gate arrangement that keeps the circuit live. We're not recommending products — we haven't tested any, and we don't have affiliate relationships — but the buying questions are the useful part: how long is the fence, is it permanent or moved with the pigs, and is the energiser rated for that length in your conditions. Prices vary too much by supplier and specification for us to quote responsibly, so get quotes for your own fence length.

Fencing sits alongside the other one-off costs in our cost guide, and local rules may say something about how pigs must be contained, so check before you build.

Sources: Every Pig Rescue Service, “Fencing”; Government of Ontario, “Fencing for outdoor pig production”; AHDB, “Biosecurity: boundary risks and fencing”; Countryside, “Tools for a Successful Electric Pig Fence” (one keeper's experience); paddock size from RSPCA Assured free-range labelling; fence lengths calculated by us as four times the side of a square paddock. Sources checked: September 2026.

Common questions

How high should a pig fence be?

Ontario's government guidance says permanent fences for adult pigs should be at least 1.5 m high, with part of the fence buried or a mesh skirt buried to a depth of 60 cm to stop pigs rooting underneath. Electric wires are set low, at pig height, so they meet the animal's nose.

Is electric fencing enough to keep pigs in?

Not on its own, according to Every Pig Rescue Service, which recommends stock-proof fencing as the base and says electric alone gives inconsistent results (it works for pigs taught to respect it from a young age). Where electric fencing is used it has to work every day. Government guidance says to combine electric wires low (at pig height) and high (to prevent jumping) and to test electric fencing daily. A fence that has lost its charge teaches pigs to walk through it.

Why do pig keepers use double fencing?

For disease control. AHDB's biosecurity guidance for farm boundaries advises double fencing, three metres apart, where livestock grazing adjoins other land, to keep animals on either side apart; electric fencing is its suggested alternative where permanent fencing isn't possible.

How much fencing does a pig paddock need?

For a square paddock at the RSPCA free-range figure of 12 square metres per pig, two pigs need about 20 metres of fence, four pigs about 28 metres, six about 34 metres and ten about 44 metres. Rotating pigs between paddocks multiplies that.