Designing around the breed's size and reach
Saanens are big goats — tall at the shoulder, long in the leg, and heavy enough in milk that a doe leaning her full weight on a fence is applying serious force. Fence height that works for a small breed is a suggestion to a Saanen: she can rear, plant her forelegs high on the mesh, and be most of the way over a low line, and anything she goes over, a predator can come back through the damaged section she leaves behind. Build the fence for her dimensions first and the predator has to face the same barrier.
That means woven wire in a sound gauge, pulled properly tight on well-set posts, with corners braced to take the strain of a herd that congregates, rubs, and pushes where the herd always congregates, rubs, and pushes.
Mesh at kid level, strands at two heights
Saanen kids are born leggy and grow fast, and the bottom of the fence is their territory. Choose woven wire with small openings in its lower section so a kid cannot step through, duck under a lifted bottom wire, or wedge its head and twist. Keep the bottom wire following the ground through every dip; a long-legged kid finds a bridged hollow quickly, and a kid outside the fence at dusk is the predator's easiest target on the farm.
Electric strands do two distinct jobs here. An inside strand at the height where does rub and lean trains the herd to leave the mesh alone, preserving its tension. An outside offset strand, set out from the posts, delivers the first contact to a coyote or dog investigating the fence — nose first, before digging or climbing begins. Keep both strands clear of the long grass Saanens will happily push against the line.
Milking traffic, gates, and the weak points you create
A dairy herd passes through gates twice a day, and that traffic wears the boundary at exactly the places predators later test. Gates near the milking area should be mesh-filled, hung level so the bottom gap stays even, and fitted with latches that close positively every single time, because a gate left resting-to instead of latched is an open door at goat height. If a kidding pen sits inside the main pasture, give it the finest mesh and the most careful gate on the property: newborn Saanen kids, for all their legs, are helpless for their first days.
Feed and minerals stored against an outside fence line attract attention from both sides of the wire. Keep them inside, away from the boundary, and keep hay feeders off the fence so no doe gains a platform.
Holding the line across the grazing season
Inspect the fence the way the herd uses it: at rubbing height for loosened staples and bowed mesh, at ground level for dig starts and washouts, and at the corners for posts beginning to lean under the combined strain. After storms, walk it before turnout rather than after — a Saanen herd turned onto a line with a tree across it will be through the gap and scattered before you finish your coffee, and a scattered herd is an exposed herd.
A goat with punctures, torn skin, or a sudden limp after a disturbed night should be examined by a veterinarian promptly, since wounds high on a tall goat's neck and shoulders are easy to miss under handling stress.
For a herd this size, KinsLe Family Sharing keeps each doe's profile, the kidding pen arrangements, and the running fence-repair list where every family member can work from them.