Guarding Livestock with Donkey?

[hrslvr]

I have heard of this before but never really thought about it but now that it is getting closer to us finally purchasing property I figured I had better get some info on this practice....

From what I have read you get a really young donkey and raise it with livestock and when it is older it will chase off/kill dogs/coyotes. You can also use llamas. My questions are....

1) Does this really work?

2) What do you prefer donkey or llama(if you have tried them)?

3)Would longhorns need this kind of guard or are the death on the hoof for dogs/coyotes like I have heard? :shock:

Anyway thanks for any replies! I love this board! :heart:

 

[Dusty Britches]

Texas Department of Agriculture has some recommendations for guard donkeys. Here's their web site:

http://www.agr.state.tx.us/pesticide/br ... onkeys.htm

That said - You couldn't pay me to take a donkey. They bray - a lot. And, I've heard nightmare stories about jacks and jennies that were mean and would attack new calves, heifers and full grown cows.

And - I don't care what anyone says, I have my own logic that begs one question. My logic is - the typical healthy calf that needs protection from 'yotes is less than 3 weeks old. Typically, that momma cow will tuck that young calf away from the herd. If the cow returns to the herd (with the donkey), that's when the young calf is in the greatest danger. Will that donkey leave the herd to protect a calf it hasn't even met yet?

From what I've seen, if the momma cow stays with the calf, she typically will run off coyotes herself. If the cow brings the calf back right away to the herd, the whole herd will protect that calf.

I've got lots of coyotes - you can count 5 or 6 groups all around every night. But, I've never lost a healthy calf to a coyote.

 

[hrslvr]

Thanks for your reply Dusty Britches!

This is the feedback I am looking for as I don't know much about cattle (although I am researching as much as possible ) .

 

[TXBobcat]

We are raising Longhorn cattle and we have 2 donkeys on the ranch, soon to be 1, as I am getting rid of the jack. I'll explain more on that in a minute.

Last December we lost a calf to what we think were coyotes. Shortly thereafter I picked up a donkey (jenny) from a friend of mine who ranches in South Texas. The donkey had been running with a herd of Charolais when I got it, and was used to cattle.

I hauled the donkey home and put it in the pen for a day or so and then turned it out with the cows. As soon as the cows saw it they started acting crazy, bawling, and trying to run it off. They succeeded to the point that the cows stayed on one end of the place and the donkey on the other. This went on for about a month or 2, until they finally started to accept her a little more. So after all that, I really couldn't say she is doing any good, but she's still out there.

Now to the jack. About a month ago, the owner of the ranch acquired a jack from a neighbor down the road. He turned it in with the jenny, thinking it would be good to get her bred. Well, the jack immediately went to work, against her will I might add. A few weeks ago I noticed one of the young heifers came up and both her back legs were cut up pretty bad. In the back of my mind, I thought it looked like teeth marks, but I figured she had just got cut up in some wire or something. I told the owner my suspicions about the jack and what I had heard about them. He dismissed it, and then last week I told him I had found 3 more head with similiar bite marks, and he either needed to find a home for the jack it, or it needed to be shot. He called the lady he got it from, and I think she has located a home for the jack, but she said they didn't want it until it was gelded. Until then, I have him penned up by himself.

My advice, if you get a donkey, get a jenny - don't get a jack, unless you have him cut. Personally, I don't think the longhorns need much protection. From my experience, the longhorns hate dogs/coyotes worse than the donkeys. Actually the donkeys will run away from my blue heeler, but most of the cattle will go on the attack if the heeler gets too close. She usually takes a wide swath around the cattle when following me thru the pasture, unless I call her to do something.

 

[preston39]

hrslvr,
You may wish to do a search...there is a long thread on this board re this topic with many view points. It is worth looking at. It seems ONE jenny is the way to go. Here is an analysis on Llamas that I thought was very sensible and logical;

"the llamas range from 1 1/2 years old to 8 years old. the llamas that are at least 3 are much better at being aggressive with the dogs from what i have seen. i was told that when you first get a llama, pen it in a small pen in the field with the cows for few days, that conditions it to guard those cows. then turn it out with the herd. also, only put one llama in the field if it is a male or you can put as many as 2 females. if you put more in the same field, they bunch up and forget the cows. i dont know if this is true or not, but something is working, it looks like, since i got the llamas---i would guess that cats would overmatch them.
cats are starting to appear in our area. a guy i know about 7 miles from me had a cow with a beautiful pair of twin calves. when they were a week old one of them disappeared. he never found a trace of the calf. a week later, the other disappeared. he found it hanging in a tree fork about 10 feet off the ground partially eaten. i dont know of anything that would do that other than a cat".............

I understand the same approach is applicable to donkeys also. It seems more than two will allow them to herd by themselves and forget the cows/calfs.Jennys seem to be indicated rather than a jack.

I know when I was a small guy...a Jack killed a calf right in front of us before dad could get to him...broke the calf's neck with one chomp. The jack never saw sunrise again.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Folks with sheep here often use guard animals. Local gelded Lamas or gelded Jacks from BLM land out west. They both come pretty cheap. Lamas make less noise.

I can not imagine a Longhorn needs that kind of protection.

 

[Caustic Burno]

It is a known fact that Pumas love horse and donkey, as thick as they are getting might should go in the horse and donkey business. People gonna have to get replacements from somewhere. Unless a new strain of mutant cat has developed and eats calfs only as appears to be happening in some regions of the country. :shock:

 

[preston39]

hrslvr,
Here is another good study for you.

http://www.usipp.com/gatefarm/the_donkey_guardian.htm

 

[Gale Seddon]

aaaah, preston, you took the words right outa my mouth....thanks!

hrslvr, you are wise to research this before you get any livestock...the site posted by preston is good advice about using donkeys as guardians...(no jacks, no miniature donkeys, etc.)

 

[Medic24]

Well, I for one can vouch for the fact that if you get more then one Llama it is simply a herd of Llamas.
I now have 13 of the little suckers, it all started from a purchase of ONE from a local rescue group, for the protection of my calves. Then they called asking if I would be interested in more.........big mistake!

I have lost 3 calves this past winter/spring to predators, the Llamas on their side of the pasture, the cattle on the other.and yes, we have been through all of this I do have the pictures as proof. ppl lie, pictures don't.

Anyway, the Llamas are going (in a hole if need be, as they are worth little these days) and I have just aquired a Jenny and a Jack, I will keep one of them, just don't know which one yet.

 

[Dusty Britches]

I edited my post above. There was something wrong with the link. It's fixed now.

 

[preston39]

"Medic24"]Well, I for one can vouch for the fact that if you get more then one Llama it is simply a herd of Llamas.
I now have 13 of the little suckers, it all started from a purchase of ONE from a local rescue group, for the protection of my calves. Then they called asking if I would be interested in more.........big mistake!

I have lost 3 calves this past winter/spring to predators, the Llamas on their side of the pasture, the cattle on the other.and yes, we have been through all of this I do have the pictures as proof. ppl lie, pictures don't.

Anyway, the Llamas are going (in a hole if need be, as they are worth little these days) and I have just aquired a Jenny and a Jack, I will keep one of them, just don't know which one yet.[/quote]
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medic,
The Llamas herd together where there is a group and forget the cows.
A neighbor had four...not good. he sold and kept one pinned for a while and turned her out with the cow herd...she stayed right with them and the yotes haven't been a problem for several months.

Watch the Jack...they can be death on a small calf. It appears the Jenny is the way to go.

 

[hrslvr]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

 

[Rustler9]

If you get a jack make sure you get him very young and geld him and let him grow up with the cows. I don't know about jennys but I think they're probably ok. The jack we got was already two years old and even cutting him didn't help. He was more harm to our cattle than he was help. He would attack the calves-back them up into a fence corner and bite and kick them. Some one came by and wanted him one day and I was more than happy to load him up. I might venture to try a jenny or gelded jack but never another jack. He bit a good heifer all over her back and shoulders and chased her all over the pasture before I saw what he was doing. Longhorns don't really need a donkey anyway but I just thought he would be nice to have around. Not.