Question about a Jack Donkey with my cows

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Diamond B Ranch

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A few months ago, I bought this donkey to run with my cows and keep the dogs and coyotes away from em. Figured I shoulda bought a johnny or jenny but I bought this jack at the right price. He's been runnin' with my grown cows with no problems.

Yesterday I dropped two new 6 month old heifers in the pasture and ole jack started chasin em and ran one through my hot wire.

Have him separated for now. Question is, if I get him castrated will this settle him down and keep him from chasing my calves? Gettin rid of him is not an option, he follows my wife around like a puppy and she likes him. :roll:

Thanks,
Chuck
 
I have a friend that has jenny. He put with his cows when they started calving she stomped the calves so they had to move here. Guess she thought they where dogs.
 
Diamond B Ranch":24q4tu25 said:
A few months ago, I bought this donkey to run with my cows and keep the dogs and coyotes away from em. Figured I shoulda bought a johnny or jenny but I bought this jack at the right price. He's been runnin' with my grown cows with no problems.

Yesterday I dropped two new 6 month old heifers in the pasture and ole jack started chasin em and ran one through my hot wire.

Have him separated for now. Question is, if I get him castrated will this settle him down and keep him from chasing my calves? Gettin rid of him is not an option, he follows my wife around like a puppy and she likes him. :roll:

Thanks,
Chuck

Jacks are known to be mean I have run a jenny for years with no problem.
 
We had a miniature jack that we got for the boys. He was mean to heifer, would grab ears or tail, especially loved to catch his victim lying down. He would get knocked off his feet and come back for more. We traded him for a registered Samoyed female dog. She is much better behaved.
 
Right, I understand a Jack is not the most favored animal as a herd protector.

My question is, will castrating him correct the behavioral problems? Or, is it too late for the ole boy? I know some foks use a Johnny with no problems.
 
Diamond B Ranch":2dail5o2 said:
Right, I understand a Jack is not the most favored animal as a herd protector.

My question is, will castrating him correct the behavioral problems? Or, is it too late for the ole boy? I know some foks use a Johnny with no problems.

Shoot him or sell him your choice. A Jenny might work. Are you having that big of a problem?

Tod
 
Diamond B Ranch":bclr3aaa said:
Right, I understand a Jack is not the most favored animal as a herd protector.

My question is, will castrating him correct the behavioral problems? Or, is it too late for the ole boy? I know some foks use a Johnny with no problems.
Probably too late. Kinda like teaching an old dog not to do what he's used to doing.
My brother has a Jack that is not cut, either. He's really friendly, leaves the mare alone (even in heat), & likes to chase the calves. :mad: He broke out of the fence & went after the neighbor's bull & was trying to breed the bull! :roll: The bull ended up in deep water to get away from the Jack. They had to move him out of 'eyesight' of the bull because anytime he sees the bull he gets out & follows & pesters the bull. He is going to grow wheels as he sure isn't doing his job!!
 
Jay":3egiao61 said:
Diamond B Ranch":3egiao61 said:
Right, I understand a Jack is not the most favored animal as a herd protector.

My question is, will castrating him correct the behavioral problems? Or, is it too late for the ole boy? I know some foks use a Johnny with no problems.
Probably too late. Kinda like teaching an old dog not to do what he's used to doing.
My brother has a Jack that is not cut, either. He's really friendly, leaves the mare alone (even in heat), & likes to chase the calves. :mad: He broke out of the fence & went after the neighbor's bull & was trying to breed the bull! :roll: The bull ended up in deep water to get away from the Jack. They had to move him out of 'eyesight' of the bull because anytime he sees the bull he gets out & follows & pesters the bull. He is going to grow wheels as he sure isn't doing his job!!

Sounds like you have one of those L.A. Jakes. ;-)

Don't know that I would let him get to friendly. :shock:
 
This is kind of straying from the original topic, but reminds me of a friend who had a black Brahman-Holstein cross bull that was basically given to him. His friend on a dairy had a Brahman bull jump the fence and breed one of his Holsteins; my friend milks for this dairy when they need help, hence that's how he got the bull. It was short-bodied, tall, and bony; short on muscle, and why he was even going to use it I don't know. At any rate, it wasn't breeding his cows. I owed him a favor, and he borrowed my Hereford bull to get the job done. The Brahstein bull who had ignored the cows suddenly began following my bull, who was breeding cows, around, trying to mount him. My bull would pause occasionally to take a swipe at the Brahstein with his horns, and get back to work!

I think I would sell the donkey.
 
Diamond B Ranch":19ukw5ip said:
My question is, will castrating him correct the behavioral problems?
If I couldn't kill him, give him away, or sell him, I would cut him. Should take care of your problem. You can't afford not to do something by calving time. The last one we had here was Hell on baby calves. I gave him to a neighbor who cut him and is running him with cattle.

Every jack I've ever had around cattle were nothing but a-holes. Cutting him will make a tremendous difference in his disposition, just as it would in mine! At least until I got healed up enough to find you! ;-)
 
I don't think cutting him now is going to solve your problem. We had a gelding years ago that also chased our heifers, and when he ran one through a fence we sold him to a guy that had draft horses. Then we found another gelding that was owned by a fitter, and had been out with cattle, and he was fine.. never chased anything.
 
I just recently had that same problem with my big paint gelding when he lost his pasture buddy. He tried to buddy up with the cows, but horse "herd talk" is different than cow herd talk, and he started chasing the bull calves. So I put him out with the big herd of mama cows and bull to see if the bull would teach him a little respect, and he very respectfully avoided the bull (and his horns!), but still chased the biggest bull calf. Guess he saw him as a threat to his herd position. So, I got him a new girl horse friend, and he hasn't chased a cow or calf since. Doesn't even look at them. Point being that he was gelded and it didn't matter whether or not he chased calves. Him being with his own kind did. Of course, getting another horse could have backfired on me in that both of them could have started chasing the calves.........Luckily its worked out well, and cows and horses are co-existing peacefully once again. My next step would have been to fence the gelding in his own pasture to keep him seperate from the cows. Good luck though, I know how frustrating it is when everybody isn't getting along! :)
 
Thanks folks, lots of good replies and I appreciate it.

General concensus seems to be to get rid of him. He's sure not worth the chance of losin a calf. I'll do that and find a nice, mellow jenny somewhere. :D

Thanks again,
Chuck
 
"Gettin rid of him is not an option, he follows my wife around like a puppy and she likes him."

Unless you intend to breed donkeys, there's no point in keeping an intact jack...if your wife wants a good PET, gelding him might be the answer...I had a miniature jack go after one of our calves and then chase the calf's mother around the field...he was also able to backdown the bull to steal its grain...needless to say, he's not pastured with the cows anymore...

If you're looking for a livestock guardian, this article might be of interest:

http://www.usipp.com/gatefarm/the_donkey_guardian.htm
 
Thanks Gale, very informative link!!

Castrating was my first preference to solve this delimma, I just wasn't sure if it would do the trick. It doesn't look lie a "for sure" fix.

After advising the wife that ole jack needed to go, and weathering the fallout, I think I'll just get him cut and see how that works out. At least then I've tried everything before I replace him.

Thanks!
 
You are welcome....I think castrating him will make him a better companion animal...those jacks can be something else! But a good donkey gelding (without breeding on his mind) is just as smart, easy to train; treat him with respect and gain his trust, and you have a friend for life.

Another thing is to be sure your vet ligates when castrating the jack...donkeys can bleed more readily than other equines, so please ask about this as a precaution, will you?

We have miniature donkeys and Dexters...actually, the dexters probably "guard" the donkeys more than vice versa...though I prefer pasturing them separately if I can...

I hope all works out well for you and that your wife will still have a great pet!
 

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