You have a zoo. Which is this dual purpose critter to which you are referring?
Wow! You folks are harsh! Since when have you known me to be an animal collector? Every animal I have on my place has a purpose and if they don't do the job, they are out. They are either food, making food or guarding food.
The donkey is an experiment, just as are the LGDs for that matter. There are horror stories from both sets of guardian animals....I've been reading up on both of them for a few years now and dogs have killed as many~or more, as more folks are using dogs~sheep than the donkeys thus far.
The dual purpose of the donkey is in being a guardian animal....and, in a pinch, the donkey can be trained to do some work~in a real pinch, she can be eaten...and I'm not joking on that. I also need more hooves on the ground and manure production as I develop pasture, while also needing an animal that can utilize brush as part of their diet. If you'll look at most 3rd world countries, donkeys do most of the draft work there. Donkeys were an integral part of the settling of this country. Are there horror stories about donkeys? Yep. Just as many about horses of all breeds.
I've got just enough sense to sell the donkey if it doesn't work out....I don't get attached to animals like most of you folks and think every animal I get is a pet. They work or they are gone. If they cause me excess headaches, they are gone. They are economical to keep or they are gone....I'm VERY frugal, as you all know. Period. And by gone, I also have no problem shooting an animal that gives me problems, whereas many of you wouldn't do that if you were paid to do it.....I've done it before and I'll do it again. I'm not running a zoo here, but a food production system. I actually raise them, kill them right here and preserve them all by myself...more than many of you ladies can say.
I appreciate the heads up and
@bobm, good to see you on here......been missing you! I haven't been reading feel good stories about donkeys at all....in fact, most I've read are from people who get them and expect that they will guard the sheep or goats but they get two of them or they get a mini and it doesn't work out~but those folks are not me. Some say the donkey tries to kill the lambs when they arrive...this donkey didn't want to do that, she wanted to mother one and it was just as lethal a situation for the lamb and the ewe~but I got it handled right away and all were safe. Still are.
The thing is and I know it's very hard for y'all to understand this.....I don't make a move on this place without first consulting the Creator and then I listen for an answer. I don't proceed unless I think I've gotten that answer, then I trust the answer. There have been times when I didn't wait for the answer and rushed ahead and it didn't work out, but God was still there to guide me out of my mistakes. As He will this one if it's indeed a time when I have rushed His timing.
I prayed about this donkey, God provided one and we'll see what He has in store for the donkey and for us. It could be the donkey isn't supposed to stay here but stay only long enough for a learning experience for me. It could be that the donkey is supposed to stay here and I have to learn to trust God while an adjustment period is under way. Whatever the reason the donkey is here, I'm content to trust that God is in control of the situation. I do appreciate the warnings and I've already heard all of them through stories from others....but I'm not the typical woman farmer. A bit more crusty than that.
Animals are not machines. They require training and guidance. I have experienced already trained horses that helped train in green ones. Same with my cats and same with my dogs.
I can see that donkeys would try to herd with another horse and ignore whatever job you had planned for them.
I don't know who keeps an outside guard dog separated at night from a flock, gaggle, or herd. As I understand it the dog bonds with the flock, gaggle or herd and sleeps With them, especially when the weather is bad and they are all hunkered down in their shelter together.
Not sure what you are talking about, but the dogs didn't get a chance to bond with these sheep due to the circumstances nor will they stay in the high tensile long enough to do so now....the only alternative was to get an animal that WILL stay in high tensile and provide some semblance of guarding them. These sheep won't be in shelters but moving through the pasture every 2-5 days with the help of polybraid in constant rotational grazing over 18 acres...and that's all year long. No barns, no shelters, just trees and natural shelter out on the land. The donkey eats the same thing they do, so it's a natural fit if she does her job. If she doesn't, we also have a young pup we are fetching tomorrow that we will introduce into the sheep flock also, to see if this one will actually bond with them.
I don't think the donkey is a machine and training is ongoing....I just got her this past week, so you can't expect me to get her trained right away. I don't have another horse, so she can't herd with another horse....not sure what you mean by that?
IMHO you cannot rate one animal as any better than another.
Personally, I will take a horse any day of the week over either a donkey or a mule. They are Much prettier. And, they train easily.
HUH? Didn't you just do that? I never said anything about donkeys being better than horses, so I'm seriously not getting what the problem could be. Right now the donkey is an unknown element...we've never had one, heard it may work and has indeed worked for many people...and not for many also, and we needed a solution right away.
Wow, folks.....not sure if being socially distanced has made y'all cranky, but you've seriously underestimated my ability to cope with my developing farmstead. I've got a handle on it....or rather, God does, so I don't stress it all. Donkeys have a good resell value right now, so if she doesn't work out, I can sell her. Got a pup on the way, not sure if it will work out, but we'll see how this one goes. Ben is going to a home with fences that can handle him and a loving family, so that's all good too.
That takes me down to two dogs....far less than most of y'all have, a small flock of sheep, a donkey, a chicken flock and a few ducks. Hardly a zoo. Oh, forgot to mention the two barn cats....I guess that may move it into zoo category? Not sure.
Will be adding two rams and several ewe lambs later on this summer.....to my
homestead(which I'll now have to rename "the zoo", I suppose?), so if youins have any warnings about those, now's the time to get it out of your system while you are still in the mood for it.
outdoors things are wild as much as possible with as little hunting as i can get away with.
