i have two very cute and very protective miniature donkeys. they are born with a natural dislike of dogs. so if you have a pasture in which you have chickens... look into a miniature donkey. they will keep grass down.. and keep dogs and other predators out of the pasture. but be careful the donkeys are very curious and sometimes can be jealous. one of mine will try to get your attention by nibbling on my hair,shirt,leg,arm,or fingers. haha
My neighbor has one and says that they deter coyotes....don't know whether that's true or not??? I enjoy listening to his bray!
I have a donkey and he was raised with goats... I sold those goats and got some more at a later date ... he broke 5 out of 6 goats necks when I was gone... I now have to keep my goats seperate from him... he does great with my ducks and chickens though...
Miniature donkeys should NOT be used as guard animals. A pack of coyotes can easily take them down! If you want a guard animal try a standard or mammoth donkey. And not all donkeys are good at guard. I raise miniature donkeys. Check out my website. You'll see the mammoths are there to protect the minis.
it gets to hot to have mammoths... unless they loose the coat in the summer. but we have two miniatures and they are sweet. but we saw them freek and try and squeesh a poor dog when it got in the pasture! they had it one the run. but we have a tight fence... so no worrys at anymore getting in haha.
Mammoths don't have any more of a coat than minis. They will loose the coat in the summer just like the minis and they are just as sweet but in a bigger package. But the point is minis are not recommended as guard donkeys.
No, I've seen them in rather large packs. They usually run the same route every 3 weeks or so. I have a coyote superhighway on my lower 40 and trap them sometimes.
my friend lives next to a open corn field (when harvested) and his neighbor got a black coyote and they cut off its tail. i didnt watch... to busy playing with his oldest male pygmy goat. he runs into my hand and he will just stand there till i push back. haha tug-a-war! ahha
if you want a donkey for protecton u need a large standard sized donkey a min donkey will get torn apart by dogs or a pack of coyotes getting a tiny min donkey to guard ur animals is unrealistic and cruel and eventually something is going to come along fast and tear the crap out of ur donkey my friends min donkey got eaten alive by coyotes now they have a big standard donkey and things are fine again sure a min donkey will be aggressive towards dogs but if push comes to shove and a bunch of hungry feral dogs or serious coyotes show up the donkey is dead meat these donkey seem to be a fad or something but what breeders wont tell u is how small the donkey are and how easily a pack of dogs or coyotes can mutilate them