Horses, Predator Deterrent?

[AGeese]

So from time to time, there comes up various live stock or other farm animals for sale or rehome in my area. After learning of a pair of miniature donkeys, I was wondering about how of much a deterrent to predators might the entire horse family in general be?

Does anyone have any experiences with horses defending other species? or just themselves? Do they actively initiate a challenge to would be predators? Are some breeds more likely or less likely to confront predators?

I do have some personal assumptions, but I'd just like to pitch this out there to hear what the community says.

Thanks ahead!

 

[SilverBirds]

Depends on the types of predators you have. From my own research, I've read donkeys are very good guardians. The mini ones are not as good a protectors, but they have excellent sense of hearing and sight and will alert if anything comes near.

Horses spook very easy and have the flight response over fight. I can't really picture a horse protecting the other animals, but I may be wrong.

Again, this is from my own personal research as I do not own either of these animals.

 

[Gizabelle]

Donkeys can be a good option, but it is absolutely crucial that they are raised with the species they are intended to protect.
I once helped catch a neighbors new "guard donkey" from his goat pasture. He had heard that they make good gaurdians and had picked this one up on the cheap and just turned him out. I have absolutely no idea how we managed to get that (completely wild) animal out of there before he killed all the spring kids, but we did.
Lesson learned. Pay more for the "right" animal and introduce properly.

 

[AGeese]

Depends on the types of predators you have. From my own research, I've read donkeys are very good guardians. The mini ones are not as good a protectors, but they have excellent sense of hearing and sight and will alert if anything comes near.

Horses spook very easy and have the flight response over fight. I can't really picture a horse protecting the other animals, but I may be wrong.

Again, this is from my own personal research as I do not own either of these animals.

I've definitely seen the spook factor, almost had my food crushed once. I wonder about the miniature horses if there's any difference with them too.

We have coyotes

Donkeys can be a good option, but it is absolutely crucial that they are raised with the species they are intended to protect.
I once helped catch a neighbors new "guard donkey" from his goat pasture. He had heard that they make good gaurdians and had picked this one up on the cheap and just turned him out. I have absolutely no idea how we managed to get that (completely wild) animal out of there before he killed all the spring kids, but we did.
Lesson learned. Pay more for the "right" animal and introduce properly.

Yeah that's what I heard too, and also what I was afraid of since often times these are rescues already grown.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I've definitely seen the spook factor, almost had my food crushed once. I wonder about the miniature horses if there's any difference with them too.

We have coyotes



Yeah that's what I heard too, and also what I was afraid of since often times these are rescues already grown.

It's unlikely a horse or mini horse will protect much. They will fight if need be but prefer to run away. It's possible but I wouldn't plan on it working out. Also, equines can be extremely dangerous for people without experience, and they have very complex nutritional requirements, depending on the sort of pasture you have they can get severely ill just from eating the wrong sort of species mix in the pasture.

Unless you have a dry, desert-type pasture with very little sugar and protein in your grasses, I would NOT recommend a donkey. They need a heavily restricted diet if fed lush green grass and clover.

A livestock guardian dog would be a more effective and cheaper option than an equine. Even if it costs you $1000s to get. Keeping horses right is expensive and time consuming. That's why I have chickens now!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Considering a bobcat systematically wiped out a flock of turkeys in our barn, including eating one in the horse stall, they're not going to do much.

Donkeys might be different though

 

[Aunt Angus]

I had thought about a donkey. I had thought about a llama, too. But I don't really want to add more large grazing-type animals right now because of the terrible drought we're in. So I came up with a different plan...

I have 4 goats who we use as brushers to keep our land free of invasive blackberries and poison oak. They live on a large-ish area - over an acre, but we use portable fencing, so the size/shape/covered terrain changes frequently. The fence is electric netting that works beautifully to deter ground predators. The goats, too, have been good for deterring foxes because they hate foxes.

So we are moving the chickens inside the goat area. The coop, run, and yard will be contained by more temp fencing and covered with aviary netting to deter aerial attacks. The goats will form a moat around the chickens.

Ha! A goat moat!

 

[Gizabelle]

I had thought about a donkey. I had thought about a llama, too. But I don't really want to add more large grazing-type animals right now because of the terrible drought we're in. So I came up with a different plan...

I have 4 goats who we use as brushers to keep our land free of invasive blackberries and poison oak. They live on a large-ish area - over an acre, but we use portable fencing, so the size/shape/covered terrain changes frequently. The fence is electric netting that works beautifully to deter ground predators. The goats, too, have been good for deterring foxes because they hate foxes.

So we are moving the chickens inside the goat area. The coop, run, and yard will be contained by more temp fencing and covered with aviary netting to deter aerial attacks. The goats will form a moat around the chickens.

Ha! A goat moat!

We use that very same tactic. We have a permanent welded wire goat paddock that also contains the chicken coop and run, then movable electric fencing attached and rotated periodically. We do FR though, but the smarter birds learned to retreat behind the electric fence when stressed (and fortunately taught the younger and denser birds as well)
Not a perfect system, but with only a few instances, it has worked well.
Not sure if its a factor, but we also have a small juliana pig in with our goats. I suspect that any wild critter that has ever tangled with a wild pig would not be eager to trespass anywhere that pig smell is evident.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

One of our horses killed a coyote once, kicked it in the head.

But only fear for our horse is mountain lions or wolves.

 

[sekeyslaks]

Donkeys are good guardians,I speak from personal experience!We have a donkey called Rebel that jumped into our pasture one day and never left.Our pasture is right next door to coyote territory and he protects our horses from them,neighbors dogs,and he even herds our chickens out of the pasture! Horses aren’t as territorial,they tend to be a little more docile.They only seem to get mad on a personal level.For example our horses are ok with our dogs around them,but one time our dog tried to join the horses when they were feasting on horse apples and our horse Toby kicked him in the head! He was ok but could’ve been worse!