I just bought a baby donkey!

[NellaBean]

My horse I posted a pic of up there was moved to a farm about a half hour from here. That farm lost ALL of their baby DONKEYS to a pack of dogs the year prior. Same pack came back in and killed an adult mini horse not long after I moved my horse there. They had to put a mule in with their mini donkeys to protect them when one foaled out later on.

A donkey with a baby is probably going to protect your sheep less than a single donkey. The whole idea behind keeping a donkey with sheep is that the donkey thinks of the sheep as its "herd" and will protect them as it would its "own". Once you have multiples, I believe you have less of a chance of the donkey associating the sheep as her "own" and a better chance the donkeys will band together and leave the sheep to their own devices.

How many sheep are you getting? Do you really need all 4 acres fenced? Your best bet would be to use woven wire to fence in a smaller area, use wire as multiple people have said in this thread, top strand to keep jumpers/climbers out, bottom outside strand to keep diggers out and a single middle strand inside to keep leaners from damaging it. You really need a smaller area in addition anyways, in case they need locked up or more easily caught (shearing, trimming, etc). I would create a small "pen" so to speak to keep them in......and as you have money, slowly fence in a larger area.

 

[lasergrl]

My sheep do not care at all about polywire. They squeeze right through it no matter how tight. I have it inside of woven wire to rotate pastures. I had to buy an electric net fence and that they do not cross unless the charger goes down. These are hair sheep. I am using the second bioggest parmak solar charger. I dont think your fence will keep lambs in at all. Sorry to be a downer this is just what happened to me my first year. It should easily keep the donkey in. If you cant change your fence you might consider different stock like cows, things that dont challange that type of fence. When I had the polywire and brought home a yearling jersey, my donkey chased her right out of the fence like it wasnt even there.

 

[awesomefowl]

I was going to buy a portable electric Premier fence for hair sheep. We don't have many dogs running up here but we do have coyotes!!!!
The sheep would only be out part of the time in the summer anyway, and I have a large open front barn to lock them in.

 

[boykin2010]

The donkey owner just called and said he was bringing the donkey in the morning! I hope that these sheep will not try to escape the polywire lasergrl was your polywire electrified? I am getting hair sheep. 2 or so katahdin and a couple that are crossed with st croix probably. my parents are letting me get these sheep so i can make money. I saved up money and fenced in a part of our field. Yes, i need four acres because 4 acres will hold about 12 sheep and that is about how many i want. I plan on selling excess lambs. I may want to breed the jenny when ever she is ready. that will be a little extra protection.

 

[lasergrl]

Yup, the polywire was electric and it was hot. My charger is way big and has alot of ground rods. They just dont seem to care about it. You may have luck if the sheep are already trained to the wire from the previous farm. If they have never seen polywire, you may lose your sheep in the first 5 minutes you have them home. If they are flighty and wild, I wouldnt even try it. It would be like throwing your money away.

If you are bent on trying it, this is what I would do:

You absolutely need a catch pen. This is a solidly fenced area that you can feed them in, so you can doctor them if needed. My catch pen is about 12 feet square. I dont know what I would do without it. If you have a barn that could work too.
When you get the sheep, keep them confined with the donkey for a descent legth of time. This will help the sheep and donkey bond. This will only work if the donkey isnt aggressive. It sounds like it wont be from its past history. I would keep them confined at least a week. Then you can let them out to the pasture area. The donkey needs to be trained to the electric first for this to work. The sheep may not challange the fence and even if they do they might come back in because the donkey is in. They will want to stay where the donkey is because they were penned together so they will see her as the flock leader.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Roll on the sheep, and the donkey.

 

[awesomefowl]

wow, boykin, you are the same age as me!

and you too want hair sheep!

cool!

 

[boykin2010]

I got my donkey! She is SO SWEET. You can pet her all you want and walk her around and she will follow you. She will even eat out of your hand. I love the sound she makes every once in a while the AWWWW-EEEEE-AWWWEEEEEE!!! I am loving her and i will post a pic for yall to see. She was a little dirty when she arrived so my parents gave her a bath while i was at school... She looks so much better now. In the picture i am about to post she is still drying from the bath so she isnt as poofy as normal.

 

[boykin2010]

Here she is! The previous owner named her powder puff. I dont really like that so i am thinking of changing it. I really liked the name daisy duke for her.
What do yall think? any name suggestions?

 

[Alabama ee]

She is so cute.

You will find they are very smart and love "their" person. They get very attached sort of like how a dog is.