Livestock Guardian Animals

[TroyerGal]

Does anyone have a LGA that's not a dog? what are your pros and cons?

 

[cassie]

I have known people that had miniature donkeys. I think the donkey needs to be raised with the goats though. Otherwise it may attack them.

 

[Weehopper]

Not at all sure about this, but wouldn't a miniature donkey be small enough for a coyote or two to take down?

 

[TroyerGal]

That's always what I've heard... So I'm gonna need a standard donkey or llama. Coyotes will kill little donkegs

 

[Weehopper]

I have no experience with either. I have always had at least two dogs. A coyote will mess with a single dog if it wants. A pack definitely will. One coyote will lead the single dog on a merry chase, while the other coyote sneaks in and grabs a chicken. To them, two dogs appears more pack-like, and they are less likely to mess with them. Lol they will just find a sneaker way to get what they want. Must be why the Navajos called them The Trickster.

 

[TroyerGal]

So, do you have a LGD? If so, how well are they behaved? I'm trying to convince my mother that we need a dog. (We have lost a few chickens this fall) but she seems to think all dogs are bad. We've had some pretty bad dog experiences in the past. Do ALL LGDs roam?

 

[Weehopper]

No. One dog is bred to be a working farm dog. She is one half Black Mouth Cur. One fourth boarder collie, and one fourth McNab. She is the brains. The other is an American Bulldog. The muscle. My place is only two and a half fenced acres.
My boarder collie type dog is a trained chicken dog. We trained her from puppyhood. The American Bulldog I got when she was 7 years old (she is 9 now). She has never shown an interest in chickens other than their food and poop. She does love to hunt varments, though. So, unless you are prepared to spend a lot of time training dogs (which is the best way to go), you would probably be better off trying to find an older dog who doesn't bother stock to begin with., and one dog is better than no dogs..or one dog and a donkey or lama. Oh and both donkeys and lamas are herd animals, and as such, won't be very happy without a buddy.. my sister in law has two Great Perinese dogs and has no problems with coyotes at all. Before that they were losing turkeys a lot. Haven't lost any since they got the dogs.

 

[Gray Farms]

I've had a Mini Donkey with my sheep for 12 years now. He does a great job. He's killed three coyotes and two dogs that I know of in that time. And have a Llama with my goats I know he's killed one coyote that I know of and chased down several others but didn't catch them.

 

[Weehopper]

Wow! That's good to know. Thanks for posting.

 

[henny1129]

I don't have any other LGD animals besides my two dogs, but they're great! We have a Beagle (hard to imagine a Beagle protecting anything, but she does ) and some other Hound-y mix. With a smart dog and the right training dogs are great! Ours don't let anything in the yard and we've never lost any animals to predators yet.