Donkeys As Guardians

[bombay_43]

my main purpose for buying one donkey was to use as a NANNY to the calves when they were weaned. They followed the donkey everywhere and by the end of the first couple of weeks were pushing and shoving to get pats on the neck when I was petting the donkey. The result of that experiment is that I now have two and three year old heifers that are very quiet and behave when people are around.
The only problem with that was that in the summer the one donkey was very lonely and would try and get out of his paddock one way or the other so I bought him a companion gelding, and the two of them get along well with the calves through the winter and eat the grass in all the ugly areas of the yardsite in the summer.
I have put one donkey with a four year old bull and the donkey ruled the roost when I put some grain in the trough, and the donkey isn't 350 pounds soaking wet !!

[cakadu]

All of this sounds like it is worth taking a chance on the young lady. She is just over a year old so she should fit in nicely around here. We're at our wits end and want to try something that may throw these coyotes off. She's not the best in conformation, which is why the breeder doesn't want to use her - she's got a bit of a knock knee - but that doesn't matter to us so long as she bonds to the sheep and helps to look after them.

With any luck, between the 3 of them we can do enough to make the coyotes decide that lamb is just off the menu.