# I am so tired of donkeys



## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

We had another donkey attack. This one was fatal. Unfortunately my son found it. Broken off tail, destroyed ears, and lots of broken ribs with internal bleeding. This was my son's new show goat. He was 12 weeks old. His mom took a beating too, but she is fine. We have had this Jenny since September. The kid was born in the pen with the Jenny. We saw no signs. 

We have other does that are about to go in labor. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. 

We have 5 donkeys. This is our second donkey attack. The other put several in the hospital. 

I don't know what to do for protection anymore.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I would suggest making sure the donkeys have no access to the goats anymore. Sounds like the risk is not worth the "protection" they are providing.


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

So sorry for your son and you. Such a sad and frustrating experience.:tears: Prayers for you both.


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

Is it possible for you to switch to LGDs? We are very happy with our 2 pyr/Anatolian. They live with our goats, cow and horses


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## anawhitfield (Jun 9, 2013)

I have always heard that one donkey will protect your herd. But if you introduce another equine (donkey or horse), they will team up and will no longer take care of your goats. So with you having 5 donkeys I am guessing they have their own gang and probably have no protective instincts toward your goats. We have one donkey and this is why we won't get him an equine friend.


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## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

We have 5 pens of goats with one donkey in each. 

I thought about dogs, but I hate barking and that is what they do. We had an alpaca and two Llama. They were great, but they all died in July for some unknown reason so I hate to get more.


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

Sorry for your loss!!

If you wanna keep the donkey for protection, maybe rig up some sort donkey run around each goat's pen. The donkeys can patrol the whole perimeter of the goat's pen, preventing predators from entering, without the donkeys being directly in with the goats.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Sorry for your loss. I would probably be saying goodbye to those donkeys. Sounds like they're just not cutout for guarding goats. You may just want to consider getting electric around the outside of the pens instead. Along the top and bottom. Make sure all fencing is secured. Maybe motion or outdoor lights as well. I know it's a little scary being without livestock protection. I have Great Pyrenees dogs and they are fabulous.


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## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

What would make the jenny attack all of the sudden? She has been there since Sept and the kid was born in early November. They have been together all the time. There were 11 goats in that pen. Only three were kids.


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## MoonShadow (Mar 1, 2015)

Uneven temperament and/or coming into Heat.
Goat kids can be annoying and donkeys can be aggressive/rough while playing, fighting, squabbling. It Could have been a case where the kid was annoying her. Could have been a case of playing gone to far. I've seen a donkey kill a goat over food. It could really be anything, but in the end it all really boils down to a donkey with a temperament unsuited for guarding goats/small animals. A guard animal needs to be able to control its self around its charges, so no one gets hurt or killed, it's the same for all guard animals.:hug:

If it was me, I would sell the donkeys and use the money to get either LGD's or a few good alpaca/Llama.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I am so very sorry. 

Everyone has good advice.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Maybe she was playing or being food aggressive or just got annoyed with the kid. I have a Paint stallion that would "play" with the kids and killed one. They would squeeze into his pen and he'd start messing with them out of boredom or for fun. Too late for the first kid, but I actually caught him the second time and realized what was happening. Had to fix up the fence so they didn't get back in.


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

So sorry about your goats.  

Our donkey is very moody, despite being neutered. Some days he feels like picking fights, other days he doesn't. He decided to kill one of my goats after living with them for over a week. We build him a 'moat' area around the goat's fields and now he has no interaction with the goats. When our chickens were small they could walk through the goats' fencing and would go hang out in the donkey's stall. For a week or two he didn't care at all, and then he decided to start killing chickens, too.


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