Donkeys and Goats......

[GoatRancher11]

Guys,

I'll have a couple Jennys in with my goats as LGD's here in the next week. Fences are almost complete and first goats coming on Sunday..............man, we're pumped!

One question for those that might have donkeys. Can donkeys pass worms to goats? Is that even possible? Just making sure. Should I have donkeys wormed b/4 coming on to farm?

Thanks.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but IMO donkeys don't make good guardians at all! They can be very mean to smaller animals and even kill them. Hopefully you'll have better experiences, but be very careful introducing them, and make sure your goats always hae a way to get away from the donkeys!

 

[Goatherd]

Congratulations to you!

I don't speak from personal experience, but friends of mine have two mini donkeys that guard their goats and these two would lay down their lives for "their goats."
I'm sure there are always going to be instances where a certain animal might not work as a guardian, but as has been mentioned, give it a try and see how it goes.

Good luck too you.

 

[Roll farms]

I have no experience either, but have read that 2 donkeys will bond to eachother and even pester / pick on the goats...A single donkey is better.

I have a friend w 2 mini donkeys in w/ her goats and they could care less about the goats. They'll kill anything they don't 'know'...but not for the goats' sake. It's just a donkey thing.

I have another friend who's lost kids and geese to their 'guard' donkey.

Good luck to you.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I have another friend who's lost kids and geese to their 'guard' donkey.

I, too, have heard of somebody loosing goat kids to their donkey. The donkey was picking them up by the back of their heads and slinging them around. Needless to say that donkey didn't make it through the day.

 

[Nausicaa]

MY OPINION:

It always depends on the way that the donkeys are raised... there is a ranch out here with rescue horses who have a pack of donkeys which patrol the property. Some of them are mini donkeys and some are more going on the 14 hands size. They live around horses, goats, and pigs.

There is also a ranch about an hour from me who raise donkeys, I'm planning to get mine from there... They are well balanced and educated.. exposed to horses, goats, and spazzy dogs.

So, I think it just depends on the donkey and how they were raised.

 

[GoatRancher11]

Guys,

I appreciate ya'lls concern about the donkeys around goats. That was not my question though. My question was "Should I worm the donkey before goats come to the farm?" and I have decided to do that on Friday. I will actually only be getting one of the Jenny's as I think she will do better than two myself. Also, she is pregnant and will have baby next March-April so that factored into my decision with her as well. Hopefully, she'll have another jenny OR if not, I sell the jack to whomever and make my money back on her.

For what it is worth, it took me a long time to make a decision on whether to get a donkey or not. I have heard nightmare stories myself BUT as mentioned earlier, most of the time it depends on how they were raised. The jenny I am getting has been exposed to goats and I just met her this morning, very docile.

From talking to other ranchers, sounds like you have to be really careful about the males (jacks) being around goats and their kids. They unintentionally play very rough with goats, especially kids, at a very young age.

Trust me, I've done my research on guardians. I'll admit I don't know it all but I feel very confident about having a donkey with my goats. It's all about the environment they were raised in, much like anything else, even humams.

Thanks guys.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Guys,

I appreciate ya'lls concern about the donkeys around goats. That was not my question though.

Please know that we were just looking out for you and your goats' best interest. I would feel pretty bad if you had a bad experience and nobody warned you.

About deworming or not, I would go ahead and do it. I like to deworm all new animals so they don't introduce worms to my place. Or, you could keep her in a small pen until you can take a fecal to the vet to see if she needs it or not.

Good luck!

 

[GoatRancher11]

Aggie, all is good. I appreciate the warnings, everyone just got sidetracked. I have enjoyed getting a load of information from the experienced farmers on this site. I only hope I can return the favor as the years go by. I'm hoping I have picked out an Angel donkey b/c I have heard some bad stories myself. Like the one guy said though, some donkeys will lay their life down for a goat, I've heard that too.

I'm going to deworm her as soon as she gets to the farm on Friday and goats don't come til Sunday night. She doesn't appear to have worms at all but I'm going to take precaution anyway.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

If the animal wasn't wormed in the past 6-12 months, then I would go ahead and worm her as soon as is possible. There is never any harm in deworming.

As far as the guardian animal discussion that stemmed off here, even some dogs from excellent LGD backgrounds can be horrible as LGDs themselves. It all depends on the individual animal, which is why it is always a good idea to find a proven guardian.