Lurker from Saskatchewan (It's in Canada . . .)

[Hykue]

Hi everyone! I'm a lurker for the most part, but thought I'd introduce myself anyway. I found my way here from backyard chickens.

I'm planning to get a couple of milk goats and a couple of ewes this summer, and I have thirty 3-week old chickens, 2 dogs (one of whom is eighteen years old - that's old enough to vote!) and one toothless cat.

I think I've picked my goats already, one is a one-year old LaMancha and one is an eight-year old alpine. I wish I had taken pictures when I did my meet-the goats tour, because then I could ask everyone what they thought BEFORE I made up my mind, but I didn't think of it. Anyway, They both seemed fairly friendly. The older (ahem . . . I mean more experienced) one raised five of her own babies (from two kiddings) last spring, and the younger one is the daughter of the previous owner's current milker, so I imagine I'll be happy enough with them. The young one was a bottle baby. She was friendly but not pushy.

I haven't picked out any sheep yet, and I'm thinking to maybe just get two bred ewes in the fall. I'm not going to get as excited about them, because we're only keeping them to eat their lambs. I suppose we'll end up eating some of the kids, too (of the masculine persuasion), but I'm having a harder time reconciling myself to that.

Finally, if I can find a well-trained one for a fair price, I would like to get a saddle-donkey. Preferably also trained to drive . . . but that might be a dream for a few more years.

So, hi!

 

[Mea]

Good luck with your goats...(when You get them). They are one of my favorite critters !


A saddle donkey... I have heard of saddle mules. A neighbor has a couple. Says that they are extremely sure footed, and usually not spooky. Are donkeys the same ??

 

[glenolam]

 

[patandchickens]

Waving hi from about an hour north of Toronto!

Rideable-size donkeys are not all that common and well-trained ones are quite rare IME, so you may have a bit of a search on your hands there And if you find one, an even *bigger* search to find a saddle that fits both it and you! You might want to stick with driving...

Good luck, have fun, , welcome to the forum,

Pat

 

[Hykue]

Donkeys are the reason that mules are so sure-footed and not spooky! I wasn't sure I wanted one, but we went on a bike trip in Morocco last winter, and Donkeys are great! I might like a mule even more, but they are pretty darned expensive, and all far away as far as I can tell. There is a breeder and trainer of both in Alberta, not too far from my mother-in-law's house, so I can look there, and maybe even special-order one? For a couple of years from now . . . and the saddle thing is a bit hard. I like bareback . . . Seriously, in poorer countries, people use donkeys for everything. They're tough! I hope I can find one eventually.

As for goats, I'm excited as can be. I'm reasonably confident in our fencing, as it used to hold goats. In fact, the older doe used to live here. Should be fun!

 

[michickenwrangler]

You might be better off getting a young standard or mammoth donkey and having it trained rather than trying to find a trained one. I've only known of one saddle-broke donkey and that meant you could put a saddle and rider on him and he would follow the horse in front!

 

[patandchickens]

That's a very good idea. Buy a largeish donkey (which themselves are not super easy to find) and send it off to a mule trainer for a while. (NOT a regular horse trainer, who tend to have a poor batting-average with mules and donkeys IME)

Because, although rideable donkeys are common as dirt in other parts of the world, I have known exactly two (2) in North America, in most-of-45-years' worth of quite a lot of work with horses.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[jodief100]

Odd,

I grew up in Arizona and while not common, I knew several people who had ridable donkeys. They are used for tours of canyons. Try looking in the AZ, Southern Utah area. The Grand Canyon used to use them for thier tours until they switched to mules.

Further south we call them burros. They tend to be on the smallish side but I had one as a kid I used to ride.