This is as close as I could get today to show you Otie, the donkey that lives across the street. I don't really know what his name is but I call him Donkey Otie. Get it? Say it fast. (Don Quixote) He is the spotted one.
There are four donkeys in the pasture. They are so cute! I've heard some people use them as guard animals for other livestock because donkeys really dislike dogs and coyotes and will run them out of the area for you. Here is a fun story about one person's experience in Grit Magazine. "Sweet Pet Gives a Mean Kick"
There are many things to consider before choosing a donkey and I'm not convinced guarding alpacas is a good mix but some people have had success. A friend of mine has one and he wanted all of my attention for himself when I visited recently. If my eyes and hands wandered to another animal, he would nibble and grab my clothes with his teeth until I came back around to only having eyes for him! What a hoot!
I'd love to read stories about anyone that has donkeys or different types of guard animals. I hear geese are good alarm systems!
3 comments:
I love donkeys... they're so cute! Not to mention that when they talk and go on adventures with ogres and dragons, they're pretty darn funny (even if they're not that great singers!).
Sorry, couldn't resist a movie reference! ;)
Anyway, if you're looking for guard animal stories, we've got goats... they're just pets, and they're really skittish, but you can always tell if some animal is around, because they poke their heads out of their shed and stare straight at where the commotion is coming from!
I LOVE the movie reference! You made me laugh! I can just see your cute goats staring right at the trouble! Our alpacas do that...everyone lined up facing the same way...but they add an "alarm call" to it which scares away most things. I don't know if goats do that or not.
Well, I don't know about other goats, but Tansy and Reggie don't give alarm calls! When they're scared, they get skittish and nervous.
Now, when they're hungry... that's when they make a racket! Or when one's locked out of the shed so Mom can clip the other's hooves in peace. Then they're really noisy!
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