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[Beekissed]

got a new, more reliable livestock guardian to take over for the dogs that aren't up to snuff.

What critters have been getting by the dogs where you think this might help? I don't recall you mentioning a problem.

Ben won't stay in electric boundaries now that he lost Jake last fall....keeps running off, so has to be tied, which means he isn't good for much of anything here. He will be going to a new home soon up on PA where they have the appropriate fences for his issues.

Blue wants to be with Ben, so won't stay in the electric fencing with the sheep. When Ben is gone we'll need Blue to guard the coop, so have a young female pup on the way next Sunday to put in with the sheep and to bond with the sheep. She'll be working alongside and with this donkey, if it all works out. If not, one will work with the ewes and the other will work in the ram paddock.

But, currently we don't have a dog in the paddock with the sheep and the 'yotes are prowling in that area...if the dogs can slip out of that fence, the coyotes can slip in. Thus the need for an immediate solution~and enter the donkey.

This morning she tried to take a newborn lamb from a ewe, thinking it was her own baby. So, not without issues herself.....now the sheep are ranging until the lambing is done and they will be rejoined after everyone is ready to do so. While ranging, Blue can protect them....but Blue is not bonded with the sheep, so they don't trust him moving along with them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks for the explanation, life isn't always easy. And I totally agree, if a guard animal isn't there it isn't doing any good. I see that on the chicken forum all the time, people get a LGD and keep it inside at night. Fat lot of good that does.

When I was in Arkansas, the pasture across the road had a horse, a donkey, and cattle. The horse and donkey hung together, often not with the cattle. The donkey often wasn't around to keep coyotes away from calves. You are right, that bonding is important. It might take time.

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks for the explanation, life isn't always easy. And I totally agree, if a guard animal isn't there it isn't doing any good. I see that on the chicken forum all the time, people get a LGD and keep it inside at night. Fat lot of good that does.

When I was in Arkansas, the pasture across the road had a horse, a donkey, and cattle. The horse and donkey hung together, often not with the cattle. The donkey often wasn't around to keep coyotes away from calves. You are right, that bonding is important. It might take time.

That happens ALL the time....for some reason folks have forgotten that dogs can live outdoors all the time without anything being bad about that. Then they complain because preds are still getting their chickens AND they have another mouth to feed/nuisance on their hands.

This donkey only ever had been with cattle....don't know why they sold her but she's nice and very easy to lead, load, pick up feet, etc. Seems to have all the donkey instincts intact and not too old to use them.

I could tether a dog in the paddock but then I'd be worried about lambs getting caught in that tether and getting hurt. I'm hoping to keep the new pup moving with the flerd until she is fully bonded, so I'm making her a soft rope tether with a short length of PVC near the tether post so she can't get wound up around it nor can the lambs. She's just 2 mo. old and I anticipate problems of one kind or another with a single pup on the job but I'm running out of ideas for these dogs. I'll tether her until I see she's wanting to stay with the lambs and sheep and until the donkey is used to "her" dog. I'll be training her on the electric fence as well, walking her around the perimeter of it and giving a correction when she gets too close to it, etc.

I'd really like to have at least ONE dog that's bonded with the flock.

 

[thistlebloom]

How is your new donkey with dogs in general? A lot of donkeys will want to kill a dog.

 

[henless]

It's always something, isn't it Bee? I like your donkey. I hope she works out well for you. You got a new lamb? Congrats!

A lot of people around here use donkeys for their sheep/goats/cows. As long as they have a SINGLE donkey in with the herd, it works out pretty good. When you start adding more than one, the donkeys stay together and protect each other instead of the herd. Some people never understand that.

 

[flowerbug]

Ben won't stay in electric boundaries now that he lost Jake last fall....keeps running off, so has to be tied, which means he isn't good for much of anything here. He will be going to a new home soon up on PA where they have the appropriate fences for his issues.

Blue wants to be with Ben, so won't stay in the electric fencing with the sheep. When Ben is gone we'll need Blue to guard the coop, so have a young female pup on the way next Sunday to put in with the sheep and to bond with the sheep. She'll be working alongside and with this donkey, if it all works out. If not, one will work with the ewes and the other will work in the ram paddock.

But, currently we don't have a dog in the paddock with the sheep and the 'yotes are prowling in that area...if the dogs can slip out of that fence, the coyotes can slip in. Thus the need for an immediate solution~and enter the donkey.

This morning she tried to take a newborn lamb from a ewe, thinking it was her own baby. So, not without issues herself.....now the sheep are ranging until the lambing is done and they will be rejoined after everyone is ready to do so. While ranging, Blue can protect them....but Blue is not bonded with the sheep, so they don't trust him moving along with them.

i read this and think i should have a football diagram showing me the players and the play...

 

[Beekissed]

How is your new donkey with dogs in general? A lot of donkeys will want to kill a dog.

She hasn't been near any of them yet. I may take Blue down there and see how she acts with him...but he's very scared of her anyway, so I don't want to freak him out. Could be that this new pup will have to be the donkey's dog...and the only dog she adapts to. It will be young enough she may not see it as a threat. Or, it could be that she won't allow any dogs in the paddock, at which time this young pup will have to work in the ram pen.

 

[Beekissed]

i read this and think i should have a football diagram showing me the players and the play...

Exactly. I remember last year when I told Mom...I said, "Mom, why don't we get a few sheep to eat this grass instead of paying all this lawn mower repair and using up all this time mowing?"

Over $5K later we have a farmette going, with (currently)8 sheep and one or more yet to be lambed~and plans for 2 rams and 4-6 more ewe lambs to be purchased, a donkey, an extra dog and another on the way(but we will be subtracting one, so that's all good), a 4 wheeler, high tensile fencing and this to be all around the land(will be spending more money on that on the way), are currently getting the place logged(this has funded the whole farming operation thus far and should have some left over to build ponds). How did I get here???????

On the plus side, we have meat on the hoof and will have the ways of producing more and producing income to recoup all the money spent. Then we can pay land taxes each year out of the proceeds, won't have to mow as much~if any, we'll have water reservoirs on the land in case of emergencies, and the trees have turned to money instead of uprooting and falling all over the structures and pathways. When the pastures are well established, the nut and fruit trees and vines producing more from the grazing going on beneath them, and with the land fenced and ponds established, the value of the land has increased. I'm also getting some much needed physical labor and am keeping busy, which is important under our current circumstances. We have an animal that can be used for work if equipment fails...and for meat if the need arises.

Whew!!! I'm tired just listing it all....and I'm tired doing it all, but this too shall pass.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Don't know where this has been all my gardening life but God finally led me to the Back to Eden documentary~ http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/
and I'm more excited about this gardening season than I have been about any garden for a long, long time! If the Lord wills it~and I think He does~I'm going to try this for our horrible heavy clay, acidic, soil for the garden and also for our orchard.

We live out of any town by 20 miles but I already contacted a tree service place that said they'd dump us free wood chips if he had jobs out my way. Now it's up to God to provide him jobs out my way...... That, in and of itself, was a miracle, but the guy actually knows exactly where we live and NO ONE knows that....we have the hardest time giving directions to folks and getting them to find where we are. So that was miracle number two.

Miracle number three is the fact that my oldest brother bought a big ol' wood chipper a few months back. Could be he will let us borrow it this spring so I can kill two birds with one stone and get some trees cut for firewood and also make some nice, green wood chips for the garden.

I didn't think anything could get me excited about gardening in this soil, but God had a solution, as usual.

sounds like a good movie to watch, I'll just finish everything today for me to freely sit down and focus to watch a good movie. thanks for the recommendation.

 

[flowerbug]

we are getting closer to not having lawn to mow any more but Mom wants to do that so i can't get rid of the last bits yet we have. i would love to - no more lawn mowing or smelly loud lawn mower to deal with. plus so many of the weeds i have to deal with in the surrounding gardens come from that bit of lawn.