Donkey as Livestock Guardians?

We hear it all the time, our least favorite phrase in the world, "an old guy told me..." Rarely, if ever, does that phrase precede good information. It's usually our cue to consciously say to ourselves "arrange your face right, here comes nonsense." In the case of "an old guy told me they used to use donkeys to guard their [insert livestock species here] from coyotes" it's especially inaccurate, and egregiously so.

Let's start with the reasons why donkeys are not good livestock guardians.

• They are prey animals. Prey animals are targets of predators, that's sort of how the whole dichotomy works: predators go after prey. By getting prey animals to "protect" your animals you deem "more valuable" all you're doing is saying "I would prefer if that animal was attacked/killed/eaten, instead of the animals I care about." Feeding living animals to coyotes, wolves, bears, mountain lions, or stray packs of dogs on purpose is ghoulish and cruel.

• Donkeys, like all prey animals (and most animals not purposed-bred and trained otherwise, but we'll get to that) prefer to stay alive and injury free. Most, especially domestic bred animals, will not intercede on a coyote attack from across the pasture.

• Donkeys can be territorial, rather than protective. Again, this might seem like nitpicky language, but it's important. They will sometimes defend their territory, but they are much less likely to defend "herd mates" of a different species within that territory. in practice what this means is a donkey who is prone to being territorial might chase a coyote off, but they might also chase or attack any new creature in the pasture, which includes new lambs, kids, calves, or whatever you might be raising. Many a donkey has been sent to auction after stomping a new calf or lamb to death, even sometimes after years of living with the herd.

• Donkeys require a special diet, different from other species. The goal of most production livestock is as the name says: production. Whether it be meat, milk, offspring, or fiber, production livestock is generally fed in a way to increase something, generally size or numbers, and as such, the animals need to be fed in a way that they grow or produce. Donkeys are extremely thrifty animals, evolved to live in the sparse desert. Being fed even the maintenance diet of a horse will result in a donkey becoming obese very quickly. Being fed a grower ration for cattle, for instance, will result in assorted metabolic dysregulation including obesity, laminitis (a painful condition where the hoof wall separates from the inner portions of the hoof, and the bones of the hooves may rotate within the capsule. Think of the pain of smashing your finger and a bruise forming under the nail, that is a less painful version of laminitis), colic, or the bones of the feet actually disintegrating and being resorbed by the body. Not to mention many feeds fed to ruminants contain ionophores, which are deadly to equids, and many feeds fed to goats contain copper, which can be toxic to equids.

• Donkeys like other donkeys. Donkeys are highly social animals and bond closely with other donkeys, depriving them of same-species companionship is cruel.

• Donkeys who are used or advertised as livestock guardians often aren't easily handled. In fact, this is often mentioned in for sale ads when owners or trainers are unable to work with an animal, as one used to routinely see in the now-defunct BLM TIP program. If the animal was approaching 30 days with the trainer and they were still unable to easily handle them or it became clear they wouldn't be able to even bluff their way through the TIP requirements? "He will make a great guardian!" Why does that matter? Because if you can’t handle them, you can't do basic care like hoof trims, or dentals, but more importantly, you can’t vaccinate them, including against rabies. Let’s walk through the problem. If a donkey is supposed to be "guarding" smaller stock, what happens when it fights off a rabid animal in the pasture? Rabies is most often carried by foxes, bats, and raccoons, of which foxes and raccoons (and to a slightly lesser extent coyotes) are quite likely to wander into your pasture. The predator dies at the hoof of the donkey, but here’s the catch—no one tests the carcass for rabies because it was simply “taken care of.” So now, your unvaccinated donkey may be infected, but you’ll never know until it starts showing symptoms—which, at that point, means it’s already too late. Rabies is always fatal once symptoms appear. An unhandled donkey is a disaster waiting to happen. 

  You can’t vaccinate it. 

  You can’t check it for disease exposure, or doctor it in any meaningful way. 

  And you won’t know if it just fought off something rabid—until it’s a very real problem. So now you’ve got a possible rabies risk, and if the donkey was in with your other animals? That’s an even bigger mess, often having to result in culling your entire herd. 

Of course, the above is standard donkeys, if we are talking mini donkeys, they are simply easier targets and more likely to meet a horrendous end.

So now what? Donkeys aren't good livestock guardians, what should you do instead?

• Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs). Please understand, LGDs are not simply any animal of a guardian breed, any more than any border collie mix is a sheep dog, or any lab is a guide dog. To have the best chance at being effective, livestock guardian dogs must be from a breeder of working LGDs, be appropriately trained, which takes several years, and often work in pairs or groups. These are not pets which come in the house with you in the evenings. Also understand the different breeds and how they work. Do you want an animal who will stay with the herd, or one who will patrol, or both? Do your research before getting a LGD to decide if they're right for you.

• Good fencing. Is there much fencing a predator can't get through? No, but there are fencing option that make it inconvenient enough that they won't bother, especially when/where natural prey is plentiful.

• Lights and noise deterrents. There are plenty of predator deterrents that work off timers or motion that will shine lights around or produce noise that typically will deter most predators. Predators don't want to risk injuries from humans and will typically opt for safer wild prey if it looks or sounds like humans are near the herd.

• Barns. depending on the size of your herd the most efficient solution may simply be putting them in a barn at night or when predators are around.

There are many options for how to keep your herds safe, please do your due diligence as an owner to ensure you are making the best choices for your herd, your area, your budget, and your management style, and remember: a donkey is never the right choice for a guardian.