Hi Michael, Having the "right" llama or donkey can be very helpful. Unfortunately getting the "right" animal is not automatic. We have had three llamas. The mature female wanted to kill the baby lambs. The mature male just adored the baby lambs but ignored them when they reached weaning age. The third llama we still have is a leader but I have never seen her show much if any protective behavior. For sure there is no more alert or coordinated creature alive than a llama. Those long ears and big eyes can pick out anything! It is like radar and laser beams! We have two female donkeys as well. We have to remove them from the birthing ewes because they want to raise the lambs as their babies. So when the lambs start coming we kick the llama and the donkeys out to the perimeter fields. The donkeys might be of some defense if the canine is not very big. We have several Great Pyrenees cross livestock guardian dogs. The donkeys are intimidated by them and have agreed to just stay away from those big dogs.
The dogs are easily the best defense we have to predators. We have one that believes the best defense is a strong offense and he runs the perimeter through the night. He is totally scarred up at 1.5 years old. We have another dog that believes the best offense is a good defense and stays with the sheep through the night. Both of those dogs sleep with the sheep throughout the day. We have ewes that have sought the dogs out to give birth to their lambs next to them. The dogs observe but do not mess with the lambs. We also have ewes that do not like the dogs and will stomp their foot or hit the dogs. The dogs do not retaliate but lay there and be submissive. My livestock guardian dogs are bigger than a coyote and can go under, through, or over any fence. I have electric fence running at 18000 volts and my dogs know how to get to the other side. If my fence is porous to my dogs it is porous to coyote. I have seen my dogs go through field fence. I just knew they were going to get stuck. And my dogs just knew they would not get stuck. I do not think I will ever be predator proof on my farm. But the predators know that there is risk involved in preying on my farm. Predators do not have health insurance and prefer to avoid potential injuries. Good luck on your farm, Mark Wintermute "The other question, can people with a single burro or llama actually claim they have never sustained an attack after getting the larger animal?" -MIchael, Perino Ranch Blackbellies Sent from my iPad _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
