Welcome to
Gate Farm Home of
"Diamond C
Montana Jack"
Leslie Heulitt
HC 78 Box 27
Rock Cave, West Virginia 26234
304-924-6176
e-mail to:
montanasmama@hughes.net
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The Donkey Guardian ©
In looking for a donkey guardian beware of the person who advertises "Weanling miniature donkey jack-good for sheep guard", or who tells you "just let this jack grow up with your sheep/goats/cows, etc." Or "any donkey will do the job" Or "get a jennet then you can have a foal every year." Hopefully when you hear these comments you'll have your boots on 'cause you'll be standing in a lot of B.S.! For starters, "JACK DONKEY" and "GUARD" should never, ever be in the same sentence. There are many nice jacks out there who may never do one wrong thing but do you want to take the chance? Intact jacks are for breeding, not for pets, not for guards. That ol' testosterone can turn Dr. Jeckel into Mr. Hyde in a hurry with disastrous and heart-breaking results. NO JACKS ALLOWED ON GUARD DUTY!!! Next, lets look at those weanlings, of any size. Would you let your 3 year old baby sit your 2 year old? Of course not! You cannot expect a weanling, a baby, to take on the responsibility of a flock guardian. There are several out-comes to this scenario. Your "guard baby" can just as easily be killed by whatever is preying on your flocks as what he is supposed to be guarding. your "guard baby" can easily be hurt or intimidated by an aggressive ram/ewe/doe etc. Especially if they are horned. Your "guard baby" needs to play. Donkey play is much to rough for sheep and goats or even calves. This is where some of that mis-information starts. Things like "Donkeys will kill your lambs, kids, etc. by ripping their necks off." Donkeys play by grabbing necks and walking each other around. Not appropriate and sometimes fatal treatment for kids and lambs. Your "guard baby" is not really on duty so your flock is till in jeopardy in the first place. Young donkeys need to play to develop strength and agility; they need to grow up and become mature enough to accept the responsibility of a guard. Maturity only comes with age. By 3 years of age, all of the play and silliness is over and a donkey is usually sensible enough to go to work. So, hopefully by now, you are looking for a 3 year old or older, standard gelding or tame jack TO BE GELDED! Resist the urge to get a jennet just so you can get a foal every year or so. Some people say jennets don't make good guards. I don't find that to be so. Some of the best, most reliable and aggressive guard donkeys I have sold have been jennets. But, guard is all they do. Don't be greedy. In breeding your guard jennet you possibly will lose a lot more than you gain. Towards the end of her gestation she will be heavy with foal and not very agile. There is a real good chance she will leave the flock/heard to foal alone. Then she, her foal and your flock/heard are all in jeopardy. She will, for a time, be more concerned with her baby than your flocks, and she should be. That's just natural. Then you have this high energy, rowdy baby running around looking for a playmate, so we're back to that "baby" thing again. Baby donkey play translates into sheep and goat harassment. So now you have eliminated babies, jacks and miniatures from your search. What are you looking for? You are looking for a medium to large standard donkey gelding or jennet that is 42" to 54" tall at the withers. You are looking for something to run off, intimidate or kill those marauding dogs and coyotes, so get something big enough to be intimidating ! ! ! Many miniature donkeys have the hearts of lions but can they back up the bark? Probably not. Many of the sheep and goat breeds today mature out bigger that the average miniature donkey. Any 2 dogs or 4 coyotes that can take down a large sheep or goat can take down your miniature donkey too. Now that we have covered all the "do-nots", lets start on the positive side, No, not all donkeys guard, but most donkeys will guard. You are taking advantage of two basic donkey traits. One, his or her need to be part of a herd, and two, his or her natural dislike of canines. Out of all of the donkeys we have trained in a guard capacity, only one failed goat guarding school. He was fine in the field with the goats but went ballistic when closed up in the barn with them. All of our guards are sold with a written money back 30 day guarantee. If the purchaser is unhappy with the donkey or it doesn't do its job, we, at the end of the 30 days the purchaser just has to return the donkey and get his money back. No questions asked as long as the donkey is not injured. Not one donkey out of 50 or more has ever been returned. Any donkey, gelding or jennet that doesn't have an extremely shy or extremely aggressive temperament is a good candidate for a guard. This is how you make it happen. First, find that donkey that is big enough and old enough to be a guard candidate. Bring him or her home and quarantine him/her, preferably in solitary confinement. Not only is this necessary for health reasons, but a little solitary confinement will speed up the bonding process with you and soon with your flock. Depending on where your new donkey comes from and whether you have any other equines, this phase can last for 1-2 weeks. Use this time to bond with your donkey. They love people and thrive on attention. Brush up on or teach basic manners; grooming, leading, picking up or trimming hooves, update vaccinations and deworm. n Your donkey will be very lonely and maybe a little depressed all by itself when you are not around. Sounds cruel, but this is what you want, a lonely, herdless donkey. After quarantine is over move your donkey into a stall in your goat or sheep barn or an adjacent small corral where your donkey can see, smell, hear and get used to but not interact physically yet with it's new charges. Being herdless, your donkey will be begging for interaction. Turn your donkey out with the flock after a few days, in a small area so you can monitor its behavior. By this point, your donkey has been so starved for herd companionship he or she should bond easily, (You will know fast if this is not the case.) and quickly with your flock and you can kiss your predator problems good-bye. Many donkeys have been trained to bring their charges back to the barn of an evening saving their owners many steps. One of the first jennets I ever tried to buy was owned by a little old mountain man who had a herd of cows on about 500 mountain acres. This is long before I got into or really knew anything about donkeys. She was just about the sweetest thing I ever met and I didn't think Ol' Percy gave her enough attention. Little did I know! After repeatedly trying to buy this gal I finally asked Percy why he kept her. He went in the house and brought out an old hand-made goat horn, horn. The old timers made them to call their hunting dogs in. He then told me whenever he need to know where the cows were he'd holler for "Jenny" and she'd brayed back. He said the cows wee in such and such hollow. Then he blew the horn and said "Just wait." We did and in about 25 minutes Jenny came trotting up to the porch. For her reward she got lots of luv and a big plug of chewing tobacco. This slick old man had her for 30 years as an integral part of his cow operation. Not only would he instantly find out where the herd was but if he wanted to see them he blew the horn for Jenny and would ride her back out. So Jenny not only watched over the cows, she would let him know where they were and then come and get him! She also plowed the garden pulled a sled. Jenny died 27 years ago, one year before Percy died. That means Jenny went to work on Percy's farm 57 years ago so the donkey as guard and companion is not a new concept. Just say "no" to predators--------Get a donkey ! ! ! From the other side of the
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