Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

For those who have sheep or goats, do you have a preference between guardian animals? Which seems most effective in keeping predictors at bay? Donkey? Llama? Guardian Dog?

All 3 work but a good free range guardian dog sets its own free of predators area .

We had a flock of sheep in an area that had many coyotes and used Great Pyrenees LGDs. We had 2 neutered males we got as pups from a local large flock and they were excellent but we did lose a couple due to running the flock in an area that was hilly and overgrown (management flaw not the dogs fault!). You still need good fences and preferably a secure paddock/ barn to lock them in at night we found to complement them.

The relationship between the dogs and sheep is amazing to watch.

Friends of ours runs a couple donkeys with the sheep flock. Works well with an individual coyote or two. When a pack hits they still have loss. And they lock up into a secure barn at night. They believe that these day attacks are not carried out by pure coyotes, but rather coyote - dog / wolf crosses. They've been running sheep for 2 generations on that farm. The donkeys were 100% effective until about 10 years ago. They really believe the predator has changed. Which they link to the loss of their farming neighbours who have been replaced by urban folks buying into the whole hobby farm concept. With fields not being kept in production and occupants not so keen on shoting these predators, the predator population is doing well.

Yep ...many won't let dogs chase coyotes cross their property so I & many have switched to predator calls . Works well at times .

i have friends with sheep that have a donkey. everything was good the first 2 years with keeping the coyotes away but they figured out that if one coyote goes after the donkey it will run into the middle of the sheep for safety, and then the others can pick off the sheep.....so. not much help really. now our yotes out here are actually wild dog/yote mixes that we have the issues with so i shouldn't really call them yotes.....
still, haven't seen our regular yote hunters around this year, i hope they do push soon because we had them up in our field again last night.

I have friends with donkeys and llamas too that have had problems after a while. That’s why several dogs work best, one stays with the sheep the other patrols. The sheep also keep an eye on what the dogs are doing and will go to the dog if there is trouble. Also donkeys and llamas stay in the vicinity of the sheep and mainly use sight to see predators which coyotes utilize to get prey on the fringes and in valleys and tall grass. Dogs use many strategies incuding marking, patrolling and barking as well as sight and sound to deter predators. They have been used for centuries to protect flocks and are now being used in Europe again as they introduce more wolves into many areas where they had been exterminated to encourage a more diverse ecology in those areas.

I don't have a big flock aqnd good chain link fencing, very close to the house, and a couple dogs that make a ruckus at things, so no real problems.

Neighbor a few miles away has two Great Pyrenese. They do a wonderful job. If I had to pick, I would pick them. Their mission in life is to circle the flock and watch over them. Almost never bark. He hasnt lost anything with about a hundred sheep and goats since he got them. Highly recommended by me.

The dogs had some funny quirks though...chasing planes and flocks of geese overhead across the field!

We chose the Pyrenees because of their size and general good nature towards people as we always had lots of visitors and worried about aggression and they were the sweetest dogs to those they knew. They would challenge a stranger if they went into their territory but as soon as they were introduced they were your best friend!

Here are a couple of pics of the 2 boys...

Frodo Sam

Brebis wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:27 am

The dogs had some funny quirks though...chasing planes and flocks of geese overhead across the field!

We chose the Pyrenees because of their size and general good nature towards people as we always had lots of visitors and worried about aggression and they were the sweetest dogs to those they knew. They would challenge a stranger if they went into their territory but as soon as they were introduced they were your best friend!

Here are a couple of pics of the 2 boys...

Frodo
Frodo & Eve2.jpg

Sam
Sam & Twiggy2.jpg

Oh they are so sweet! The bond between them is so clear.