…..or I’ll willingly take a mule…..

….I’ve been told by a number of old farmers that a mule or a donkey will keep coyotes and wolves away from a herd of goats or cows…..

…..I was recently validated while streaming “Yellowstone” the television series (the rancher one…not the park documentary)…..

…..and it was even brought up on one of their episodes that an ornery mule will help to safeguard a herd of cattle against wolves…..

*****Hey, If Kevin Costner Says So…..Then It Must Be True*****(plus, he looks nice in denim)

For the most part, throughout my life, I’ve always had at least one donkey around me…..

…..but I am in the middle of a donkey-dearth right now…..(a dearth of donkeys?)…..(I am currently without an ass)…..(I couldn’t resist)…

I realized that we really need another donkey because we’ve had so many baby goats born here recently…..

…..we’ve just been lucky that we haven’t had baby goats carried off………….so far…..

…..the back pasture is so remote…..and that along with the smell of fresh afterbirth…..that would be the perfect recipe to draw in all of the predators who might be in the neighborhood…..

We’ve been lucky…..

Josie was our first donkey here on this farm…

She was old…

She was foundered…..***Laminitis/Founder***

She was stubborn…

She kept nocturnal predators at bay…

For as lousy as her poor hooves were, there were times (in the middle of the night) when I would hear her braying and running in the pasture…..

…..and Josie wouldn’t run for love nor money…..

…..I could only assume that the old girl was running off coyotes…..

*****(we never lost a goat under her watch)*****

…..after Josie passed…..there was Holly (a mini-bitch)…..

…..and then there was Annie…..(Annie was great)…..

…..when Annie died of botulism poisoning…we haven’t found a replacement…..

I think we are currently high on the vulnerability-list for the local coyote pack…..

…..and that’s why all of the babies are in the barn right now…..until they are bigger…..

*****We need another donkey*****

 

 

 

~~~(I have to learn how to scan childhood pictures & include them in my blog—–I have some great old photos of lots and lots of donkeys)~~~