Mules?

[mtocih]

I am copying and pasting this below, I wrote it earlier. I did not realize there was a forum on here for mules....

I am not sure where to post this, so I am posting here. My husband was told that mules and donkeys make good guardians. We have a connection to mini mules that need a new home. They would live with our goats, Boer and Pygmy. The mule actually pull carts so would be awesome fun pets....now I was told that donkeys and mules "scare" the preditors away because of their sounds. We also have two dogs that are not in the pens or pastures but can get around them. From what I read mini mules are afraid of dogs...so the mules may not be a fit for our herds..I am trying to find out as much as I can about all of this so that we have good fits.

In the future I will be looking for a LGD, and reasearching this...But this was an interesting opportunity that presented itself...if I posted in the wrong spot please tell me where I can learn more. I am pouring thru books and webpages and trying to find out as much as possible as we build this. Thank you.

 

[Bunnylady]

About 6 years ago, I became the recipient of a proverbial gift horse. Or maybe, half a horse. Or a half-of-a-half-a horse. Anyway, her name is Betsy, and she's a mini mule. I'd heard and read a lot of things about mules, some of which has proved very much the case with her, but I wouldn't be so bold as to assume to speak for all mules. I can, however, tell you about my mule.

I have a few goats, and when I first put Betsy in with them, she spent the next few days chasing them around. I had to pull one out of the pond twice, and goats absolutely hate water. I have heard some people talk about intact donkey jacks killing goats. Betsy wasn't out to kill; she was just having "fun." The goats eventually figured that out, but the mule still has them very much under her hoof. I have a very tall dairy cross wether that bosses everybody else around, but the mule just has to give him "that look" and he finds something else to do, lol.

A mule's animosity for dogs is legendary. I don't know that Betsy's feelings go as far as hatred, but she doesn't like them. I've seen her reach through a fence to bite at them. Unfortunately, I have also seen her chase chickens and ducks, so it's hard to say how good a "guard" she is. I have lost chickens to things like raccoons during the time I've had her; I think it's more a matter of her guarding her territory than the animals in it. Fortunately, my reasons for having her had nothing to do with protection.