Killer Jackass

[redlevel]

I reported here last fall that I had purchased goats for brush control, and had taken possession of a couple of free donkeys for predator control.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/224093-winter-care-feeding-goats-donkeys.html

The goats and donks have done well on the pasture and brush, consuming only two round bales of bermudagrass hay. They probably could have gotten by without the hay.

No problems until the goats started dropping kids this week. The Jack has killed four out of five kids, and the fifth one is in bad shape. This came as a rude surprise. I found three dead kids in one day. Had no clue what had happened. Then, yesterday, I saw the Jack with a kid in his mouth, shaking it like a dog would shake a cat. I got the mama in the shelter with her one remaining kid (twins) before the Jack killed it.

I hate to put the Jack down, but I can't have this. I can't in good conscience sell him or give him to someone else to put in a pasture with livestock. I have to assume he would try to harm newborn calves. I can't just run him through a sale barn without revealing his murderous habits.

I thought about having him cut. What are the chances this would stop this behavior? Anyone have any ideas? Don't suggest just isolating him from the other livestock. No one in the family is really "attached" to the donk. He, unlike the Jenny, has always been skittish, not allowing anyone to pet him, nor eating from our hands.

What to do?

 

[dusty3030]

Got a backhoe and a 30/30?

 

[Artisan]

I am no expert, AT ALL, all's I know is what you write and what I link to below.
Looks like it is somewhat common for an intact jack to kill small goats and lambs...looks liek there saying to cut him or loose him...

Farmer & Rancher Newspaper

Horses - Behavior Issues, Breaking and Training: donkey behavior, female donkey, male donkey

 

[whistlepig]

I don't know about donkeys but I have dealt with a few stallions. I would suggest having them cut first.

 

[dusty3030]

The man with the twitch has the hard part.
I'd scotch hobble the side the cutter approaches from.
Jack ain't got to see to aim a hoof.

 

[whistlepig]

I have almost been killed by a stallion. I have seen a couple of folks forever crippled by stallions. We board horses and they won't even insure us if we keep a stallion. Cut the darn thing.

 

[SandburRanch]

It isn't just stallions. Although probably not as common, we had a paint mare that would kill baby lambs.

 

[Depmandog]

The man with the twitch has the hard part.
I'd scotch hobble the side the cutter approaches from.
Jack ain't got to see to aim a hoof.

The "VET" and his "ASSISTANT" would have that chore if it was me!

When I was in HS, I worked for a vet. Never had to cut a stallion or jack, but we did have to cut about 50 260 pound boar hogs one day. I think we ended up with 7 or 8 five gallon buckets of future rocky mountain oysters. That was without a doubt the worst day of my life. I came out battered, bloody, bruised and bit. I had multiple bruises on the tops of both feet. I strained every muscle that I had, and some I didn't know I had. What a day, and I was not a small or weak guy back then.

Yep, I would tell the Vet, stop by the house on your way out, and I get you a check! Full grown males of any species have grown fond of their jewels, and won't give then up without a serious fight !!

 

[gengine]

call the vet out. The vet will tranquillize the Jack, chop his wee wee, and nobody has to get hurt (human). That should stop the problem. Out in the wild, a stallion or Jack will kill the offspring in the herd that are not his. I don't know how he knows if they are his, but that's what they do. Maybe that's why he feels he's gotta kill the kids.

 

[Bird]

I thought about having him cut. What are the chances this would stop this behavior? Anyone have any ideas? Don't suggest just isolating him from the other livestock. No one in the family is really "attached" to the donk. He, unlike the Jenny, has always been skittish, not allowing anyone to pet him, nor eating from our hands.

Several years ago, when I had some goats, I bought a young jack at an auction. He had already been gelded. But yep, he went berserk one day, broke a full grown nanny goat's neck and was running from me carrying a kid in his mouth. He went to the auction barn the next day.

The point is that gelding may not help your problem.