How do I protect my one week old foal from coyotes?

I live in high desert and lost chickens and cats to coyotes. Last night a pack came to my fence which is 5 feet, I have lights on and they are in a corral with a stall. I have two other
horses but they can't get to the back of my mare's stall. I ran out at 3 in the morning and stayed. Help

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Permalink Reply by C Tanner Jensen on May 26, 2009 at 8:16pm

Not that you probably want one,but they use alpacas and llamas to protect sheep and other livestock through out the west.I have no idea how they are trained.I have seen them at work and they are fierce.

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Permalink Reply by Eileen Wiskar on May 28, 2009 at 12:42pm

I have the same problem but have solved this with the purchase of a mini donkey. THey are incredibly protective and won't let anything in the pasture with the horses. In fact mine won't even let my one dog that I adopted in for two years. They are sweet natured with people and don't take much space up. Don't eat much and vet and farrier the same as horses. The male is only 30 inches high but that didn't stop him from going after a moose that wandered into the pasture. Pretty funny wish I had a camera. He also took care of the neighbours husky that kept chasing my horses. All I heard was one yelp and he has never come back. I now say when I get too old to take care of my horses I will have lots of mini donkeys. I just love them.

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Permalink Reply by Pony Tracks on July 4, 2009 at 12:28pm

We've known people who have used a donkey, llama, or a couple of guard dogs with success. Out here on the plains, we'll sit out with a rifle and shoot as many as possible...that way you've eliminated the smart ones who are teaching the others. Then we add guard animals to discourage any survivors. I love anmials, but predators can do a lot of damage, and get mighty bold....they've been known to stalk little children in their own backyards. We had a lot of trouble with coyotes coming up into the barn lot trying to get at our goats....then I met one face-to-face when I stepped out the back door during broad daylight...he was about 30 feet from me. I went back inside for the shotgun...he's no longer a problem.

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Permalink Reply by Ann Hatfield on July 4, 2009 at 1:02pm

Have you any friends from whom you could borrow a donkey, not a miniature as they have the right attitude but just not the heft, but a larger donkey, a mammoth would of course be perfect. My nighbours have a jenny now to watch over their sheep. She is half-sister to my mammoth breeding jack. Donkeys and horses mix well, after the intial get-to-know-you period, and donkeys are ferocious at chasing, even killing dogs and coyotes in their territory.

If you are going to raise more chickens or foals you might investigate adopting a burrow from one of the US areas that adopt out horses and burrows from (Bureau of Land Management?) or contacing an adoption agency and offerring a home to a donkey.