Farmer Butch Pilley says their impact on wild dog attacks has been ‘quite remarkable’
farmer Butch Pilley, killing up to 30 sheep a night on his Hill End property.
But three years on from introducing two trained donkeys as guardian animals, not a single killing has been recorded on the central tablelands farm.Wild dogs had previously been killing fully grown sheep as well as dozens of lambs.“One year we lost around 250 lambs with a follow-on impact on ewes lambing in the following years,” the sheep farmer said.
“So the cost could easily add up to $30,000, plus the stress of having to come down every morning and find your sheep dead or maimed.”The Pilleys and other landholders in the area have suffered significant livestock losses from such attacks, with economic, welfare and emotional costs. “You could come down to a paddock in the morning and find 20 to 30 sheep killed in one night,” Pilley said.
But in a trial sponsored by the Local Land Services , trained donkeys were introduced to the Hill End sheep farm. The impact was immediate.
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