I forgot that little detail

About using goats to control sheep herds

A little something about sheep, shepherds and control. This is for the overly religous types to ponder. Shepherds would INTENTIONALLY break a dominant ewes foreleg to help control the herd. If she couldn’t run, there was less chance of the herd stampeding off over yonder. She would limp along, and if frightened, stand her ground because she knew she couldn’t outrun the fear.

And sheep are notorious for being experts at self-destruction.

Goats were another fine addition to help control stampedes. Goats are territorial as all get out and, proof is in their dominance games, hard headed. I have personally seen a goat take on a mastiff and the mastiff lasted about 2 seconds before tucking tail and yipping over the hillside. It took that long for him to get his paws back under him and he had been hammered on twice in that short time.

Then ya have Donkeys. Ask a plainsman how a donkey won’t wait for the coyote to corner him. He might get blooded, but he’ll smash the hell out of a pack of ‘yotes.

Sarahs post is about the herd getting wind of the issue at center mass and turning on it. Herbavores are like any creature, they CAN AND DO have a dark side, and in some cases that dark side is a whole lot more terrible than the darkest side of the predator. It just takes more to get it engaged.

Just ask the bushman what an elephant on a rampage is like?

Ever seen a pissed off horse?

Just sayin’.

I totally agree with her about getting out of the way when the herd goes ballistic is the best case scenario for the goat, sheepdog and shepherd, cause the targeting center in herbivore brains is really rather simple and uncalibrated.