For the most part, ants don't damage plants.

Instead, they protect various honeydew-producing pests such as aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs and certain scales which can destroy a number on plants.

Either look for those pests or tell us what "destroying" looks like.

My chickens take care of above ground pests so I don't have much honeydew, aphids, meallybugs etc. My soil structure is perfect for supporting ant colonies but they build them under my plants, specifically dalias and avacodos and disturb the soil until the plant eventually chokes off and dies. It's also hard to keep my kids excited about gardening when they can't play outside without getting chewed up

Where in the United States are you? That can help someone make intelligent recommendations that could be of some real help. Even knowing that you are in the Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, or Northeast would be better than just United States.
As Jean stated, as a rule ants are not the problem, something else may well be however.

Im in central California. I know what the problem is. I have lots of livestock and most of it is birds. The ants find an abundance of high quality feed and water close at hand and have lots of places to nest. Since I have such a perfect environment for them and pesticides are not an option due to the birds and small children, I would like to know if there is a natural way to make my yard (1 1/2 acres) less attractive to them. I have heard that the answer may be Tansies and I am wondering if someone is full of it of should I add them into my planting areas.
Thank you all for your feedback on the subject

Ants are a food source for all birds and those birds also use the ants as a grooming aid since the ants could help clean up wee mites and fleas that can infest the birds. While tansy is reputed to be a repellant of ants, my experience is that it didn't. Ants nested right where the tansy was planted. It is probably not necessary to do anything to control those ants.
If you have Fire Ants, however, that can be a whole other circumstance.

Mint is also a good repelant.

Check on the Tips & Techniques form of this site there is a lot of ant repellant tips there