# what do you feed your donkey's



## Vicky Texas (Apr 3, 2006)

Hi Gang

I was wondering what do you all feed your donkeys. What can they eat without putting

on fat pockets?

Vicky


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## minimule (Apr 3, 2006)

From what I've been told and learned, donkeys can't handle a lot of protein. If they get to much, that is what causes the fat pockets to develop. Once they get them, it is really hard to get rid of them.

Kilroy gets 2 cups of rolled barley 2x a day + 2# of good grass 2x a day. I do give him a small handful of alfalfa once in a while.....just to keep him happy. He does work though, drives and breeds, so he works any fat he might get off.

I have a friend that is feeding her donks alfalfa and so far they don't show fat.

The farm I bought Kilroy from was feeding good grass hay, oats and a cup of sweet feed as a treat. They all looked really good.


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## Vicky Texas (Apr 4, 2006)

minimule said:


> From what I've been told and learned, donkeys can't handle a lot of protein. If they get to much, that is what causes the fat pockets to develop. Once they get them, it is really hard to get rid of them.
> 
> Kilroy gets 2 cups of rolled barley 2x a day + 2# of good grass 2x a day. I do give him a small handful of alfalfa once in a while.....just to keep him happy. He does work though, drives and breeds, so he works any fat he might get off.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply,

What is rolled barley?

Is either of these good for a donkey

1) horse and mule feed

or

2) Safe Choice pellet?

I have been feeding ours the safe choice, before it was omelene, not good, he is getting fat.. okay he

is fat. Got to get the fat off. He was with some of our mares, and eating way to much, so he is with one

tiny mare who is always on diet, so they both can be on diet together. But what to feed them?

Any help

Vicky


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## jdomep (Apr 4, 2006)

How much is he getting?? 1c - 2c ?

My friend and I have 6 mini donks together and some get no grain at all (except for may be as a treat) The prego and lactating (now weaning) jennies both get 1c of 10% sweet feed 2x a day. And Vernon our "weaner" gets grain 2x/day. They all go through about 2 fleks/day but once thr grass comes in they will only have grass 24/7.

I'd like to know what rolled barley is too


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## Brenlane Farms (Apr 4, 2006)

Please do not feed your donkeys alfalfa!!!!!

If your donkey is not working, breeding or in foal, it will do quite well on just grass hay....the less alfalfa the better and the lower the protein content of the hay the better (less than 9% is best).

If your donkey is heavily worked, in foal or breeding a little grain would be beneficial, but in moderation of course.

In regards to fat pads, once you got them, even if you would starve the donkey all togeth the fat pads would remain no matter how skinny the donkey got they are impossible tocompletely get rid of.

Hope this is of some help


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## Marnie (Apr 4, 2006)

I feed my yrlings and two yr olds 1 cup of beet pulp and 1 cup of grain (80% cleaned oats/20% cracked corn with a little molasses on it) twice a day, thats wet pulp. They get grass hay and will have some grass to pick at this summer, not alot though. My mature ones just get the grass hay and some grass to pick at. For anyone who knows, is that grain and pulp ok for the young ones? They seem to be staying at a good weight right now but I'm not experienced with donkeys either so am not sure.


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## MeadowRidge Farm (Apr 4, 2006)

Mine have access to hay 24/7, we raise our own hay, and it has grass, alfalfa, timothy, etc in it, its a good all around blend. They also get 1 cup soaked beet pulp and 1-2 c. grain , 10%, which is basically oats, corn, and liquid molasses. They are all doing great on it and I have no fat / crest problems at all. Mine are also dry lotted year around. Corinne


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## minimule (Apr 4, 2006)

Rolled barley is Barley that has been rolled. Kind of like Rolled oats, but barley. It looks like oatmeal.

Donkeys were built for the wild. They can survive on the worst feed, not that that is a good idea!

Kilroy got fat pockets on his ribs a couple years ago. Not big ones but enough to notice. He ran them off when I brought a standard gelding in for 2 months. He didn't want that other guy to take his girls so he worked it off.

I was feeding the Safe Choice for a while. My concern with it is the amount of protein it has in it. Donkeys do best with less than 10% protein. Just the way they are made. It's a good feed, I really like it, but I didn't want him to get too much. As for beet pulp, he doesn't like soggy food



:


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## Vicky Texas (Apr 4, 2006)

Thank you all for your help.

I will get him some rolled barley feed, and change him over to it. He is a gelding, so he does

not do any real work. Just looks after the mares. He is on a dry lot, he gets hay once a day,

and grain in the AM now.

Should he get the hay once or twice a day? He does not like the horse and mule? Is not eating

it, we just bought the bag. He loves his hay.

Vicky


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## jdomep (Apr 4, 2006)

Vicky Texas said:


> Should he get the hay once or twice a day? He does not like the horse and mule? Is not eating
> 
> it, we just bought the bag. He loves his hay.
> 
> Vicky


I like to give mine am/pm (and noonish when it is cold and/snowy)


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## Vicky Texas (Apr 4, 2006)

Thanks for all the help,

I will get him the Rolled Barley this weekend, and I will do some hay twice a day

for him. I want him happy, but I want him healthy.

Here is Eeyore, he is a gelding.






Thanks

Vicky


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## luvmycritters (Apr 4, 2006)

[SIZE=10pt]Access to hay pretty much 24/7 and one cup beat pulp mixed with about one and a half cups sweet feed, once a day during winter weather - and as a treat now and again now that it is warming up.[/SIZE]

Lori


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## tazz001 (Apr 6, 2006)

My 4 girls do very well on free choice hay if grass isn't growing and only get a handful or 2 of a sweet feed in the coldest days of winter. Their paddock is only 300 ft x 300 ft and they keep it pretty well picked over but to supplement their food intake in summer we "allow" them to come graze in the house lawn for a few hours everyday. Now don't anyone have a tizzy fit...we DON'T use ANY pesticide or or fertilizer on out lawn...specifically because of our girls!! The girls leave enough natural fetilizer



:

Over the years I have learned that this is what is best for my girls...it keeps the healthy and quite fit...even tho they have hay in the pasture...right now they are laying around waiting for someone to come let them out to pick at what fresh greens they can find...inly problem I have found with doing this is that sometimes they like to eat my blue spruce trees...therefor I have a few really ugly ones



:

Also...the only other times the girls get a feed is when they are preggers or lactating...

If I feed them anysort of feed I find that they get to fat ...anyone need a bag of sweet feed!! I am going to have to burn it soon!! A 50 lb bag last me most of the winter and since this winter was extremely mild I have plenty left over.

My girls are nothing more than pets...they wouldn't have a clue what to do if someone put a pack on them...and a harness...oh dear...they would die of terror!!


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## jdomep (Apr 6, 2006)

tazz001 said:


> they wouldn't have a clue what to do if someone put a pack on them...and a harness...oh dear...they would die of terror!!


That is too funny!! :lol: I swear Priscilla had a melt down when I lead her from the left



: When I had Willy I would lead them out together - I was on his L and her R and now since he is not here she fights me on leading LOL


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