Helpful Hints for Donkey owners

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Since there always seems to be so many questions about a donkeys health, training etc, Teri and I thought it might be a good idea to pin this topic. So lets all add a few of our "tips" to this. Just remember , this is never intended to take the place of a vet just tips that we have all found useful, pretaining to our lovable longears. I guess I will start. 1) Donkeys are very energy efficient with there feed, so it dont take a lot to keep a donkey in shape. Overfeeding will cause a crest on a donkey and once the crest is there its almost impossible to get rid of. Donkeys do NOT need grain, they will do just fine on a 1/4 flake good hay in the morning and evening, (small donkeys, but should be adjusted to what your donkey does eat) 2) Donkeys do not have a high tolerance for pain. 3) I have mineral trace salt and selenium blocks out for everyone 24/7, but if you feed ANY type of salt a donkey always needs to have fresh water nearby, a donkey can overdose from too much salt, but not if they have access to water. Lets hear yours.... Corinne

 

[jdomep]

The first one that comes to mind is that donkeys hate to be alone! Another donkey is best, of course, but other animals do too (mini horses, goats and llamas). My Priscilla's first buddy was a mini gelding and they were very good together but now she has only donkeys as pals and is queen of her herd

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[JumpinJackFarm]

Thanks for posting this Corinne....we can only learn from each other :aktion033:

 

[minimule]

Here's mine:

Donkeys don't need much protein in their feed. They can get by with little or none.

Donkeys don't react to Ronpun like a horse does.

A jack needs a job other than just breeding. The more you do with the jack to have fun the happier, healthier and better behaved a jack will be.

Donkeys take a LOT of patience when training. You can't rush them or force them to do what you ask.

I'm sure I'll think of more :bgrin

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

1)Donkeys are very much a common sense animal, extreamly smart,

: a donkey will usually not panic or try to flee in a situation, but stand and try to figure things out. A donkey has to be 110% certain about something before it will do whatever is being asked of them. A donkey can also spot danger around them, they are very alert. 2) A donkeys hooves are not like a horses, they are more "square" and narrow, they do not chip like a horse hoof either, which is why they can grow to very long lengths on a soft ground. 3) If your new to breeding donkeys a jack when breeding a jenny can sometimes get very nasty, know the jack and take precautions not only for yourself but for your jennys sake too. Mini jacks dont seem to have this in them as much as the standard or mammoth jacks do. :aktion033: .... Corinne

 

[Sandy S.]

GESTATION:

How long does a donkey carry a foal?

Horses carry for 11 months, donkeys for 12. A mare carrying a mule foal is usually about 11 1/2 months. However, there are many, many factors that affect the length of a pregnancy. The age of the mare or jennet, previous foaling history/number of foals, sex of the foal, weather, region, infection may all play a part. Some will go 3 weeks less than the norm, a few have even gone early 14 months! (one recorded case of 405 days!!!) (Studies also show that mares grazing on fescue may delay birthing for as many as 30-40 days. Fescue can cause toxic reactions in equines.)

 

[TinyMiteVillage]

IF your donkey gets white line and you have to keep it dry and clean, you can use dog weather boots. The kind that have the velcro that wraps around. When I first got my two boys they had white line really bad and had to have half of their hooves cut away.....so we put dog boots on them and kept them clean and medicated with Mersol Tincture, they wore them for two months. Now my boys have their own donkey boots to wear in case anything happens...........

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[Slinkky]

Mule foals -

Feeding an abandoned mule foal - Hoot N Holler

I rescued a baby mule foal at 2 1/2 mths old. I have never raised a baby mule/horse/donkey before, so this is all new to me. I fumbled around with feed...trying this, reading that and changing again so my advice is based on what I think worked the best. I know it appears that I jumped from one thing to another, but the vet was adamant about the protein and vitamins for the first 3 months. At 4 months we made a major change to our feeding and 6 mths, I will be changing for the final time.

My best suggestion is this: If at all possible, let the foal nurse another horse or donkey. Next choice is nursing a goat (you must get the goat up higher than the foal for this to work. Many goats will allow other animals to nurse. The last choice, but certainly a good one is milk replacer. Hoot would not nurse anything, but would take milk replacer out of a bucket on the ground. He didn't like milk much and took himself off at one month of age. He liked feed better.

If the foal is old enough eat feed, I raised my little guy on the following:

Always have good quality hay out, fresh water and salt/mineral block.

1-3 months - Equine Jr. (3 parts) with Calf Mana (1 part) Mix it up and set it out. Give him 1 hour to eat all he wants, then remove the bucket. Do this 3 times a day.

4-6 months - Begin to take him off Equine Jr/ Calf mana and begin switching over to oats and creep feed. Slowly begin leaving Calf Creep feed out for him 24/7, (1/2 bucket a day - if he finishes that up, that's all he gets for that day). Change feed over from Equine Jr. to plain steamed (rolled) oats. 1 lb in the morning, 1 lb at night. Add 1 oz of oil and add a vitamine supplement to the feed (I use ShoGlo, and since Hoot will be pony/mini size, I only use 1/2 of the scoop in the bag instead of a whole scoop.)

6 mths. and up - This will be our last change. Remove the creep feed, slowly increase oats to 3 - 4 lbs a day with 1 oz of oil and vitamine supplement. Watch body weight to help determine the amount of feed needed. The foal/weanling will be old enough to feed once a day if that is your preference.

Slinkky

 

[SuziB]

IF your donkey gets white line and you have to keep it dry and clean, you can use dog weather boots. The kind that have the velcro that wraps around. When I first got my two boys they had white line really bad and had to have half of their hooves cut away.....so we put dog boots on them and kept them clean and medicated with Mersol Tincture, they wore them for two months. Now my boys have their own donkey boots to wear in case anything happens...........

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What IS white line? This is a new term to me.

SuziB

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

Here is one we learned that hard way and hope by sharing our story that it will not happen to anyone else: One fence is NOT ENOUGH between the boys and the girls!!! As beginners we had no idea this could happen, our small standard jack bred our mini YEARLING jennett THROUGH THE FENCE. we would not have even thought he could get low enough to reach... and she had to have cooperated or it wouldn't have gotten done. We did not know she was pregnant until it was too late to give her that shot that will terminate pregnancy which we were later told about. She could not deliver the baby and we were 7 hours at the vet trying to get him out. He of course did not make it, and we were very worried about mama... she seemed to be pulling through with constant care, but about 6-7 weeks later her scar tissue closed things up and she was unable to urinate, and we lost her too. It is a hard story to tell but we do it anyway... if only someone had told us, this would not have happened.

Similarly, although this was a horse foal I believe it could easily happen with a donkey foal as well - do not let your foals out in the sun unsupervised (well at least not here, we live in AZ). with plenty of shade available, our 10-day-old filly lay down to nap near mama, who was standing in the sun. she never got up again - basically cooked herself. not long after that some friends had a mule foal and were told by their vet to keep him in the shade unless they were right there with him. again if only we had known, this loss would not have happened.

I hope no one else ever has to go through either of these horrible situations. It was devastating, especially knowing that we COULD have made a difference if we had only known.

That said I will add a joyful note, miniature donkeys will steal your heart, they are the most loving creatures ever! No matter how bad my day, I can come home and sit in the pen and they will come and hug me and I feel so much better! I truly do not think I could live without them now that I have them

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

For all the cold weather people out there...if you spray a little bit of pam cooking spray into your horses/donkeys hooves it will prevent the snow from building up in the hoof. Corinne

 

[JumpinJackFarm]

On the year anniversary of Fawns still birth...I was searching the web this morn and found this info on foaling through "LoveLongEars.com" ....Good Info

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Foaling Info