Donkey 101 / DONKEY WEALTHFARE
Miniature Donkey History
Miniature Donkey History
Miniature Donkey History
Donkeys are the second oldest domesticated animal in human history. It's been proven through recent archaeological discoveries that the partnership between mankind and donkeys predates that of the horse.
Without the gentle humble donkey man could not have made its first great migration off the African continent.
Jesus led his followers into Jerusalem riding on the back of a small, common donkey. That donkey followed Jesus to Calvary and stood in the shadow of the cross and the shadow of the cross fell on the back on the donkey. These special donkeys have borne the sign on the cross since day.
Miniature donkeys are native to the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia and were first imported into the United States in 1929 by Robert Green. He bought six jennets and one jack. Of those, three jennets and the jack survived to produce the first miniature donkeys born in America.
Temperament
Miniature Donkey History
Miniature Donkey History
Donkeys are typically very sweet and gentle, and can make great pets! They are highly intelligent. They hate being yelled at or forced into anything. Everything must be their idea. Always be gentle with your donkey. If you offer treats, you may want to avoid hand feeding to discourage aggressive nibbling. We like salted roasted peanuts as an alternative to sweet snacks for our donkeys. Give lots of ear rubs , scratches, and let him—or her—get to know you. If you’re a first-time donkey owner, choose one that’s already trained. Walk on a lead often and pick up their feet daily to pick. If they are afraid of something move slowly to desensitize them. Donkeys are emotional animals who bond for life, and if you earn their trust, they will do just about anything you ask of them, owners say. They are like the very best of a horse and a dog. Once you have donkeys in your life its hard to see how you ever did without them.
Companionship
Miniature Donkey History
Must Have Fresh Water
Donkeys are definitely not well-suited to living alone. A donkey without other donkey companions will quickly get sad, depressed, and lonely. They are stoic creatures so this is often missed by humans. Donkeys form incredibly strong bonds with their pals, so we strongly recommend keeping bonded pairs together for life. Donkeys can also bond with horses but they are highly intelligent and much happier and healthier in donkey company. Horses are pasture animals suited for eating grass. Donkeys process calories very differently than horses. Donkeys originate from the deserts of Africa thus from an arid climate with sparse foliage. They are foragers NOT pasture animals. A donkey is better suited to a dry lot with limited pasture for foraging and exercise. A donkey left on a lush pasture will develop fat pads and eventually laminitis and founder. (not be able to walk).
DONKEYS ARE NOT GUARDIAN ANIMALS Everyone needs friends but donkeys are best suited with other donkeys. We will only sell or place donkeys in pairs.
Must Have Fresh Water
Must Have Fresh Water
Must Have Fresh Water
Donkeys, like horses will only drink clean water. They must have fresh clean water available at all times. They will refuse to drink dirty water so buckets and or fountains will need frequent cleaning. Make sure in the winter you have heated water buckets if you are unable to break ice to encourage your donkeys to drink and avoid colic. Added Electrolytes in water in the winter can be helpful. Monitor what your donkeys drink. It is vital to their health and hydration helps avoid colic.
Shelter
Must Have Fresh Water
Shelter
Donkeys must have a clean, dry barn, or, at the very least, a three-sided shelter. It doesn't need to be fancy but it must be secure. Wind can pick up an unanchored shelter and cause disaster. You’ll have to remove waste from this area daily. Make certain it drains properly and has good ventilation. Rubber mats with shavings are appropriate but donkeys can also be very happy and healthy on a dry sand or dirt floor as long as there is some hay in the cold weather to cuddle up. Donkeys are not made to stand out in the rain, especially in the cold. Your donkey will prefer to be outside. They need room to roam and forage but dry lots or a more sparce pasture are preferable as donkeys are not made to eat rich grass 24/7 or they will become overweight and ill quickly.
Winter
Must Have Fresh Water
Shelter
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT Studies show that donkeys are much more susceptible to pneumonia than horses. Always have a place for your donkeys to get out of the rain.
Donkeys require a DRY 3 sided shelter out of the rain. Their coats and skin are very different from cows and horses. Many donkeys don’t care for chilly climates. In fact, they’re prone to getting pneumonia in cold or wet weather! You may want to keep your donkey blanketed in winter. Some people are against that but if you live in an area like ours where it is temperate most of the time with sudden drastic drops in temperature, check your donkey to be certain they are not shivering. Your donkey will still need some activity, of course. Exercise him indoors, or choose milder days to let him out.
Food
Veterinary Care
Donkeys process calories very differently than horses. The miniature donkey originates from an arid climate with sparse foliage. They are not pasture animals meant to graze on lush plains. A donkey is better suited to a dry lot with limited pasture for foraging and exercise. A donkey on a pasture will develop fat pads and eventually laminitis and founder. (not be able to walk) . Everyone needs friends but donkeys are best suited with other donkeys. Have your vet always perform a blood panel and fecal when you adopt or purchase a donkey. Selenium deficiency is common in donkeys. They need to be wormed at least twice a year. They require a very small amount of a low protein (under 14%) low starch and low sugar feed with pelleted minerals or access to a mineral block and ALWAYS provide a salt block designed for equine. Some mineral blocks for sheep and goats contain minerals that are innapropriate and even dangerous to donkeys and horses.
Veterinary Care
Veterinary Care
Just like any other pet, donkeys need regular veterinary care. Regular exams, vaccinations, DENTAL WORK (floating teeth) and worming are all important. A vet should check their teeth every year or biannually and donkeys especially over 5 years of age may need their teeth floated once a year similar to horses. Ask your vet for recommendations. Hoof trimming should be scheduled every 6-9 weeks. As a donkey owner you will need to regularly schedule your farrier to trim and care for their hooves.
Are donkeys high maintenance?
You should only invest in a donkey if you have the means and are prepared to give them a lot of love and attention. It can be hard work. Many donkeys all over the world aren't looked after properly, causing illness and disease that can lead to death. Consider donkeys can
LIVE TO BE 50 YEARS OLD OR MORE. No matter your age please plan for your donkeys (and all your animals ) in your will. Many animals are in perril when an owner becomes suddenly ill or dies. If you do not have a succession plan please consider a sanctuary.
One reason we created
Purple Donkey Human Rescue is to be a sanctuary for donkeys who may outlive their owners and have nowhere to go. Be sure to make arrangements both legally and financially with the chosen sanctuary. Be sure they are solvent and well organized so your animals will live out their lives in peace and security.
Hoof Care
Donkeys like horses must have their feet trimmed regularly. Growth patterns can vary with the seasons and diet but donkeys like horses need their hooves trimmed ever 6-8 weeks. A good farrier is hard to find so make certain you have one lined up before your donkeys arrive. You will want to pick their hooves thoroughly daily exposing it to oxygen. Without proper cleaning hooves can develop thrush or worse.
Sources to learn to trim your own hooves such as https://www.facebook.com/holistichooves/
Are extremely informative. Even if you don't do it yourself you need to be educated about your donkey and their good hoof health.
Donkeys are NOT Guardians
What Do You Do With A Donkey ?
Warning graphic images
Donkeys are definitely alert animals. They can hear miles away and very territorial. A large brave donkey might even kill a coyote. But donkeys are not guardian animals. They have self preservation only. Minis cannot fight off predators. Ranchers are continually disappointed and inappropriately angry when they put a jack in a field and it kills a calf. Overall donkeys can be dangerous with dogs (even guardian dogs sometimes) and small animals like goats. IF YOU HAVE GOATS you MUST have a separate area for your donkeys. It's not impossible for donkeys to live in harmony with goats however we cannot place donkeys at your farm unless you have separate areas for these animals to all live and get used to each other. Keep in mind it may never happen. Fences make good neighbors! No climb wire fence and better yet supplemented with electric to prevent predators from climbing over or digging under is your best defense.
Scams & Fraud
What Do You Do With A Donkey ?
What Do You Do With A Donkey ?
Every day we receive multiple calls and emails from people who have lost money to scammers. Please be alert. Look for the signs. Verify Verify Verify
With AI and photoshop etc scams can be very convincing. SCAMMING IS A BUSINESS ALL OVER THE WORLD! Some are out there using our name and address. They will send you photos of our donkeys but usually they will be someone else's donkeys. They will show you GPS photos of our farm.
If we don't know you or you have not been referred by a friend or come to our farm, we WILL NOT ASK YOU FOR A DEPOSIT
We want to know you and meet you before we sell you one of our donkeys. Scammers do not want that. With AI it's getting hard to believe your eyes. Trust your gut and verify
Social Media
Be very careful. MANY Facebook groups are created, audited and populated by scammers who invest a lot of time in these frauds. Even though reputable breeders tag them as fraud they remain up. Groups like
"Donkeys under $1000" or
"Donkey rehoming and adoption" are mostly scammers who set these groups up targeting people in different states.
The American Donkey Society runs a facebook page with over 7000 members attempting to vet each new member. This is a great source of informating and a good place to network with other donkey enthusiasts!
What Do You Do With A Donkey ?
What Do You Do With A Donkey ?
What Do You Do With A Donkey ?
Similar to horse shows or dog agility shows, there are many events available at shows for you and your donkeys to participate in all over the country. In this link you can find examples of the different classes that you will see at Donkey Shows and some Educational Photos/Videos showing those classes!
Check out the schedule this year for
National Miniature Donkey Association
If you are not interested in showing you can always create fun courses at home to energize and strengthen the bond between you and your donkey. Donkeys are highly intelligent. Like dogs they enjoy engaging in physical and intellectual learning activities. People are always surprised at how intelligent these animal are and the things they can achieve with just a bit of love and the time it take to build a trusting bond. ENJOY !
Donkey 101 / DONKEY WEALTHFARE
A VETERINARIAN LETTER REGARDING THE RISKS & MISCONCEOPTIONS OF DONKEYS AS GUARDIANS
A VETERINARIAN LETTER REGARDING DONKEYS WELFARE CONCERNS
Eric Davis DVM MS DACVS DACVIM,
UC Davis-International Animal Welfare Training Institute, retired
Rural Veterinary Experience Teaching and Service (RVETS)
Donkey issues as livestock guardians
While "some" donkeys can be thought to be useful livestock guardians, there are characteristics of this equid species, (donkeys) that result in most adoption organizations suggesting that farmers and ranchers should not use them in this capacity. Certainly, individual donkeys can be aggressive toward both dogs and coyotes, and they are easy to handle and train. However, there are also important reasons why livestock guard duty is not good for either the donkey or the animals that they are supposed to protect. It is certainly completely inappropriate for the miniature donkey. Some of these are:
• A donkey’s response to canines (dogs and coyotes) varies a lot between individual animals. Some donkeys are very aggressive and will attack even working dogs used to herd cattle and sheep. Others are fearful or simply don’t care if a dog comes into the
pasture and will not protect livestock animals at all.
• Large dogs, such as Rottweilers, German Shepherds, or wolves (or wolf hybrids) can badly injure or kill donkeys, especially if they are in a pack.
• Donkeys can live on a variety of forages and are very efficient in digesting low quality feeds. However, throughout the long grass prairie states of the Midwest and in the Southeast, pastures are just too high in digestible energy. This results in donkeys
developing obesity and foundering (laminitis, a painful and crippling disease) Fat donkeys also are prone to a condition known as “hyperlipemia”, in which excessive amounts of fatty acids are released into the blood and damage the liver. Hyperlipidemia is fatal. After all, sheep, goats, and cattle are fed for production, requiring maximal nutritional intake, whereas donkeys require the opposite.
• Shelter is a requirement. While this is true for any equid, based on internationally accepted norms for humane care of horses, mules, and donkeys, this is especially true for donkeys in the more humid parts of North America. Donkey skin may be thick, but it is also very sensitive to moisture and fly strike, with a tendency to hypersensitivity that produces large ulcerative lesions known colloquially as “jack sores”. Similarly, donkey hooves do not take moisture as well as horse or cow hooves. This has been demonstrated with objective research by The Donkey Sanctuary, in Sidmouth, England. Donkey hooves will crack and develop infections when chronically subjected to excess moisture, making the animal lame and limiting their ability to walk. These problems stem from the long history of the donkey, which originated in the Horn of Africa and were first domesticated by the pastoral people in modern Sudan and Egypt more than 6,000 years ago. The environment for which they were created was very dry and very marginal. Wild donkeys had to walk long distances on hard, abrasive surfaces for food and water, making them very hardy and able to survive thirst and dehydration. However, this also meant that donkeys initially lived in small groups, due to limited resources, which meant that they had less exposure to insect parasites than animals that traveled in large herds. It was more important to have a thick hard hoof than one that was water resistant, as there was little water in these desert environments, where mud and standing water was rarely a problem. Since the very earliest civilizations, which predated the Egyptian Pharaohs by more than a millennium, donkeys have worked, successfully, as transport animals in rocky, but arid parts of the world. While donkeys can be raised in wetter climates, this requires adaptations such as feed selection, pasture management, hoof trimming, and protection from flies, cold, and moisture for successful and humane care. When such things are not provided these kind and useful animals will suffer, have their lives shortened, and not be able to carry out the tasks that their owner wants them to perform.
Of course, there is also the ethical question of humans having a duty to the creatures that serve them. We have a compact with our domestic animals that requires that we protect them from harm, pain, fear, discomfort, thirst, and starvation. In any of our relationships with the creatures in our care, we need to fulfill our side of the bargain.
Eric Davis DVM MS DACVS DACVIM,
UC Davis-International Animal Welfare Training Institute, retired
Rural Veterinary Experience Teaching and Service (RVETS)
7373 Levee Rd. Dixon CA 95620
831-809-8248 (c)
Dr. Davis graduated from the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine in 1977. He worked as a farrier prior to his veterinary training and has experience in private practice, veterinary academia (faculty University of Tennessee, staff veterinarian at Iowa State University and Purdue University), specialty practice, and veterinary aid programs. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (LAIM). While a faculty member at the University of Tennessee, in 1996, Eric started Remote Area Medical Veterinary Services, to provide veterinary care in underserved rural communities in the USA and abroad. This became Remote Area Veterinary Service (RAVS), when the program was absorbed by The Humane Society of the United States, a program that Eric directed for ten years. RAVS projects worked on Indian Reservations and remote communities in 14 states in the USA. Internationally, Eric has participated in projects in Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Egypt, and Sri Lanka. Currently, Eric is retired from the Director position at the International Animal Welfare Training Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. There he worked directly with students and concentrated on world equine health and welfare problems. In 2013, working with Dr. Stephen Blakeway of the Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, UK, Dr. Davis, and his wife Cindy, started The Donkey Welfare Symposium, to concentrate on all aspects of husbandry, medicine, and welfare of donkeys. Eric Cindy, runs a 501 c 3 non-profit, Rural Veterinary Experience Teaching and Service, working to improve access to veterinary care in rural communities, and training veterinary students from a number of other countries. They live with their adopted ‘pod’ of 14 donkeys, their horses, one mini-mule, and numerous other creatures outside of Davis, CA. Dr. Davis also consults on donkey medicine and surgery through “Ask The Donkey Doctor”, a service of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DONKEYS ?
Visit the AMERICAN DONKEY SOCIETY
One of the very few monitored donkey facebook groups for great information and networking over 7000 members strong
This new website has been created by Katrina Fleener, founder of Legendary Farms and the ADA. This site is focused on Donkey Welfare and accuarate information regarding Donkey Breeds, History and Health. Membership for this organization is free except for a requested donation to the National Registry.
Want to Learn More About the REGISTRY ?
The AMERICAN DONKEY AND MULE SOCIETY
This is different from the organization above. This is our National Registry and the keeper of our breed history. JOIN TODAY
ADMS
3401 Recreation Rd 3
Bonham TX 75418
(972) 219-0781