Mini-donkey advice

[gsganzer]

My wife and I are planning to get some mini-donkeys. Does anyone have any advice or experience with them? They're just for pets, no breeding anticipated.

We're planning to get a pair of 6 MO jacks that are best friends (photo). Should we get them both gelded? At what age?

 

[RollingsFarms]

i would ask your local vet about what age to geld and any other questions you might have.

 

[jinman]

My wife's donkey, Jonathan (John-nuthin'), is about the most useless animal you could ever have. He eats, poops, bites you and other animals, and is a noisy pest. He was allowed to mature before being gelded. That's probably a big mistake. He formed habits and attitudes that stayed with him. He also lived about 2 years in the same pen with a billy goat where they battled pretty much on a daily basis. For your minis, I'd say to talk to the vet and get them fixed as early as possible. Also make sure they are in a non-confrontational environment as they mature. Hopefully, then you will have two cute well-behaved little pets.

Oh yes. . . We just sold the property and the new owner wants Jonathan and the goats. I'm a happy man!

 

[GaryM]

Those guys are pretty cute, at least for now. How big will they get when full grown?

 

[kthompson]

Have a neighbor who raises them for sale. Amazing how loud they can be. Not complaining, like to hear livestock but to hear them baying just sounds so different than cows or horses.

 

[gsganzer]

Those guys are pretty cute, at least for now. How big will they get when full grown?

These are mini's and will only get 33" or so, when full grown. I visited them today and arranged to get them to our place. They're very social and act more like dogs. They love to be pet, nuzzle on you and follow you around. One funny thing about them is that they don't smell. You know how your hand smells like horse after petting a horse? There's no odor with a donkey.

Another peculiar thing with a donkey is that they don't like you to lead them by pulling on a lead rope. If you stand beside or push from behind they move. As soon as you get in front and try to pull, they put the brakes on.

 

[chh]

Talk to a vet and geld them as soon as you can. Once they learn breeding behavior gelding may or may not help their attitude. Our jack has been gelded for 3 years and still does not know it. Luckily he has a laid back, socialable, and freindly disposition. Subscribe to a magazine such as the one from the American Donkey and Mule Society. They have a lot of good info in their mag. Do not feed them very much at all and all feed needs to be low protein, under 10%. As an example our 4 are all standard size(bigger than yours) and in the winter a 3 lb coffee can of sweet feed is more than enough.

 

[JESSE1]

I've got 5 regular sized donkeys, 4 jennies and 1 gelded jack. We had the jack gelded as soon as we got him, he was about 1 year old. The oldest jenny is about 14 and the two youngest are 10 now. I feed a 10% sweet feed and all the hay they can eat. They stay fat on grass.

 

[gsganzer]

The breeder said to geld them as soon as they drop, which should be somewhere between 9 and 12 months.

We probably won't need to feed them much during growing season, because they'll be on pasture. If they start to get too fat, then we can dry lot them and just turn them out as needed. They'll just need some minerals and water.

 

[heehaw]

i've had/raised donkeys for quite a while now: mostly the minatures: they are a lot of fun, an have great personalities: i never have liked horses, but have always liked donkeys?? i just got rid of my last jack: the 2 prior to the last one, i had to give away to get rid of them: i got a whopping $60 for the last one: he was about 6 months old. we got rid of the jack because we decided we didn't want to raise any more. hope you enjoy your new friends..the only thing i have missed about not having a jack around, is the braying: i always liked hearing that, an it is amazing how loud a little bitty donkey can be.
heehaw

 

[Redbug]

The folks on the other side of the creek...a quarter mile away...have a donkey. It hee haws off and on...and I really like hearing it, also. My neighbor down the hill has chickens, and I enjoy the cackling, too. Those little things add to the spice of life...

 

[rox]

This is a good topic for me to post my question in that I ahve wondered about for some time now. Will donkeys eat tree leaves and fine branches? I was thinking a donkey might keep our weeds down between our olive trees, but have wondered if they might just eat the trees?

 

[JESSE1]

You might think about a flock of geese to keep the weeds down. There are people that lease out geese to keep the weeds down in cotton and other crops. If you have wild dogs or coyotes the geese wouldn't work.

 

[jinman]

This is a good topic for me to post my question in that I ahve wondered about for some time now. Will donkeys eat tree leaves and fine branches? I was thinking a donkey might keep our weeds down between our olive trees, but have wondered if they might just eat the trees?

Rox, a donkey will browse and graze. In the early spring when young and tender leaves come out on oak trees, our donkey would eat leaves off the limbs he could easily reach, but that was probably 10% or less of his total diet. He really preferred to eat fresh green grass. He did keep the lower limbs cleaned up.

By comparison, goats prefer to browse and will do that without grazing, even standing on their back legs to get to higher branches. If there is no browse, the goats will eat grass or hay. If there is no grass or hay, the goats will eat the bark off the trees. I don't think you'd ever see a donkey eating the bark off a tree.

Oh yes. . . Neither donkeys nor goats will eat branches. They'll eat the leaves and leave you with a pile of brush to clean up. You'll still need to have those burn-piles in your orchards.

 

[EddieWalker]

Gordon,


Did you get them yet? I don't have anything to add to the thread, I don't know a thing about them. Just another pet that you have to feed and find somebody to come and feed for you if you are out of town.

Craigslist in Tyler has some for sale. "2 miniature gray jennys. 1 spotted mini-standard jenny. 5 mo old brown jack. $100 to $250. " and says they are in Diana.

There are pictures of them on the ad.


Eddie

 

[gsganzer]

Eddie,
We got them last weekend. The girls have been having fun petting them and brushing them. We've had them in a round pen all week and finally let them out into the pasture yesterday.

We got them because they're low maintenance. Donkeys are desert animals, so the feed requirements are minimal. We have enough pasture, so they shouldn't need any additional food except for some minerals if required. They get a 6-way vaccine (which I buy at TSC) once a year and a rotating treatment of wormer (also TSC).

I'll trim the hooves myself every 2-3 months (Take off some of the toe with a rasp).

 

[jinman]

Hey Gordon, when can Kathy and I stop over with a bag of carrots so we can spoil them rotten for you? Donkeys love those Dumor apple flavored treats from TSC, and peppermint candies are one of their favorites too. Give them those and a few apple cores and they will come to the fence and "talk" to you everytime you are out of the house.

You WILL be posting some pictures of your beautiful little girls with the donkeys, won't you?

BTW: Our old donkey would high-tail it across the pasture if he saw us with a wormer medicine syringe in our hands. We had to catch him and tie him to a post before bringing out the syringe. What a face he made after getting a dose.

 

[gsganzer]

Jim,
I'm heading to TSC this morning with the girls, so I can get another water trough and the girls can get new combs and brushes (The donkeys found the sole cocklebur bush in the pasture). I'll look for the treats when we're there.

The donkeys are still getting used to the new surroundings, so they don't come running to us yet. However, they're relaxed enough that they don't walk away from us when we walk toward them. As soon as they get scratched or petted, then they become putty in your hands and practically climb into your lap.

I was really hoping for warmer weather this weekend, so the girls could spend a lot of time working with the donkeys. It was too cold and windy yesterday, for the girls to spend anytime with them, once we turned the donkeys out of the round pen. It's a little warmer today. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.

 

[EddieWalker]

I didn't think about them being low maintenance. I was thinking more about a dog or horse, where it seems you have to look after them all the time. They sure are cute looking. How do they get along with something like a couple of longhorns?

Eddie

 

[Bird]

I didn't think about them being low maintenance.

That was my first thought when I saw that. I started to ask "low maintenance as compared to what?"

For Gordon's sake, I hope I'm wrong.