History of donkeys

Donkeys are amazing magical creatures. No matter how tired you are, they can find a way to make you laugh. They soothe and energize and if you listen with your heart you can hear them talking to you and to each other. They are chatterboxes, full of questions. Donkeys are not stubborn. They are cautious. Once you explain to them what you want them to do and why they need to do it, they are very cooperative and try to please you.

Because of their intelligence and willing temperaments donkeys were the companions of humans (4500 B.C.) in Egypt and Mesopotamia for 2000 years before the domestication of the horse (2250 B.C.). Donkeys carried royalty and were given places of honor within the households and served a unique place in early societies as status symbols of wealth and wisdom. The palfrey of the Middle Ages was often a donkey, and it is possible donkeys were the dragons and unicorns of poems and lore. The donkey is also the only animal given speech in the King James bible (Numbers 22:28).

By 3400 BC selective breeding was creating larger or smaller donkeys for specific purposes. The large donkeys were used for pulling heavy loads such as barges along the waterways, the mid-size donkeys were favored as pack and riding donkeys, and the small donkeys were used in dense vegetation where their short height allowed them to walk under overhanging limbs carrying packs of produce over steep mountain trails. Because of their temperament, dependability, versatility, and longevity donkeys are still the most common work animals worldwide.

North American Donkeys

The Eohippus skeleton found in 1931 in the Big Horn Basin, northeastern Wyoming proves Equus were native to North America and then vanished. There are many theories why they disappeared from North America and continued to evolve in northern Africa.

Donkeys were reintroduced to North America by the Spanish explorers in the 1500s and brought to the Spanish colonies in the 1600s. These early donkeys became the rootstock of large donkeys spreading throughout the colonies and by the late 1700s there was a demand for large donkeys for the production of mules. Thousands of large donkeys were imported during the 1800s and through the early 1900s. The large standard and mammoth donkeys in North America today developed from blending the later imported stock with the descendents of the early Spanish donkeys.

During the westward expansion in the early 1800s into the middle ground of the Northwest Territory, fur trappers and freighters used the medium-sized donkeys to pack goods through the wilderness east of the Mississippi River. They could put donkeys on flat boats at Fort Pitt, which is now Pittsburgh, float them down the Ohio River to Fort Washington, which is now Cincinnati, load their packs and travel the narrow trails to the early settlements such as Fort Dearborn, Fort Wayne, Fort Knox, and Fort Mackinaw. In the mid-1800s when the settlers moved even further westward across the Mississippi River into the plains, donkeys went with them to carry supplies where wagons could not go. Once the westward expansion reached the Pacific Ocean the donkeys' work was still not done. Large teams of donkeys pulled ore wagons across the southwest desert and donkey pack trains were often the only means of getting supplies to rugged mountain settlements. The need for the medium-sized donkey waned with the completion of the railroads and many were released in the west and established feral herds. Their descendents are today's Bureau of Land Management donkeys.

In the late 1700s, small donkeys were being used to pull carts of produce in the cities, turn the gristmills and water wheels and pulling ore carts in mines. When steam and petroleum-fueled engines were introduced to do the harder tasks, some of the small donkeys were also released in the west and southwest, but many were still needed and new brood stock continued to be imported well into the late 1920s. In the 1940s and 1950s the small donkeys grew in popularity as novelties and in the mid-1950s the term "miniature" was used in advertising and a registry based on size was created in 1958 to record the lineage.

Conformation

Conformation for a donkey is a skeletal structure with the appropriately proportioned bone lengths to create strong, supporting, and shock absorbing joints. His skeleton supports and protects his internal organs. Structure governs the mechanics of their motion determining the amount of energy that must be expended to move their body. A well-structured donkey has a mechanically efficient structure that expends less energy in moving and is better able to support their own bodyweight or that of an additional burden such as a rider or pregnancy.

Conformation has nothing to do with color, size, or pedigree. To have "conformation" requires a proportional structure with four mechanically sound legs. Conformation is not compromised by size or by age. They are born with the structure they inherit from their parents. When both parents carry the genetics of good structure, the offspring inherit the genetics of good structure. One mechanically sound parent and one mechanically weak parent will produce an offspring that may appear mechanically sound, but it will be carrying the genetics for mechanical weakness.

Not all structural weaknesses are obvious and often can be missed when disguised by layers of body fat, but conformation is the skeletal structure, and no amount of body fat can change a poor skeletal structure into a strong, healthy structure.

Feeding Donkeys

Understanding how a donkey's "body clock" and digestive system works is crucial to understanding why the high protein high fat feeds designed for horses are not the best feeds for donkeys. The ancestors of our donkeys adapted to thriving on sparse vegetation. Nature adjusted their digestive capabilities to efficiently wring every bit of nutrient out of the high fiber forage of grasses, weeds, twigs, thistles and tree bark to maintain their body condition on whatever browse they could find.

Being able to munch, then nap, then munch, then nap is the way a donkey's digestive system is designed to work so it is never empty. If we are not careful what type of feed, how much, and when we feed, we can trigger the feast and famine signals of their system that cause their metabolism to slow so they can conserve and store reserves of fat. When we see they are getting a little plump, the instinct is to cut back on the amount or the frequency of feeding and if they eat it all quickly their system gets empty before the next feeding time, and that causes their metabolism to slow even more.

To maintain body condition and avoid obesity requires a constant availability of forage and tricking your donkey's metabolism to speed up, not slow down. If you notice your donkey is getting plump do not reduce the amount of their forage (grass or hay). Grass hay is best. Avoid clovers and alfalfa. The time of day you feed them is important. Donkeys are night browsers so do not confine them at night. Allow them access to pasture so they will walk and nibble. It takes a lot of walking to eat enough for them to feel full and ready for a nap. If they are being fed hay, put it in their manger at night.

A simple feeding plan that will maintain healthy, active, thrifty donkeys that stay in breeding condition, performance ready, and show ring, sleek without developing fat necks and blubber butts mimics their natural low fat, high fiber diet and the best feeding program I have found is a Donkey Diet of whole oats, soaked beet pulp, vitamin-mineral supplement, and forage of grass or grass hay. The feeding plan is simple, low cost, and effective.

1. Provide loose white salt instead of a salt block. Salt blocks are designed for a cow's rough tongue. There are salt blocks on the market now that are labeled for equine use, but I have tried them and they still are not as good as a pan of loose white iodized salt. Donkeys consume more salt per cwt of bodyweight than a cow or a horse.
2. Provide loose mineral instead of a trace mineral block.
3. Provide access 24/7 to fresh water. Donkeys are fussy about their water. If there is slime in the tank the donkey will sniff and take a couple sips to quench his immediate thirst but will not tank up like he normally would. Donkeys drink a lot of water and if your donkeys are not consuming a sizeable amount then check to make sure your tanks are clean. Donkeys will not drink a sufficient amount of water if the water supply is dirty, stale, stinky, or scummy.

Worming Program for the Midwest

Use an efficient preventative worming program. A heavy internal parasite load slows the digestive system and increases the risks of organ and artery damage done by migrating larvae. The best worming program I have found is the 60 day rotational worming of fenbendazole (Panacur or Safeguard), pyrantel pamoate, and ivermectin. If a donkey has not been on the 60 day rotation worming program, they need to have the 5 day double dose by bodyweight of Panacur or Safeguard first, and then they can begin the rotational program.
February 1st: a single dose by bodyweight of ivermectin such as Equimectin or generic ivermectin.
April 1st: a single dose by bodyweight of fenbendazole (Panacur or Safeguard).
June 1st: a 2 day double dose by weight of pyrantel pamoate.
August 1st: a single dose by weight of ivermectin.
October: after first freeze a 5 day double dose of fenbendazole (Panacur or Safeguard).
December 1st: a single dose by bodyweight of pyrantel pamoate.

Other Essentials

A dental checkup at least once a year checking for sharps hooks, and waves for mature donkeys (5 years and older) and twice a year dental checkups starting when your donkey is 1 month old for donkeys under 5 years old. Dental problems caught early can be corrected or lessened to save the donkey a lifetime of dental problems.

Avoid prepared horse feeds. They are designed for a horse's digestive system and contain added fat that donkeys do not need and can do more harm than good because they slow a donkey's metabolism and increase stress on their liver and kidneys.

Shredded beet pulp is preferable to pellet beet pulp, but whichever you can get soak the beet pulp in hot water until it is thoroughly soaked and the water is lukewarm and then add the other ingredients and thoroughly stir it in. The shredded beet pulp is ready in 10-15 minutes. Pelleted beet pulp may take an hour or two to expand and soften. Soaking the beet pulp to create a watery soup encourages the donkey to eat slowly and savor every morsel to satisfy their appetite.

An example of a miniature diet:

For a mature (5 years or over) jack, gelding, open or pregnant jennet weighing 250-300 pounds per day: ½ cup of whole oats (not crimped, steamed, or rolled), ½ cup of shredded beet pulp soaked in ½ cup of water, and 1 teaspoon of Manna Pro Sho-Glo vit-min supplement twice a day or if once a day in the evening if possible.

For immature stock (under 5 years old) increase the amount of whole oats, shredded beet pulp, and water by twice as much. For nursing jennets increase the amount of whole oats, shredded beet pulp, and water by twice as much.

Copyright 2005 Vicki Knotts Abbott

The Legend of "The Donkey's Cross"

"Bring me the colt of a donkey," was the Master's request.

A young donkey was brought to Jesus to carry Him into Jerusalem.

A week later Jesus was ordered crucified.

The little donkey so loved the Lord that he wanted to help Him carry the cross.

But alas, he was pushed away.

The sad little donkey waited to say goodbye until nearly all had left.

As he turned to leave, the shadow of the cross fell upon his back and shoulders.

And there it has remained, a tribute to the loyalty and love of the humblest of God's creatures.