What to feed your donkeys: Nutrition advice
The requirements for calcium, phosphorus and magnesium are greatest in the growing animal. The working animal needs to maintain its fluid balance through the replacement of the sodium lost in sweat. It is important therefore to ensure that a working donkey is given a handful of salt in its feed each day, or that it is provided with rock salt or a salt lick when it is resting. In ruminants much of the dietary protein is broken down in the rumen into simple nitrogenous compounds and used by the micro-organisms to grow and produce microbial protein. Therefore some of the extra nitrogen to promote microbial growth and hence aid fermentation of the complex carbohydrates can be provided in the diet as urea.
This is because these feeds require significant chewing, which may be difficult for a donkey with teeth problems. Continually assess your donkey’s body condition and make changes to the diet accordingly. Please consult your vet should you have any questions or concerns.
They commonly exhibit a range of coat colors, including gray, brown, black, white, or a combination of these. Each breed exhibits traits that have been selectively bred for specific functions, such as load-bearing, companionship, or even show purposes. Despite these variations, all donkeys share common characteristics of endurance, strength, and a generally calm demeanor. This article offers a comprehensive look into the world of donkeys, exploring their origins, characteristics, and the significant roles they continue to play in cultures around the world. Donkeys are natural browsers and should be fed with berries, grass, bushes, and other things in their natural environment. Donkeys must chew their food properly to aid digestion; hence they suffer intestinal impaction or esophagus obstruction when they don’t chew their food correctly.
In difficult terrain in which the donkey uses more energy per meter walked than it does on firm level ground, it will travel at a slower speed and travel less in the day. If pulling or carrying heavy loads, which require more extra energy, the donkey will travel at a slower speed than if lightly laden and again travel less in the working day. To feed a donkey well does not require a large amount of money or feed, it is easier to feed a working donkey well than for example a working ox.
A donkey watered every 48 hours will decrease average daily dry matter intake of an average quality roughage by 50% compared to a donkey with access to water when it wants in the day. Fruit and vegetables can be fed in small amounts (one or two a day) to provide variety and encourage a healthy appetite. They are a worthwhile addition to the normal food ration in winter and early spring when fresh grass is not available.
Hence a working donkey needs more water than an idle donkey, sometimes 5 to 6 times as much. A lactating donkey needs more water than one that is not producing milk, about twice as much. As the environmental temperature increases over 30°C the water requirement goes up times as the donkey sweats to cool down. All these factors added together mean that the water requirement of a specific donkey on a specific day can vary from 5 to 35 liters per day. Donkeys with access to grass all year round won’t require much hay, even during the winter months. You should control the amount of grass and hay the donkeys eat each day to maintain ideal body condition.
With our years of experience, we hope that this information helps you to look after your donkey. If you are ever worried that your donkey might not be feeling himself, either through behavioural changes or you notice he’s eating less, always seek an equine veterinarian’s advice. The offspring of a male donkey and a female horse is called a mule, while the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey is called a hinny.
High fibre pellets are a good choice if you need more than grass, hay and straw to build up the weight of an old or underweight donkey. Care must be taken that the donkey does not eat the pellets too quickly, as it may cause colic, so add water and mix with a small quantity of low sugar chaff when introducing pellets for the first time. High fibre pellets can be soaked down to a mash, which is particularly useful for donkeys with poor teeth. Avoid any pellets containing cereals grains as these are not suitable for feeding to donkeys. Products marketed as ‘mixes’ are usually cereal grain based and again not suitable. The key to successful donkey nutrition is to find high-fiber forages of low nutritional value.
Silage is not suitable for feeding to donkeys because the moisture level is usually too high, with a low pH, as well as a low fibre and high protein level. The foal is able to stand and nurse within a short time after birth. Donkey foals are cared for attentively by their mothers and are weaned at around 6 to 9 months of age. Donkeys are primarily herbivores with a diet consisting mainly of grasses, herbs, and shrubs. Their feeding behavior is adapted to cope with sparse and rough vegetation often found in arid and semi-arid regions.
To make the best use of the food given, the donkey should be fed times a day, especially when it is working. The teeth of a donkey are so important to maximize food intake and breakdown of the food for digestion that it is important to look after them. The first premolars called wolf teeth are usually present in the upper jaw of only 30% of females and 65% of male donkeys and are of no practical value. In horses they are often removed in a riding animal if they interfere with the use of the bit. The anatomy of the digestive system of the donkey is similar to that of the horse (Figure 1).
Originally native to arid and semi-arid regions of North Africa, donkeys have been domesticated and introduced worldwide. They are highly adaptable and can Doeat.top Eating disorders in animals thrive in various environments. The donkey, or Equus africanus asinus, is believed to have been domesticated from the African wild ass, Equus africanus.
In their natural habitat donkeys will browse, eating highly fibrous plant material in small quantities throughout the day. During the spring and summer the donkeys at The Donkey Sanctuary have access to restricted grazing. In addition to the restricted grazing our donkeys always have access to barley straw to ensure they are getting plenty of fibre to meet their nutritional needs. The amount of grass donkeys have access to is controlled, either by strip grazing using electric fencing or by co-grazing with other species to prevent them from becoming overweight.
Sugar beet, a by-product of the sugar industry, is a useful food given in small amounts to tempt a sick donkey to eat or to help an elderly donkey or underweight donkey gain condition. Sugar beet is a source of succulent, nutritious, digestible fibre when added to the feed, although it cannot be fed as a replacement to hay. We recommend unmolassed sugar beet to help prevent laminitis and unnecessary weight gain.
Donkeys have evolved over thousands of years to live in semi-arid environments where the nutritional quality of the food available is very poor. They have adapted to eat fibrous plant material in small quantities throughout the day. This is known as trickle feeding and helps to keep the donkey’s digestive system healthy and to keep the donkey occupied. Work does not increase the protein requirements of a donkey in any significant amount.
