Mini-donkey advice

[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.