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what to feed a donkey

by Ms. Celestine Ankunding Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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What to feed your donkeys
  1. Straw. We recommend feeding donkeys quality barley straw as it is high in fibre and low in sugar, and closely resembles the food that a donkey would eat in the wild. ...
  2. Hay. ...
  3. Silage. ...
  4. High fibre pellets. ...
  5. Short chop chaff products. ...
  6. Dried sugar beet pulp. ...
  7. Succulents. ...
  8. Minerals and vitamins.

What treats can I give my donkeys?

Six Homemade Mini Donkey Treats from the Heart

  • Popgrain Balls. Our first yummy treat for mini donkeys is these Popgrain balls. ...
  • Flax Snax. The sweetness of these Flax Snax can be attributed to ingredients like molasses, cinnamon, and coconut oil.
  • Apple and Carrot Treats. ...
  • No-Bake Cookies. ...
  • Carrot Treats. ...
  • Ultimate Donkey Cookie. ...
  • Conclusion. ...

What should I Feed my donkey?

  • Limited grazing (if available)
  • No straw or hay
  • UK: 2.25-3kg MolliChaff Donkey fed free-choice or several times a day, 0.5kg Saracen Donkey Diet, soaked and split into two feeds per day and 150g TopSpec Comprehensive Balancer per day. ...
  • USA: 2.25-3kg Triple Crown Safe Starch Forage per day, fed free-choice or split into three or four feeds per day. ...

More items...

What should you feed your donkeys?

  • Hay
  • Straw
  • Minerals and Vitamins
  • Short chop chaff products
  • High Fibre Pellets
  • Fruits and Vegetables
  • Dried Sugar Beet Pulp
  • Don’t forget – Your donkey needs plenty of fresh water!

What is the best grain for donkeys?

What should I feed my donkey?

  • Basic rules of feeding a donkey. Feed little and often as donkeys are ‘trickle feeders’. ...
  • High fibre requirement. Donkeys require a diet high in fibre and low in protein, sugars, starch/carbohydrates and calories. ...
  • Common health problems associated with an inappropriate diet. ...
  • General. ...
  • Elderly donkeys. ...

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Should you feed donkeys grain?

The donkey diet should consist of mainly good quality barley straw or oat straw (barley straw is best) and carefully restricted access to grass. Donkeys may require supplemental hay if they are not maintaining good body condition with the straw and restricted grass diet (for e.g. during the winter months).

Can donkeys eat horse feed?

Donkeys and mules have unique evolutionary traits that mean you should not feed them like a horse. Mules and donkeys should not be fed the same way as horses.

How much grain should I feed my donkey?

In terms of how much straw to feed your donkey, it needs to eat about 1.3–2 per cent of its body weight. Straw should be the main source of feed in the summer, making up approximately 75 per cent of all feed, and in the winter straw should be 50 per cent of a donkey's feed.

Should donkeys eat hay or straw?

Straw should make up the majority of most donkeys' diets, with grazing and hay or haylage being considered a top-up only. Feeding a donkey on grass and hay without providing any straw will end up over-supplying them with calories and energy, causing them to store the excess calories as fat.

What do donkeys eat for treats?

TreatsBasic treats like carrots, apples, peppermints, bananas, watermelon, oranges, pears, grapes, celery, strawberries, and pumpkin are all safe for donkeys. ... Donkeys like sweet flavors, like raspberry.More items...

Can donkeys eat rolled oats?

Youngsters under the age of two and older donkeys that are more than 20-years-old have been found to do well on rolled oats or a 50 per cent rolled oat and 50 per cent rolled barley mix. Adult donkeys over the age of two years do well on good quality, clean whole oats.

How much hay does a donkey need per day?

Many donkeys do. These are signs of an overweight donkey and in this case you need to feed them slightly less than a maintenance amount of hay so that they will lose the extra weight slowly. Feed them roughly 3-5 lbs of hay per day each – roughly!

Do donkeys eat hay?

​Straw should make up the majority of most donkeys' diets, with grazing and hay or haylage being considered a top-up only. Feeding a donkey on grass and hay without providing any straw will end up over-supplying them with calories and energy, causing them to store the excess calories as fat.

What pellets to feed donkeys?

You may choose to feed mineral balancer pellets, which is a concentrated and economical pellet shaped feed that provides the donkey with daily minerals that it needs but also balances the ratio of minerals which are needed for most diets.

What is the best bedding for donkeys?

Barley strawBarley straw is the preferred bedding for healthy donkeys. Barley straw is lower in feed value than oat straw, but higher than wheat straw. It is comfortable for the donkeys to lie on and drains reasonably well.

Do donkeys need salt blocks?

A block of salt is better than nothing at all. The best is loose (granular) salt. Donkeys, mules and horses have smoother tongues than a cow and may not actually get their needed amount of salt from a block. They may end up biting the block in an attempt to get more, which can lead to teeth and jaw or tooth problems.

Do donkeys like carrots?

Carrots, apples, bananas, pears, turnips and swedes are all safe and usually very popular with donkeys. Ensure that chopped fruit and vegetables are cut in a way that minimises the risk of choking, such as in sticks.

Can donkeys eat cereal?

Donkeys, on the other hand, don’t need this kind of supplementation. In fact, cereal grains should never be fed to a donkey; a donkey’s increased metabolism of energy and protein makes cereal grains completely off-limits.

Can donkeys get laminitis?

It also means that if a donkey is let loose in a lush pasture, he’s more likely to put on too much weight. (And yes, overweight donkeys can develop laminitis.) Ideally, a donkey’s year-round diet should include more mature hay than grass, to help keep his condition in check.

Is a donkey a pet?

Donkeys are growing in popularity as pets, even here in Kentucky, home of the Horse Capital of the World! Because donkeys look so similar to ponies, their owners may think Hallway Feeds is a good option to ensure they get all the nutrition they need. However, donkeys and ponies are very different—with different digestive systems, ...

Is a donkey a browser?

For example, ponies are grazers, and they can meet a lot of their nutritional needs out in the pasture. Donkeys, however, are both grazers and browsers.

Can a donkey have a ration balancer?

A product like Hallway Feeds Pure & Simple Balancer can support a healthy digestive tract and has the protein, vitamins, and minerals that many equines need to ensure overall health. Note , though, that a donkey would be fed a balancer at a much lower rate than a pony. Consult your vet for appropriate advice.

What does a donkey eat?

The donkey is a herbivore. This means that it eats plants as food. The food provides the energy, protein, minerals and vitamins which the donkey needs for maintenance, for work, for growth, and when appropriate for pregnancy and lactation.

How much do donkeys eat?

It will then eat about 2.5 kg of dry matter in a day per 100 kg live weight. A donkey allowed access to grazing at will, will spend about 60% of the day in feeding.

How does a donkey get energy?

Energy is available to the donkey in several different forms. It is supplied in the food as carbohydrate, fat or protein. It is also available from the body reserves of glycogen in the muscles and liver or from fat in the adipose tissue throughout the body. Providing energy from food protein is wasteful. Many working donkeys are in lean condition and so have few body reserves to call on. The main supply of energy to a working animal is therefore the carbohydrate and fat in the diet. Carbohydrate is in two forms:#N#(a) simple carbohydrates, which are broken down to glucose which is absorbed from the small intestine into the bloodstream and#N#(b) complex carbohydrates found in fibrous plant material, which are fermented by the microorganisms in the large intestine to produce volatile fatty acids absorbed through the gut wall into the bloodstream.

How does a donkey regulate its temperature?

One way the donkey regulates its body temperature is by reducing the metabolic heat produced during feeding. Rate of passage of digesta through the intestine can also slow down when the donkey is hot, further reducing food intake.

How to meet water requirements for donkeys?

The best advice that can be given on how to meet water requirements is - offer water to the donkey at every opportunity and at least 4 times a day, more if it is working in the heat. Contrary to popular belief a donkey, and a horse, does not suffer from water toxicity. Both species can drink large amounts of water in one go without suffering any ill effects. A donkey deprived of water is very good at drinking to its requirements. In a study in Zimbabwe donkeys drinking only every 48 hours, drank the same amount over a three-week period as donkeys allowed to drink as much as they wanted daily. Working donkeys can also be watered during work in the day with no harm. In any short rest periods it is important to make sure the donkey is in the shade and to offer it water. It may not drink straight away so let the donkey spend some time at the trough or with the water bucket (at least 5 minutes) to see if it will drink. When it starts drinking it may pause in drinking and look about, make sure it is allowed to continue until it has finished and turns away of its own accord.

How much time do donkeys spend feeding?

In natural conditions a donkey would spend 14 - 16 hours a day in feeding. It is important that donkeys kept on grazing land have time to eat. Work in particular takes the donkey away from feeding. The more work it does the less time there is for feeding, but the more food is needed to meet the increased energy requirement. A working donkey therefore needs more concentrated feeds than one that is not working. Donkeys are more susceptible to the time available for eating than cattle. Cattle increase rate of eating if they have been working, donkeys do not, since the initial chewing is more important in processing the food in the donkey than in the ox (a ruminant).

What is the digestive system of a donkey?

It consists of the mouth (lips and teeth), the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine (cecum and colon) and the rectum.

What do donkeys eat?

High fibre requirement. Donkeys require a diet high in fibre and low in protein, sugars, starch/carbohydrates and calories. The donkey diet should consist of mainly good quality barley straw or oat straw (barley straw is best) and carefully restricted access to grass. Donkeys may require supplemental hay if they are not maintaining good body ...

How do donkeys survive?

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 ...

What is trickle feeding?

This is known as trickle feeding and helps to keep the donkey’s digestive system healthy and to keep the donkey occupied. Please note that, while donkeys are a member of the Equidae or horse family, they are a different species to horses and therefore have different needs.

How to keep donkeys indoors?

Donkeys kept indoors require a floor-level feed bin or corner-floor feeder placed so that feed cannot get soiled. Hay nets are not recommended as it is better for donkeys to eat from the floor and empty hay nets can be a hazard. Place enough straw in the feeder so that they can browse through it. There will be no waste as the remainder can be used for bedding. If possible, position the feeder so that the donkey’s feet are not on the bedding while they are eating, so they have a chance to dry out. It is recommended to allow ‘paddock’ time to exercise and for environmental enrichment.#N#Donkeys should always have access to a clean water supply and they may be quite fussy about what they drink. A securely supported bucket or a self-filling trough should be constantly available and should be cleaned out daily after the stable has been mucked out to avoid a build up of dust or dirt in the water.

Why do donkeys need veterinary attention?

These donkeys will require veterinary attention to address the dental issues and special dietary attention to ensure they receive adequate nutrition. They may require supplementary feeding with high fibre products that are more easily eaten e.g. short-chop high fibre products to reduce the need to chew.

Do donkeys need special diets?

Elderly donkeys. Please note that elderly donkeys may require special dietary attention. Dental disease and/or other health problems may mean that older donkeys have trouble chewing long strands of straw/hay and therefore they may require supplementary feeding to provide an alternative fibre source.

Do donkeys need water?

Donkeys should always have access to a clean water supply and they may be quite fussy about what they drink. A securely supported bucket or a self-filling trough should be constantly available and should be cleaned out daily after the stable has been mucked out to avoid a build up of dust or dirt in the water.

What is the best food for donkeys?

Concentrate feeds, even in small quantities, will likely exceed the energy requirements of most donkeys. Molasses. Sweet treats.

What is the best supplement for donkeys?

Supplements. A comprehensive vitamin and mineral supplement that is nutrient dense but low in carbohydrates to safely balance the diet. Omega-3 fatty acids , an essential fat with a wide spectrum of health benefits, especially important for donkeys not on pasture.

Why do donkeys die?

Hyperlipidemia —excess fat in the blood—is a health issue in donkeys that can be fatal. It is the main cause of death in donkeys. It can occur when an animal goes off feed and goes into “negative energy balance,” where more energy is being used than what is being consumed.

What is the difference between a donkey and a horse?

The major difference is that they are more efficient animals. For example, donkeys are considered to be browsers and are selective about the forage they consume.

What supplements are good for mules?

Mules in training or heavy exercise may thrive on special dietary attention and supplementation to support athleticism, muscle recovery and longevity including the addition of alfalfa, flax oil, joint-supporting nutrients, probiotics and ulcer support formulas and antioxidants like vitamin E and selenium.

Why do donkeys need more energy?

Winter and cold weather may increase caloric needs and higher hay levels may be used. Some donkeys may require higher energy levels to support growth , pregnancy, lactation, performance or work-load needs.

Why do donkeys need less protein than horses?

Donkeys also require less protein than horses as they have an enhanced ability to recycle nitrogen via the reabsorption of urea —up to 80 percent—created during protein metabolism.

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Introduction

Feeding Strategy of The Donkey

  • 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. The donkey is smaller and so needs less actual feed than most cattle. However, the way in which the donkey processes the food and what it gets from it are different from an ox. It is important to remember this when feeding donkeys - t…
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The Digestive Tract

  • The anatomy of the digestive system of the donkey is similar to that of the horse (Figure 1). It consists of the mouth (lips and teeth), the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine (cecum and colon) and the rectum.
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Foods Available

  • Most donkeys are fed on roughages for most of their life, supplemented with grazing of natural grassland, roadsides, bush and scrubland if they are kept in the rural areas. Many working donkeys are found in urban and peri-urban areas of the world where opportunities for grazing are few and people feed their animals entirely on purchased feeds. In t...
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Guidelines to Feeding Donkeys For Different Activities

  • These are guidelines, since the exact amounts and proportions will be affected by how much production is expected from the donkey, its body condition and the food available. A thin donkey has few body reserves of energy, whereas a donkey in good condition does have something in reserve for a short period. Table 1shows how to assess the feeding value of roughage in terms …
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Conclusions

  • The final test of a ration is to try feeding it to some donkeys and see if it is palatable, maintains weight and keeps the animals healthy. Feed a range of feedstuffs - if possible a mixture of dry forage, green forage and some concentrate - and then you can rarely go wrong. Feed the young donkey on the best possible feeds available, good quality roughage and high protein, energy con…
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General Textbooks on Equine Nutrition

  • 1. Allison K, Day C. A Guide to Equine Nutrition. UK: JA Allen Ltd, 1995. 2. Cuddeford D. Equine Nutrition. UK: The Crowood Press, 1997. - Available from amazon.com- 3. Frape D. Equine Nutrition and Feeding. UK: Blackwell Sciences, 1998. - Available from amazon.com- 4. Kohnke J, Kelleher F and Trevor-Jones P. Feeding Horses in Australia. A Guide for Horse Owners and Man…
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