List of Natural Treats for Donkeys
- Carrots (one medium carrot every other day)
- Turnips (two small turnips, sliced and fed every other day)
- Gem squash (a half a squash once a week, seeds removed)
- Pumpkin (a quarter of a pumpkin once a week, seeds removed)
- Swedes or rutabagas (a half a Swedish turnip, sliced, once a week)
- Celery (two celery stalks with leaves, every second day)
- 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. ...
- Hay. ...
- Silage. ...
- High fibre pellets. ...
- Short chop chaff products. ...
- Dried sugar beet pulp. ...
- Succulents. ...
- 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. ...
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. ...
What should you not feed a donkey?
Avoid dusty or mouldy feeds. Access to an equine salt or mineral lick is advisable (avoid mineral licks designed for other types of livestock as they may contain inappropriate mineral levels).
What is the best donkey feed?
Top donkey feeds:Straw. Barley straw is an ideal feed for your donkey. This is because donkeys need high fibre diets with a low amount of protein and carbohydrates. ... Hay and grass. The remainder of your donkey's diet (25-50 per cent) should be grazing on grass, hay or haylage.
What do donkeys mostly eat?
The donkeys graze, eat forbs and shrubs and the bark of trees. They normally should be allowed to graze for six to seven hours a day on free range. A donkey is a monogastric herbivore thus it eats roughages and utilizes cellulose and hemicellulose efficiently.
How much grain should I feed my donkey?
Forage. Studies have shown that donkeys voluntarily consume much less forage compared to horses; 1.5% of body weight (BW) for donkeys compared to 3.1% of BW for horses. The donkeys heightened ability to digest low-quality forage has been likened to that of a goat.
Do donkeys eat straw or 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.
Do donkeys need to be fed?
Follow these golden rules. Donkeys require specialist feeding, they are not a small horse and should not be fed as such. They require fewer calories to maintain weight than a pony of the same size, and enjoy trickle feeding on highly fibrous feeds.
Do donkeys need grain everyday?
Do Donkeys Need Grain? Donkeys do not need to be fed regular grain if they are given enough straw along with grass or hay to maintain their normal diet.
What is toxic to donkeys?
Non-medicated cow, goat, and bird foods are not good for your donkeys, and medicated feeds can be fatal! Medicated food for many other animals at sanctuaries contain Rumensin or Bovatec and other ionophores (antibiotics) to control disease. However, ionophores are EXTREMELY toxic to equines.
What does a donkey need?
Stable. Donkeys must have a clean, dry barn, or, at the very least, a three-sided shelter. You'll have to remove waste from this area daily. Your donkey will also need access to some sort of pasturage, as they really need space to wander and nibble.
Is grass good for donkeys?
Because food availability in their native settings is sparse donkeys in such environments don't only eat grass. They happily eat browse (woody shrubs, trees, and broadleaf plants) and forbs (flowing plants) as well.
Are rolled oats good for donkeys?
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.
Is sweet feed good for donkeys?
You should never feed Longears (donkeys, or mules) any pre-mixed sweet feeds, or products high in alfalfa. Equines in general should never be turned out in a pasture with Fescue grass.
What pellets to feed donkeys?
High fibre pellets Products marketed for equines prone to laminitis are a good choice because they are usually high in fibre and low in sugar. 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.
Is alfalfa hay good for donkeys?
Straw is also far lower in protein than a typical grass hay and, certainly, donkeys should not be fed alfalfa due to its significantly higher protein content .
How much beet pulp should I feed my donkey?
*Standards or minis also get soaked beet pulp (no molasses!) if they are looking a little thin or they are working. About 1/2 cup per 100 pounds. Rescue donkeys that are underweight will need additional foods, and so do pregnant jennets.
Why do donkeys need salt?
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Can donkeys be on pasture?
Donkeys on pasture can be a problem IF your pasture is rich thick grasses high in sugars and proteins. Mine is not. Here is a video showing everyone what I mean when I say I don’t have good grass. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.
Can you feed a donkey?
Donkey feeding and care will vary depending on the individual and what you are doing with your donkeys. A donkey that sits in the pasture all day will not need the same amounts of feed as a donkey that has a job .
Do donkeys need hay?
A donkey that sits in the pasture all day will not need the same amounts of feed as a donkey that has a job. Larger working donkeys may need supplements. Pregnant donkeys may need extra nutrients too. A pasture of geldings or non-bred jennets typically only needs low sugar grass hay or forage, a salt and mineral.
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.
WHICH SEX TO KEEP
Firstly, if you don't plan on breeding with donkeys, it's best not to keep stallions. They can be very unpredictable and get aggressive, especially if there is a mare in season nearby. Geldings and mares are safer options when you want to keep donkeys for other reasons. Even better is keeping donkeys of the same sex.
SHELTER AND SPACE NEEDS
Unlike a horse, donkeys do not have a natural build-up of grease to make their coat waterproof, and they originate from hotter climates. For this reason, they should always have access to a shelter or stable where they can hide from the elements.
WHAT DO DONKEYS EAT?
They are natural browsers and enjoy grass, bushes, berries, and fallen fruit that they may find in their natural habitat.
COMPANIONSHIP
Donkeys need a friend. It is vital to their health and well-being. They will often pair up for life with one donkey or other equines such as horses, mules, and goats. They can get very stressed when removed from their companion or even when the companion has died.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Donkeys are desert country animals engineered to endure rugged, dry terrains. So when they live in environments far removed from this, hoof care is also critical. Find a farrier who can check and trim their hooves often.
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…
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.
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...
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 …
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…
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…