what to feed donkeys

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 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 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 do you feed a pet donkey?

As mentioned, donkeys are herbivores and need a lot of plant fiber. Making sure to feed them a diet that is high in fiber and low in sugar is the best way to keep them healthy and avoid weight gain and medical issues. Barley straw is a great option along with Meadow hay or seed hay.

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.

Can you feed donkeys meat?

Donkeys Digestive Systems Are Unsuitable for Meat It's designed for slow food passage and to extract all the key nutrients from plants and hay that the animals need to survive and thrive. Whether this gives donkeys an inclination to avoid meat, knowing it's likely to give them gastrointestinal problems, is hard to say.

Should 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.

What is the best grain to feed a donkey?

barley strawThe 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).

What should you not feed donkeys?

Avoid feeding potatoes, anything from the brassica family, onions, leeks, garlic, stoned fruit and anything which is old, fermented or mouldy as these are toxic to donkeys. Carrots, apples, bananas, pears, turnips and swedes are all safe and usually very popular with donkeys.

What is toxic to donkeys?

As little as 20% of black walnut in the shavings can cause toxicity in horses or donkey. Red Maple (Acer rubrum) ingestion can cause destruction of the red blood cells when ingested by horses or donkeys. This can cause secondary kidney damage as well. Red or dark colored urine is typically the first sign seen.

Why do donkeys eat their own poop?

It may appear icky to humans, but the practice of eating poop, known as coprophagia (kop-ruh-fey-jee-uh), is common in the animal kingdom, and helps these animals access nutrients they couldn't digest the first time around, said Bryan Amaral, the senior curator of animal care science at the Smithsonian's National Zoo ...

What do wild donkeys like to eat?

Donkeys are grazers that typically like to eat grass, though they also eat shrubs and desert plants. Instead of tearing at grass with their teeth, donkeys grab the plant with their lips, pull it into their mouth, then rip it with their flat teeth and grind it down for swallowing.

Do donkeys eat carrots?

Yes, donkeys can eat carrots. They are considered a safe vegetable for them to consume, as long as they're kept to sensible amounts.

What is barley straw for donkeys?

​What Kind of Straw Is Best? Barley straw is the best all-rounder for most healthy donkeys, as it makes a good feeding and bedding straw and is readily available. Wheat straw is more fibrous than barley straw and more difficult to chew. We would usually only recommend feeding it to younger donkeys for this reason.

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.

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 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 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.

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

The Digestive Tract

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

Conclusions

General Textbooks on Equine Nutrition