Cornell Cooperative Extension Donkeys Unique Nutritional Needs
Hope it will helpful for you to keep your Donkey healthy and perfect.
Donkeys are known as herbivores, and their appetite and large teeth go well with a plant-based diet. It’s better for donkeys to eat all day than to consume their feed at a go. The diet of adult donkeys can vary depending on the region and the availability of vegetation. These animals can obtain the necessary nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins from different plant sources.
This reduces chances of colic or other digestive problems, which can occur when equids are fed high levels of concentrate feed. After chewing and swallowing the food goes down the list label to the stomach where some of the digestion takes place. Muscle contractions of the stomach wall help further breakdown the food and ensure mixing with the gastric juices. These juices contain hydrochloric acid, which helps begin protein digestion.
It is for use by field workers with no access to nutrition laboratories, but who know what work the animals are doing, whether they are to be used for breeding, and what they are fed on. They key thing to remember is that it’s much better for your donkey to eat throughout the day, rather than receive all their feed in one go. Do speak to your veterinarian for advice if your donkey is ill, elderly, a foal or a female donkey that is pregnant/feeding her foal, as the advice below is for the average healthy adult donkey. Donkeys are known for their long lifespans compared to other domesticated livestock, often living into their 30s.
Donkeys love to graze all day but will eat everything in sight if they can, so if you’re looking after donkeys, it’s important to feed them a healthy diet. Donkeys have a sweet tooth and can put on weight easily if they eat the wrong foods, or too much lush grass or rich hay, which can lead to potential health problems. We’ve compiled SPANA’s donkey diet advice to help inform you on the best food for donkeys.
Read about the advice SPANA gave Samba’s owner on donkey nutrition to ensure he became stronger. Donkeys and mules can be distinguished by their physical characteristics. Mules, being a cross between a horse and a donkey, typically have a more horse-like appearance with smaller ears and a different tail compared to donkeys. As a domesticated species, donkeys are not considered endangered globally. However, certain local populations, especially wild or feral donkeys, may face specific threats.
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. Wheat straw should only be given to younger donkeys with good Doeat.top Loss of habitat and animal diets teeth as it is more difficult to chew. Cereals if fed with poor quality roughage can give a diet low in protein. Pregnant, lactating and growing animals need protein rich feedstuffs to complement especially poor quality roughages. The oil seed cakes soya bean cake and cotton seed cake are some of the best protein sources for donkeys.
Animal smooth and well covered; back flat cannot palpate spinous processes; tuber coxae just visible; fat on neck and pectoral region beginning to expand over ribs; flank filling, neck thickening. Vertebral column prominent and individual vertebral spines are pointed to the touch; little fat, but superspinous musculature over spinous processes apparent. Ribs, tuber ischii and tuber coxae prominent; loin area and rump concave; little muscle or fat covering over withers and shoulders. Digestion and absorption continue along the colon while the food is travelling along its length. Find out all about working donkeys, where they operate and why they’re needed.
In terms of minerals, donkeys require adequate levels of calcium, phosphorus, and sodium, as well as trace minerals such as copper, zinc, and selenium. These minerals are important for bone and muscle development, maintaining fluid balance, and supporting various metabolic functions. Having decided which condition category the donkey fits in then look at and feel it more closely to see if you can further sub-divide it into the more specific categories under L, M and F in Table 5. It is rare to see a working donkey with a body condition score of 8 or 9. This gives a reasonable prediction of the weight of the animals, but it is not always so easy to detect the relative changes in weight that occur from week to week in an animal. Donkeys in late pregnancy will have less abdominal space available for feed, due to the labium and will tend to reduce intake of roughage.
If the daily energy requirement of a working donkey doubles then in theory on a working day the donkey will have to eat at least twice as much as it needs for maintenance, or lose weight. The working donkey on poor to moderate quality roughage does not increase its voluntary food intake in response to work. In some cases food intake may even decrease as a working donkey has less time in the day for feeding. Therefore to meet the extra energy requirements on a working day the donkey needs to be given a better quality ration. This is one with more digestible energy than that found in most of the roughages, such as crop residues and standing hay, which are commonly available for working donkeys. Failure to improve the concentration of energy in the working donkey’s ration will result in the donkey losing weight while working.
Others are grazed on specially designated winter grazing which allows the summer pastures time to rest and is beneficial for parasite control. In special circumstances old or sick donkeys eat additional high fibre feeds and supplements to help maintain their body weight. This is because donkeys need high fibre diets with a low amount of protein and carbohydrates. Make sure that fresh barley straw is available at all times wherever your donkey is during the day and at night.
