For those of you who don’t know us personally, a quick bit of background is due before we get too far into the weeds. The two of us behind BRAY both work, in some capacity, in fields which involve a fair bit of language: one with government contracts, and one in food and industrial safety and compliance. In both of these positions there is a lot of written language that must be extremely precise in order to meet compliance requirements as well as achieve the desired outcome, whether that be correctly and legally fulfilled contracts, or safe food and safe workplaces. Contracts, best practices, standard operating procedures, and policies are the name of the game.
With that being said, for those of you who also work in sectors that involve procedures and compliance, you will be familiar with much of the language we use, but for those who aren’t, we’d love to take some time to explain how we convey information to folks hoping to learn.
First off is what’s known as “Best Practices.” Best practices are exactly what it sounds like: the highest standard we should always be trying to attain. When we write a post or blog, or make a graphic, we are usually writing it to a standard of best practices. As owners and caretakers we should always strive to meet best practices, but in practical terms, these are things that we sometimes can’t necessarily achieve, or don’t always achieve. An example would be “a donkey should not go more than four hours without access to forage; ideally fed in multiple small meals per day, or be allowed to browse and forage on sparse native plants at all times.” Most of us do not have the land to create an ideal desert environment with browse, or the ability to feed our animals tiny meals every hour or two, due to our schedules. We make due by feeding straw with our hay, so our animals have something less enticing and palatable to snack on until their next feeding. Or, perhaps, we say “animals should have a dental exam every year.” But maybe your vet broke their arm and couldn’t do the procedure until after it got too late in the summer, at which point they counselled against sedating your animal until cooler weather. Would that make it longer than a year between routine dentals? Yes. But unless they are having a problem, like dropping feed or losing weight, it’s probably fine to go a little longer between dentals under the circumstances.
“May, Must, and Should.” You will also note that we often use the words “may,” “must” or “should.” These words are not chosen at random. They are very specifically chosen to convey different ideas.
“May.” May is a word that generally means “it’s fine either way.” All things equal, “may” is telling you that any of your options are good, do whatever works best for you and your herd. “An owner may choose to trim their own donkey’s hooves, or hire a farrier.” A competent owner and a competent farrier doing a straight trim is more or less the same. If you prefer to do it yourself? Great! If you prefer to have a farrier come out? Great! If you do one and the farrier does the other? Great! (Hi, it’s me, the farrier is the favorite person of one donkey, and sworn mortal enemy of the other. He trims one, I trim the other). Similarly, “a trough or muck bucket may work best for water.” Either of these choices work fine, as long as your donkeys are happy and hydrated, and you’re able to easily clean it. We also will sometimes use “can” in place of “may,” but they mean the same thing to us.
“Must.” Must means you have to. No ifs, ands, or buts. Donkeys must have access to clean water. Donkeys must have sufficient room to move around. Donkeys must have safe and sufficient fencing to keep them contained and prevent injury. Donkeys must have access to clean, mold-free, species appropriate feed. If you cannot provide the things your donkeys must have, you cannot own a donkey. Obviously there are some limited extenuating circumstances, for example if your vet has some reason to direct you to remove water from in front of your animal temporarily, you should follow their advice, but in general, “must” means you have to, end of story.
“Should.” Should means you try your best to do it. You do it most of the time. Sometimes you might not be able to, but you make the effort. An example would be “you should clean your donkey’s pen or paddock every day.” We all know there will be some days you don’t have time to do more than check that they have water and throw hay in their direction. Or it’s a snow storm and it’s all you can do to make sure your animals have their warm water and forage. On those days their dry lot may not get cleaned. But on most days you should muck out their pens to keep an eye on their digestive health, and keep their area hygienic. Another example would be “you should pick your donkey’s hooves out every day.” That is best practice, but if you miss a day here and there, it’s generally okay.
Another way we often use “should” is for standard practices for new owners. In that instance, we will typically list “should” behaviors as those that are most likely to be successful for you and your new herd. An example of this would be “you should set up enough feeding stations that you have one for every animal + 1 additional station.” This setup is likely to alleviate most issues with resource guarding or aggression, therefore allowing everyone to eat, while not going overboard and making more work for you, a new owner. However, as you get to know your herd better, and settle into your own personal management groove, you may find that your animals prefer to share feeding stations, and therefore you can cut down on a few. Or you may find that one animal still manages to stress with only one extra hay station, in which case you may need to feed them separately or make more stations. However, the number of animals + 1 is a good entry or starter point, so that’s what we say a new owner “should” start with.
Hopefully that clears up some of our language, and helps readers understand some of where we’re coming from in our posts!