We've all seen them, they're some of the most common questions in new donkey message boards and social media groups: breeding and reproduction in donkeys. These typically take the form of one of the following: Is my jennet pregnant/how can I tell if my jennet is pregnant? How do I prepare for a new baby? Should I geld my new jack? Should I breed my [insert animal here]? My fence failed/animals got out, my jack may have bred my jennet, what do I do? Can I house my jacks together? My jack is acting aggressive, will gelding him help? How long do I keep my new gelding apart from my jennets? These questions can all be a bit overwhelming to new owners, especially those who have purchased an animal from an auction, sale barn, or kill pen and have no information on the animal's history. But no worries! All these questions have answers, and we're here to help. "Is my jennet pregnant" or "how do I tell if my jennet is pregnant?" The most conclusive way to determine a pregnancy is via ultrasound or blood test. However, it's important your vet be familiar with donkeys, as some blood tests such as Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PSMG) cannot be used in donkeys, and others, such as Estrone Sulfate tests may give false negatives in late stage pregnancy. Your vet may therefore choose to do both blood tests and imaging to determine of your animal is bred, and how far along they are. Of course, there are other visible signs your animal is pregnant. A large belly is the most apparent, but a belly can also be the result of parasites or poor nutrition, or a large belly may be hidden under fat pads in the case of obese animals. A milk-filled udder, generally known as "bagging up" is a good indicator of late stage pregnancy and impending birth, but edema and some parasite or fly issues can also cause swelling of the mammary tissues. A lopsided or moving belly typically indicates the presence of a foal as well. "How do I prepare for a new baby?" A few steps can be taken to ensure you are ready for a new arrival: Work with a vet. Vaccines will need to be administered to the jennet prior to foaling to ensure mom and baby are as protected as possible from disease. Your vet can also give you nutrition recommendations to support a growing foal and pregnant or nursing jenny. Most importantly, it's essential to have a relationship with a vet in case something goes amiss with the birth or shortly after. Vets typically do not wish to respond to emergency calls from people who are not established patients. Study, study, study! Look up all you can about foaling from reputable sources such as American Association of Equine Practitioners, and various veterinary schools. No, it doesn't need to be specific to donkeys, horse foaling is similar enough to help you avoid common pitfalls such as what to do when your foal is not up and nursing in the proper timeframe, and when to call the vet. Have supplies and a basic foaling kit on hand. Lists for what to stock in a foaling kit can be easily found online. If your jennet is due to foal in the winter or if there's a chance of cold weather, make sure you have purchased or acquired a foal saver blanket. The middle of the night in a snow or rain storm is not the time to be trying to acquire a way to keep a new baby warm. If you end up not using it you can always resell it. Prepare your foaling space. Whether this is a stall, paddock, or pasture with a shelter, make sure they have an area that is safe from predators, AND other donkeys. Donkeys will routinely kill new foals that are not their own, especially if in a confined space. Make sure there is shelter from inclement weather, and dry areas. Ensure there is safe fencing and water containers. Little legs can often get their owner into trouble by tripping and falling into fences and water troughs, and this could result in the death of a newborn foal. Ensure there is ample space for the jennet to labor and move about once the baby is born. It's not uncommon for new mothers to step on their babies and break legs, or kill the babies if the mothers do not have enough room to safely return to their feet after foaling. This is typically a problem in enclosed barn stalls. If you are mostly in sand, as many of us are in Arizona, be sure to put down ample bedding straw so your jenny doesn't ingest too much sand while cleaning and drying her foal. "Should I geld my new jack?" The short answer? Yes. If you are a new owner, and are asking this question of a message board, the reality is you are likely not equipped at this point in your ownership journey to safely keep a jack, nor evaluate it for breeding suitability. The best thing you can do for you, and your donkey, is to geld them. There are, however, some considerations to when and how you geld your jack: Work with a vet who is familiar with donkeys. The two main concerns when gelding jacks are that donkeys react differently than horses to anesthesia, and donkeys have a more substantial blood supply to the testicles, making them more prone to bleeding. A vet knowledgeable in donkeys can correct for both of these realities to ensure a safe procedure. A vet will also likely want to ensure your animal is up to date on all vaccines prior to gelding, and may choose to use the time under anesthesia to complete other needed healthcare activities such as hoof trims and dentals. Choose the correct weather. Most vets will caution against gelding in the peak of summer. Flies are a bigger problem, bothering incisions and causing stress and discomfort to your donkey, and hot weather causes blood vessels to dilate and increase their bleeding risk. Consider a veterinary hospital or clinic. Especially if your animal is older, or there is a reason you must geld your donkey in the summer, you may consider having the procedure done in a clinic setting where there are greater support staff and materials available, as well as possible climate control. "Should I breed my animal?" The short answer? "No." As with the question above, there are many reasons we say this, the primary being if you have to ask the internet, you aren't ready for this part of your ownership journey. However, there are several more reasons: Overpopulation. As with most pet species, there are far more animals than there are good homes. A donkey can live 45+ years, do you have a plan to keep this offspring in good care for 45 years? Bloodlines and conformation: is your donkey of breeding quality? The answer, for minis and mammoths especially, is typically no. There are quite a lot of conformational flaws in sizes at both ends of the spectrum that do not need to be continued on. Additionally if you don't know your animal's bloodlines and history, you have no idea what type of congenital defects it may carry. Have they been evaluated as breeding sound by a veterinarian? This includes not just conformationally, but also have they received a clean bill of health free from any sexually transmitted infections? These types of illnesses can be especially prevalent in animals who went through a sale barn. Do you have funds to cover an emergency situation and a vet or clinic available to assist with any sort of foaling issues? If not, it's much safer to not breed. Are you willing to risk your jenny? As with all pregnancies and births, there is a mortality risk for the jennet and foal. This is, once more, especially true in minis and maiden animals. If you aren't willing to risk losing your animal, don't breed them. My fence failed/animals got out, my jack may have bred my jennet, what do I do? Whether your fence failed, someone else's fence failed (don't forget, donkeys can and will breed through a pipe or rail fence, and will breed animals of wildly different sizes. Jennies and mares have been known to lay down to be bred by much smaller males), or you simply brought home a new donkey that was housed with a jack at the previous location, such as a communal pen at the sale barn, what do you do if you are concerned about an "exposure" but you don't want a foal? Or even if you don't want a foal right now, or a foal with that jack? No worries, you can call your vet and they can prescribe or administer an injection of lutalyse to end early pregnancies. It's well tolerated, inexpensive, and when done early will typically not produce any identifiable aborted tissues. A dose of lutalyse for any jennies from a sale barn is often a good addition to any intake protocols for rescues, too. Can I house my jacks together? Possibly, it depends on your jacks, your management, and the rest of your herd. As with the questions above, if you're asking this question hopefully you have an appointment to geld your jacks, but in the interim there are some situations where you can house them together, and some where it is safer to separate them. Obviously, separate them if they are fighting or playing aggressively enough to cause injury to each other or pose a danger to you. They may be fine together if they are bonded or grew up together. They may need to remain separated if they don't know each other and are both trying to be the dominant animal. Generally you will have more trouble with jacks if you have jennies on the property. A property with only jacks and geldings may allow for jacks to coexist more peacefully with one another. Be sure you have strong, tight fences if you are housing jacks, and plenty of room for them to get away from each other if needed. My jack is acting aggressive, will gelding him help? It won't hurt, and there's only one way to find out if it will help. An aggressive jack is both dangerous to people, and not in possession of a temperament that should be passed on through breeding, so he should be gelded if he is physically strong enough to do so. After gelding it will take several weeks for the hormones in his body to find their new equilibrium, and he will also be in discomfort from the procedure, so it's best to wait a couple weeks for him to heal, and then employ a trainer to help you communicate safe and acceptable behavior to your now gelding. How long do I keep my new gelding apart from my jennets? You just gelded your jack, he can go out with the jennets immediately upon his return from the vet, right? Wrong. Sperm can travel from the epididymis for up to two months from castration. To ensure your now-gelding doesn't breed your jennets you should keep them separate for eight weeks. It's also kind to keep your newly castrated gelding by himself for a couple days to ensure he's healing well. Just don't forget he still needs movement to help the surgery site heal, so hand walking is a good choice of activity.

It's spring, which means most people's donkeys are shaking off the winter blues and getting a little bit spicy. While donkeys tend to exhibit less seasonality to their breeding than some species (horses, sheep), they do tend to have some seasonality to their estrus cycles (more along the lines of cats than humans). What that usually means for owners is you'll start to see more activities in line with reproductive behavior starting in late winter, peaking in the spring, lessening throughout the summer, and being at their lowest level in autumn and winter. What do we mean by "reproductive behaviors"? This can be anything from play fighting, and biting, to mounting and clacking and other estrus behaviors. These behaviors are typical amongst same sex and mixed sex herds, with slight differences. Of course females will exhibit estrus behaviors like clacking, while males (gelded or not) will tend to bite and roughhouse slightly more than their female counterparts. As with all animals, behaviors depend on the individuals and herd dynamics. It's usually generalized that males will play rough, but some jennets have been known to hold their own with a male. Should you be worried when your animals partake in these behaviors? Generally speaking, no. Of course, if your intention is not to breed, you should not allow intact males over six months of age to be housed with females over six months of age. There will be more on that in a later article. However many new owners become concerned when their donkeys suddenly start to engage in burro battles, chasing, biting, and ripping out chunks of hair. Should their animals be separated??? As we'll say about all living creatures: it depends. If your animals are closely matched in size and health, and they have plenty of room to escape each other, it's typically not a problem. When should you worry? These behaviors, while not atypical, can become a problem in some situations. You may want to consider separating your animals if: Your donkeys are of very different sizes, especially if the antagonist is larger. If you have a standard constantly harassing a mini, it is more likely to lead to injury. One animal is relentless in their antagonizing. Reciprocal play will generally have one animal chasing, mounting, or biting at the other for a short amount of time, then will switch and the other will chase, mount, or bite. If one animal is doing all of the chasing, with the other simply trying to escape and not engaging in a reciprocal manner, it may be time to intervene. True injuries or damage occurs. Bleeding, hard kicking, and behaviors causing injury beyond some lost hair should not be allowed to take place. Your donkey or donkeys are in fragile health. This can mean one is sick, injured, underweight, or simply elderly. Any animal who needs extra physical assistance should not be allowed to partake in rough play. You have uneven herd numbers and individuals are struggling. This will happen most often if your herd is primarily made up of one sex, with only one individual of the opposite sex. It's more likely to occur if you have several geldings to one jennet, but can also happen if there are multiple jennets to one gelding. The animals with greater numbers will gang up on or take turns antagonizing the odd donkey out, offering them no respite. These behaviors may all indicate a need for change in management practices, whether it's a larger paddock or dry lot, or rearranging your herd and permanently separating animals will be dependent on your particular situation. Just remember, most donkeys don't do well alone, so you may have to separate out your two most submissive to be together while the more rough and tumble members of the herd sort their shenanigans amongst themselves.

Vaccines. You hear from us every spring and autumn about getting your seasonal vaccines, but why do equids seem to need vaccines so much more often than your other animals? First, a quick explainer on vaccine vocabulary. Any vocabulary in quotes is taken from the World Health Organization (WHO). While they are talking about people, and therefore the quotes will use “people,” the terminology is the same across species, which means for humans, horses, donkeys, dogs, and degu, the vocabulary is the same, so feel free to substitute "donkey" or "mule". Efficacy:  “efficacy is a measure of how much the vaccine lowered the risk of getting sick”  “If a vaccine has 80% efficacy, it does not mean that it will only work 80% of the time. It means that in the vaccinated population, 80% fewer people will contract the disease when they come in contact with the virus” Effectiveness:  “Vaccine effectiveness is a measure of how well vaccines work in the real world.” This takes into account those who could not be admitted to the drug trials, such as the sick, elderly, very young, etc.  Timing and Doses : “Vaccines offer strong protection, but that protection takes time to build. People must take all the required doses of a vaccine to build full immunity. For two-dose vaccines, vaccines only give partial protection after the first dose, and the second dose increases that protection. It takes time before protection reaches its maximum level a few weeks after the second dose.” When you get a new animal with an unknown vaccine history, your vet may suggest initial dosing protocols instead of just boosters, administering multiple doses of any vaccines that require it. Don’t forget, most vaccines take about two weeks after their final dose or booster to reach full protection. Titers:  Serum titers are blood tests that measure whether or not an individual is immune to a given disease(s). More specifically a quantitative serum titer is a titer with a numerical value indicating their actual degree of immunity to a disease(s). If the titer for a specific disease shows that they're not immune, they need to get vaccinated or re-vaccinated (also known as getting a booster). If your animal has a particularly adverse reaction to a particular vaccine, or if you are concerned about over vaccination, you may want to discuss a titer test with your vet.  In some cases you may be able to order a titer to decide if your animal requires a booster or not.  Duration of Protection/Effectiveness : The amount of time a vaccine is considered effective. The amount of time before a vaccine requires a booster. Back to the question above: why do donkeys and mules generally get vaccines twice a year, when most other species get them only once a year, or even less? Well, that depends on many factors. Some vaccines, such as West Nile virus (WNV), are highly effective, but the duration of protection and effectiveness is quite short, typically only around six months or less. After this, the effectiveness will wane drastically. This is why your vet will typically recommend a WNV vaccine every spring, prior to mosquito season beginning. However, depending on the duration and severity of your mosquito season, your vet may also recommend this vaccine be boosted in the fall. September and October typically see the highest numbers of WNV in the United States, as vaccinated equids lose their immune response, but mosquito numbers stay high.  Other viruses requiring vaccines, such as various influenza, are constantly mutating. Each year the vaccine your animal receives may have different strains than the previous years. This is the same reason you get a flu shot every year; the efficiency didn’t necessarily wane, but the virus mutated to something your antibodies will no longer recognize.  Still other vaccines, such as rabies, may be effective for more than a year, but the studies simply haven’t been done to establish the duration of effectiveness. Titers can help decide if your animal needs this vaccine or not. However, titers cost money to run, and they require multiple vet visits should they determine your animal needs a booster. Vet visits cost money. Because of this most people simply choose to go ahead and vaccinate yearly, without checking the titers. Since rabies is a public health threat, and 100% fatal to all species who are able to contract it, humans included, protection through vaccination is essential. Most people choose the cost effective and easy solution of yearly vaccinations over titers as this vaccine is highly effective and well tolerated.  Why can’t we just assume rabies vaccines last three years, like it does in dogs?  Even when discussing the same virus, different species’ immune systems react differently to vaccines. Take tetanus, for instance: in humans doctors recommend a tetanus booster every seven years. In sheep, however, veterinarians recommend a tetanus vaccine every year. Furthermore, in goats it's recommended they receive a tetanus booster every six months, as the efficiency simply wanes very rapidly in goats. It’s for this reason we can’t generalize vaccine efficiency from species to species, and why we can’t assume that a rabies vaccine will remain effective in equids for the same duration as it does in dogs or cats.  Who can help decipher which vaccines you should give your animals? Your vet is your biggest ally in the fight against viruses.  When you make a vaccine appointment, be sure to tell your vet what sort of activities you like to do with your animals, with whom you like to do them, and where you plan to take your animals in the next year. If you board your animals, please let your vet know all the same information about the other equids in the facility. This will help your vet decide which vaccines are appropriate for your animal. Core vaccines are those considered necessary and appropriate for the majority of cases, and include Rabies, Tetanus, and mosquito borne viruses (WNV, EEE, WEE). Additional risk based  vaccines are used on a regional and case-by-case basis depending on the activities you choose to do with your animals and what diseases are seen in your region. For instance, in Arizona we don’t typically vaccinate for botulism, but one of the sources of botulism in equids is round hay bales (moisture gets into the bale, and botulism starts cookin’). If you plan to take your donkey up north for the summer, and feed them in a pasture with round hay bales, your vet may recommend a botulism vaccine. Another example is anthrax. Anthrax isn’t found in Arizona, but it is endemic to the Texas panhandle. If you are taking your donkey to Lubbock, you may want an anthrax vaccine. Similarly, if you don’t travel anywhere, but the horse in the pen next to you is trying to qualify for the Junior National Finals Rodeo, hitting up three barrel races a weekend? You might want to consider  influenza, herpes, and strangles (Strep. Equi subspecies equi) vaccines.  When you call your vet to schedule health certificates for travel don’t forget to tell them where you are going, what route you intend to take, and what sorts of activities you plan to do. This way they can let you know if your donkey needs any additional vaccines.  Finally, don't forget to inform your vet if your animal has ever had an adverse reaction to one or multiple vaccines in the past. Post-vaccine malaise is fairly common as your animal's immune system activates a response to the vaccines, and your vet may want to administer an anti-inflammatory, such as Banamine, if your long ears tend to have a stronger reaction. Because of this, even if you typically don't notice a substantial reaction in your animals, it's often kindest to not plan to work, haul, or exhibit them for 2-4 days after they receive their vaccines. This allows them to feel a little bit down in the comfort of their own pen, without anything being expected of them. Thank you to Dr. Minuto of Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center for the collaboration on the above information. Additional info for establishing efficacy versus efficiency (once more, this is from the WHO so it references people, but animal testing is the same): To determine the efficacy “[a] vaccine’s efficacy is measured in a controlled clinical trial and is based on how many people who got vaccinated developed the ‘outcome of interest’ (usually disease) compared with how many people who got the placebo (dummy vaccine) developed the same outcome. Once the study is complete, the numbers of sick people in each group are compared, in order to calculate the relative risk of getting sick depending on whether or not the subjects received the vaccine. If a vaccine has high efficacy, a lot fewer people in the group who received the vaccine got sick than the people in the group who received the placebo.”  To determine effectiveness “Clinical trials include a wide range of people – a broad age range, both sexes, different ethnicities and those with known medical conditions – but they cannot be a perfect representation of the whole population. The efficacy seen in clinical trials applies to specific outcomes in a clinical trial . Effectiveness is measured by observing how well the vaccines work to protect communities as a whole. Effectiveness in the real world can differ from the efficacy measured in a trial, because we can’t predict exactly how effective vaccination will be for a much bigger and more variable population getting vaccinated in more real life conditions.

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!

🫏🪥🦷Have you ever heard that in humans poor dental care can lead to cardiovascular disease? We've known for a long time that oral health is linked to the health of other crucial organs. Although we don't fully understand how this works in all species, scientists believe that dental health could be important for overall health in many animals, and they are working to uncover exactly how. In this post, we continue our series diving into a recent study: 'Investigation of Oral Microbiome in Donkeys and the Effect of Dental Care on Oral Microbial Composition' by Yiping Zhu, Wuyan Jiang, Reed Holyoak, Bo Liu, and Jing Li. Previously, BRAY highlighted the need for regular dental care, like floating teeth, and the importance of feeding your donkeys straw to ensure they chew on forage longer for proper tooth wear. Today we discuss why the study was done, what the study found, what is an oral microbiome, and the success of the study. Why the Study Was Done: - Dental problems in donkeys are often overlooked. This study aimed to explore the oral microbial composition (oral microbiome) of donkeys and whether basic dental treatments like dental floating would impact these tiny organisms. What Is an Oral Microbiome? - An oral microbiome is the community of microorganisms, primarily bacteria, that live in the mouth and play a vital role in oral health. We know that in humans Oral dysbiosis, an imbalance of oral microbiome, is linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD). This includes heart disease, stroke, and heart attack. We suspect that in donkeys a balanced microbiome helps prevent dental diseases; changes in the oral microbiome can impact overall health. What the Study Found Before and After Floating: - While there were no major changes in the overall richness and diversity of oral bacteria, notable shifts were observed at the genus level. - Common bacteria like Gemella and Streptococcus were present, with some changes in their abundance after treatment. - This study provided crucial insights into the donkey oral microbiome and highlighted the need for further research. Study Success: - The study successfully gathered important data on the donkey oral microbiome, underscoring the importance of dental care and paving the way for future research to improve donkey health. In practical terms, this means that monitoring the oral microbiome could become a valuable diagnostic tool for identifying potential health issues in donkeys. Regular dental care, such as dental floating, could help maintain a healthy oral microbiome, potentially reducing the risk of certain diseases. Let's continue to support our long-eared friends and raise awareness about the importance of donkey dental health! 🫏🪥🦷

Not all hay is good hay, and some hay is good for your other livestock, but not for your donkeys, or some bales in your stack are safe to feed, while others are not. How do you minimize the potential for feeding dangerous hay to your long ears? With information! It is essential to know the type of hay you are feeding. Some hay may be hazardous to some animals in your herd, but not all of your herd. Fescue, for example, can cause abortion or stillbirths in pregnant jennies. However you can safely feed endophyte-free fescue (although you should be cautious of its higher sugar content). Additionally, some hay, for example sudan, may be safe if grown under certain climate conditions, but can cause cyanide poisoning if stressed by events such as freezing during the growing cycle. Cold season grasses including rye, orchard, and timothy can be especially high in sugars and rye in particular can be problematic for this reason, causing metabolic issues including laminitis. Others, namely legumes such as alfalfa, are not necessarily toxic to your donkeys, but are often too nutrient-dense and overfeeding them can result in founder, laminitis, and obesity.  Familiarize yourself with where your hay is sourced. You can find this information by asking your grower, broker or feed store. Once you have identified where your hay is grown you can familiarize yourself with common dangerous or toxic conditions, plants, and pests in the area, and keep an eye out when feeding your animals.. For instance: hay grown in the desert southwest may have a higher chance of containing goathead thorns (which will cause pain to your animals AND cause these noxious weeds to gain a foothold on your property), dodder, or even sometimes oleander leaves, as these are popular for landscaping in hot and arid regions. Meanwhile, pasture grown grasses such as what one may find in Colorado may occasionally have high levels of nitrates due to runoff containing animal waste such as cow manure pooling in certain areas, or could have become toxic due to growing conditions such as freezing. It’s important to note that some of these problems can occur only in some areas of the field, and therefore testing a single bale will not necessarily give you a full picture of the safety of your stack of hay.  Harvesting, handling, and storage can also affect the safety of your hay, and the following are all things to consider when sourcing your hay, as reputable growers will take precautions against their product being adversely affected, and while storing your hay so as to ensure it doesn't spoil: -When hay is baled before it is sufficiently dried/cured, or if it is rained on after it is cut or baled, it can become moldy and unsuitable for feeding. Take care to cover your hay, either by storing it in a barn or shed with a cover, or by covering it with a plastic tarp when rain is forecasted. -If your haystack is left for significant periods in sandy areas it may become contaminated with excessive blowing sand or dust. Ideally you choose an area with minimal sand and dust to store your hay, but if this is not an option, tarps or windbreaks made of various materials like plywood or even old, unusable hay bales (placed around your stack, not touching it), may minimize sand contamination.  -Bales on the bottom of a stack will often be contaminated with mold, as moisture on the ground becomes trapped against the bales. Many people will store their hay on pallets to avoid or minimize this. -If the field where the hay is grown is adjacent to busy roads or highways it may have a higher instance of contamination with trash and litter. Occasional trash, like a paper cup or plastic bag, is to be expected of products grown outside, but you should take care to remove these items before feeding the hay as they can cause choking, impaction, or colic if they are consumed. If your hay routinely has a particularly high occurrence of trash, it may be time to seek another source. -Hay from fields near forests, woods, or riparian areas may have a higher instance of animal intrusion and therefore a higher chance of said animals (most often rodents, rabbits, snakes, toads, and birds) being baled in the hay. If you find an animal carcass, or portions of a carcass, in your hay, discard the hay immediately surrounding the carcass, as it can be contaminated with any number of illnesses, such as botulism, associated with rot and decay. Take special care, and consider discarding a greater hay buffer, around snakes or toads, as they are often venomous or poisonous and that venom or poison may be on the adjacent hay.  -Green chop hay, which is hay harvested and then fed immediately with no drying, and grass clippings may seem like an easy feed source, but both of these products can cause a number of problems; the moisture can allow the hay or clippings to spoil very rapidly causing various toxicities and colic, and the ease of consumption (your donkeys can grab massive mouthfuls with little resistance) can cause them to rapidly overeat and founder or colic.  -Silage, with its high moisture content, has a higher instance of toxins such as botulinum, if it is not properly stored and fermented.  -Alfalfa, aside from typically being too nutrient rich to be a significant forage source for donkeys, may harbor blister beetles. Blister beetles are an insect containing cantharidin (a burning agent/poison) that causes blistering on human skin, or the muzzles, mouths, and intestinal tracts of livestock that consume them. They tend to seek out alfalfa blossoms as a food source. Blister beetle consumption can cause painful lesions, depression, laminitis, and colic. Not all of the issues with various hays can be seen with the naked eye, some can only be discovered via laboratory testing, or will be noted after feeding the hay to your animals causes an adverse health event. This is why it's important to know what type of hay you’re feeding, to only purchase your hay from a reputable source, and understand the risks of certain types of hay and forage. While seeing 15 bales of hay on Craigslist for sale for $8 apiece may seem very tempting, you want to ensure you’re not putting your animals at risk to save money. Alternately, you may know certain hays come with risks, but you choose to mitigate that through rigorous laboratory testing, or by not feeding that particular hay to at-risk animals.

Last week we explained that “hay” is not a specific feed but rather better described as a process. This week we’re going to break down common types of hay produced for livestock, their nutrients, and what it all means for your long ears. When selecting a hay type for your long ears there is a lot to consider, but keep in mind: nutrient dense feed requires less volume and donkeys are extremely efficient at processing nutrients from the feed they consume; and don’t forget straw is in a class of its own. Hay can be broken down into two main types: legume or grass. Of course there are mixes of the two also available in nearly any combination of hay you can think of. Legume hay includes alfalfa and clover. When compared to grass hay, legumes are higher in protein, energy, calcium and vitamin A; ultimately they’re considered nutrient dense hay. Per pound legume hay offers more calories than grass hay. Alfalfa is the most well known legume hay and one of the most common types of hay available in Arizona. Alfalfa hay has to be fed with some care because of its high calcium level in relation to phosphorus. It is known for a high protein content (ranges from 15% to 22%). Donkey owners are typically counseled to not feed alfalfa hay. As with many feeding guidelines, it is slightly more nuanced than that: for the vast majority of domestic donkeys, their nutritional requirements are best met with grass hays and straw, while possibly including a ration balancer to fill in any nutritional gaps. However some owners may choose to safely include very small amounts of alfalfa in their animal’s diet, for instance when using occasional alfalfa or alfalfa blend pellets for a high reward training treat. Others may have been instructed by their vet to feed limited alfalfa as a portion of their animal’s ration if they are underweight, working particularly hard, in the latter stages of pregnancy or nursing, growing, or in especially cold climates. Owners who have obese animals (in the United States donkeys are MUCH more likely to be obese than underweight) or animals who are prone to metabolic disorders such as founder and laminitis should carefully avoid alfalfa altogether as it can exacerbate these issues.  Clover is another legume hay, though typically it is mixed with other hay types in a bale. Like alfalfa it has a high protein range, however, caution needs to be used with clover as it is prone to mold more than other hay and can cause excessive slobbering in some animals. Like alfalfa, donkey owners should likely avoid feeding clover unless they have been instructed to do so by their veterinarian as in most cases it is too nutritionally dense.  Grass hay includes bermuda, timothy, orchard, teff, brome, bluegrass, oat, rye, sudan, triticale, and fescue. Grass hays are less nutritionally dense than legumes, higher in fiber, and typically what is recommended for donkeys as a main part of their diet. However, not all of these grasses are suitable or safe for donkeys. Sudan, rye, and fescue are typically avoided as they can come with some dangers, which we will discuss next week. The most common grass hay available in Arizona is bermuda. This grass grows extremely well in the Southwest and is most common for Arizona donkey owners to feed, alongside straw. It has a protein content generally around 6%-11%, and is generally low in sugars (non-structural carbohydrates, or NSCs) Teff is also a popular choice, as teff grows well in the desert. Teff, being a warm season grass, will typically be lower in sugars and protein, similar to bermuda grass.  Timothy and orchard are readily available at many feed stores in pellets and compressed bales. These grasses  are similarly low in protein, but as a cold season grass they will often be higher in sugars. Of course this means laminitic or animals with metabolic disorders should avoid these choices altogether, and limiting their consumption by healthy animals is generally the safest choice.  What do you do if warm weather grasses are difficult to come by in your area? You have a couple of options to mitigate the sugars that are present in cold weather grasses, but as always, if you are unsure about feeding a particular hay you should consult with your vet: Slow feed hay nets: The slower your animal eats, the better, so all the sugars aren’t hitting their system at once. Slow feed nets, such as those on haypillow.com allow for meal time to become an activity that lasts significantly longer than feeding loose hay. You may also choose to mix your hay with straw, either in the nets or loose. Your donkeys will either eat the two forages at once, balancing the high sugars in your hay with the low sugar straw, or they will slow down as they search through the straw to pick out pieces of hay. Much like you do eating M&Ms out of your trail mix.  Soaking: submerging your hay in water and leaving it to soak for 30 minutes to two hours, followed by pouring off and discarding the water (your plants may enjoy it), can reduce the sugar content of your hay further. Take caution to not feed soaked hay over sand, as it will cause your donkey to eat sand-coated hay that falls to the ground. If you have a metabolic or laminitic donkey and soaking your hay has been recommended, consider purchasing a stall mat on which to feed. Take care that it is placed in the shade, as afternoon summer sun can cause the black rubber to become too hot for your animal to comfortably stand on.