Thinking about a Donkey

Ted

Ted

Twin Engine Ted
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My wife wants a donkey. One ass in the household (me) isn't enough apparently.

We live in the country. Supposedly donkeys keep coyotes away (the coyotes seem to keep killing our outdoor cats). The kids would like it. Actually I think we would too.

Keep in mind I grew up thinking all trees were planted by humans. I have no idea how much work it is to keep a donkey or what you have to do to keep one.

So, what do you have to do to keep one? I'm assuming a fence for one.
 
Get a couple of cows and start your own cattle farming. Something I’ve wanted to do for awhile! Raise them grass fed and you’ll have good quality beef and milk, plus you’ll have another income stream.
 
A friend of our daughter had an emu.

It died, I guess that's what emus do, and her dad buried it in the back of their property. Tick forward a few years - her uncle was clearing an area in the back and dug up the bones. She got home from high school and found the assembled skeleton on the porch. Her uncle was all excited by the dinosaur skeleton he uncovered. He was a bit disappointed when he found out the real story.

Things like that don't happen in the city.
 
There are some folks that live right next to the airport at Caldwell Texas. They have several Donkey's and a Buffalo :-)
my wife wants a Donkey also. One day I will have to get a couple of acres and get her one.
 
falconkidding said:
Llamas will act like guard animal and are known to chase or assault coyotes . Plus they look cooler.
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Llamas are very protective of their area and will run towards or chase anything strange or unusual. Llamas don't bite. They spit when they're agitated. Llama poop has almost no odor.

Donkeys just run towards anything they find interesting or something they think do not belong in their field. A friend of mine had two male donkeys with his cattle. One was very fond of the other and would express his fondness no matter where they were or who was watching. His wife made him get rid of the two donkeys.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
My wife wants a donkey. One ass in the household (me) isn't enough apparently.

We live in the country. Supposedly donkeys keep coyotes away (the coyotes seem to keep killing our outdoor cats). The kids would like it. Actually I think we would too.

Keep in mind I grew up thinking all trees were planted by humans. I have no idea how much work it is to keep a donkey or what you have to do to keep one.

So, what do you have to do to keep one? I'm assuming a fence for one.
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A coworker has one. Its primary reason for existence is to protect the goats from coyotes. Its secondary justification is entertainment. It pesters the dogs and horses some but they love the thing.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
So, what do you have to do to keep one? I'm assuming a fence for one.
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Farm animals can be low maintenance but, like infants and toddlers, can require high levels of attention and maintenance while providing loads of fun and memories.

What you need to figure out is who’ll take care of the donkey when y’all aren’t around.
 
I vote yes for the burro. Not much work, really. You'll need a fence (which is why I don't have goats and donkeys and such; I have a gas pipeline running right where the fence would be.)
 
Donkeys are very good yard animals if raised properly with plenty of attention and room to wander. If left wild, they can be quite mean to other animals, so early socialization is important.
 
And it's an equid, so it'll need it's feet trimmed and teeth floated and regular worming and spring and fall shots. No big deal, but some regular care and mx is required. A run-in she'd so it can get out of the sun and bad weather. Don't really need a barn or stall, they do just fine outside. Regular access to clean water is a must, so if you don't have a stream or pond, you'll want to run a water line to a 20 or so gallon or so tank. Best thing is to run a power cable too, and get a heated automatic waterer for winter...saves going out to break the ice out and refill every day.
 
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I see a donkey on the way to the airdrome. All I see it doing is standing around or eating weeds in the pasture. Hangs out with a horse and they appear inseparable, not as fond of each other as @Zeldman ’s friends donkey though. At least I haven’t seen that act yet.
 
Sounds like your wife is just warming you up for the eventual horses.
 
As a professional horseman, I advise you to think long and hard before making that leap, especially if niether one of you has any experience, and you have small children. Seriously.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
As a professional horseman, I advise you to think long and hard before making that leap, especially if niether one of you has any experience, and you have small children. Seriously.
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Realistically this is a "thinking about" thread that will stay as thinking for a long time. We love horses and would really enjoy having some more animals around. On the other hand, we love a lot of other things all of which take up our time. We also thought about guinea fowl. My wife's major hangup on that was the coyotes eating the GFs, and since donkeys chase off coyotes she thought that might be a solution. Plus we'd enjoy having it around.

But we aren't exactly bored around this household...
 
horsing around is not for the faint at heart, neither is donkey-ing around.....so I'm told. ;)
 
Donkeys are low maintenance animals, if you have pasture for them. You'll need to provide a shed for them to get in and out of, and also provide hay for them when no grass is available.

Please note the word "them". Donkeys are herd animals and don't do well by themselves. The same is true for horses, sheep, goats, and guinea pigs. There are some pasture animals that do well in a mixed species herd, horses and donkeys generally do well together. I have heard that goats and donkeys are also compatible. When we had horses, one of my cousins gifted us a pair of Southdown (small) sheep. One of the horses grabbed one of the sheep and threw it into the air. That sheep was at least 6 feet AGL, but managed to survive without injury. IMO horses are both mean and stupid, and I've had a lifetime supply of dealing with them, but some people like them.

Oh, also remember that donkeys aren't silent.

Edit: one more thing, this time about a possible goat purchase. Goats are escape artists and will climb on anything. There are many instances of goats climbing on machinery, and they can do enough damage to essentially total a car or truck.
 
If I can help with the horses thing, let me know, but if you're thinking bout this long-term, think about finding a good lesson & boarding stable that will teach you some horsemanship, learn to ride a little bit, lease a horse so you can get a real idea of what it takes to care for properly and after a year or two, THEN start think keeping one or two at home.
Then forget about it, and board it out.
 
Matthew said:
A friend of our daughter had an emu.

It died, I guess that's what emus do, and her dad buried it in the back of their property. Tick forward a few years - her uncle was clearing an area in the back and dug up the bones. She got home from high school and found the assembled skeleton on the porch. Her uncle was all excited by the dinosaur skeleton he uncovered. He was a bit disappointed when he found out the real story.

Things like that don't happen in the city.
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Not to derail the donkey aspect, but we barbecued an emu using a rotating spit several years ago, like one would use for a whole pig. It did not look like a bird. It looked like a dinosour, straight out of Jurassic Park. No breast, all thighs. And not a lick of white meat, it was all red, like really tough beef.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Realistically this is a "thinking about" thread that will stay as thinking for a long time.
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I think we've already debunked how long your "thinking about" threads status stay "thinking about" ... I predict 72 hours before a new "bought a" thread pops up!
 
Chip Sylverne said:
If I can help with the horses thing, let me know, but if you're thinking bout this long-term, think about finding a good lesson & boarding stable that will teach you some horsemanship, learn to ride a little bit, lease a horse so you can get a real idea of what it takes to care for properly and after a year or two, THEN start think keeping one or two at home.
Then forget about it, and board it out.
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About a year and a half ago we did start our son with some horseback riding lessons at stables up the road. I did them with him and we both had a great time. I really enjoy riding horses as well. We stopped because the horse that he was using had a lameness issue and we had a few concerns regarding some of the decisions that the woman running the stables was making with her teaching. So as much as we liked that arrangement, I doubt we'll go back. She's also talking about selling the place anyway.

We've been talking about trying to find another place, but I think more likely what we'll do is pick it back up again when the kids are old enough that we can all do it, or at least that they can all do it. That whole “not enough hours in the day” thing.
 
My wife has three miniature donkeys roaming around our back yard. I'll just say that the world is their bathroom and they love dog food. Other than the fact that they keep the weeds in check (we're on little over an acre) I don't have much use for them.
 
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