I
N SOUTH TEXAS, IT IS COMMON TO SEE DONKEYS IN PASTURES with cattle. This is because their value as guard ani- mals is well known. Although coyotes are abundant
in the region, a pack of hungry and aggressive dogs from the neighborhood is the main problem. They are out to seriously injure or kill. At least the lowly coyote usually eats what it kills. So why donkeys? There are several reasons, some
being unique to the species, which address this ques- tion. First, like cattle, donkeys are grazers and do not need to be fed individually, unlike guard dogs. They are not ruminants. They are monogastric her-
bivores. They have an enlarged cecum that functions in some ways like a rumen. For example, donkeys can consume fi brous roughage feeds because the cecum contains microbes that can
and lions. However, as guard animals, a standard-sized donkey is fully capable of running down smaller preda- tors such as coyotes and dogs. The female donkey, a jenny, is the desired guard
animal. A jack, or male donkey, is usually aggressive towards other jennies and may even attack calves. I have yet to lose a calf to predators when a jenny was in the pasture. As guard animals, donkeys are genetically pro-
grammed with a suite of key natural behaviors including alertness, maternal, social and territorial behaviors. Donkeys have a broad repertoire of acute senses
including hearing, sight and smell, and they often detect danger long before cattle do. If a threatening sign or predator situation exists, a donkey is likely to freeze and examine the potential threat rather than panic and take fl ight. If a donkey detects a predator or stranger,
it usually responds by chasing it down head- on, using its teeth to bite and its hooves to strike and trample the foe, all while loudly snorting and braying. The unfortunate victim, if it survives the attack, will well remember the episode and so should avoid this territory in the future. The donkey protects its terri- tory, which is a place to rear her offspring. In a natural society, female donkeys do not
The jenny should be bred to foal a few months before calving season so she can teach her foal how to guard against predators.
digest fi brous feeds (roughages), making that energy available to the animal. Donkeys can consume low-quality coarse forage and
they require less energy than do horses. In addition, being smaller than a standard horse, they consume less feed. A donkey can live to the ripe old age of 40 to 50 years. Donkeys are heat-tolerant due to their evolution in
drought-prone and extreme heat, semi-arid brush and desert regions, being a descendant of the African wild ass. While their hair coat is extremely short or slick during summers, they can still produce a warm hair coat in winters. As a fl ight or prey species, donkeys were well adapted to outrunning their natural predators, such as leopards
90 The Cattleman November 2015
display strong dominance or pecking order behavior — each member has equal status. This fact likely explains why a jenny does not act “bossy” with cows. It is amazing that donkeys will bond to cattle as a member of their social group. I have never had issues between bulls and donkeys. In a serene and well-managed envi-
ronment, donkeys are docile members of the herd, with calm, passive temperaments. They graze and move with the cows — but are always on the alert. For example, when calling cows to move them to a fresh pasture, the guard donkey will always move with the cows. The jenny’s territory is her foal’s learning environ-
As guard animals, donkeys are genetically programmed with a suite of key natural behaviors that include alertness, maternal, social and territorial behaviors.
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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