ment, the place where it is taught to readily imprint and adopt the aforementioned behaviors. The jenny should be bred to foal a few months before calving season so she can teach her foal. The length of pregnancy is 12 months. If the foal
is a male, I will sell it at weaning age. If the foal is a female, I even delay weaning so she can receive a refresher training course in the second year, in order to reinforce and test her suite of desired behaviors. A young donkey that does not adopt these behaviors should be sold.
Lessons for the foal So what behavioral lessons does the jenny teach
her foal? The fi rst lesson is to seek out a cow that is calving and then stay with the wet calf at least until it is up and walking with the cow. When making pas- ture rounds during calving season, I know there is a newborn calf if I see an isolated donkey with a cow. The jenny teaches her foal to be on guard and defend
the calf in a potentially threatening situation involving a predator(s). This same training extends to showing her foal how to chase and attack, and possibly even kill, the predator. The foal soon knows that it must always stay on the alert. A distress bawl of a calf should always be a cue
for a jenny to run to the calf to determine if it needs protection. On several occasions, I have seen a jenny nudging a separated calf towards its dam, or staying at the fence line if the calf got on the other side. Another satisfying behavior is that a jenny will
faithfully serve as a babysitter when cows go off to graze and calves are lying down together taking naps. In addition, when moving cattle to a fresh pasture it is common for a few calves to follow in the rear of the group. However, more often than not, the jenny is the very last animal, because she is moving calves up from the rear. Because I lease land in different locations, I some-
times need to move the cattle and donkeys by trailer. This past summer, my 16-foot trailer was loaded with 1 breeding bull, 3 cows, 4 calves, and 1 donkey. There was no fi ghting or kicking, or even signs of discomfort or aggression. Once the calves are a few months old, I wean the
foal by taking it home and pasturing it with my horse to minimize weaning stress.
A donkey can live to the ripe old age of 40 to 50 years.
A couple of months before calving season (mostly
in May), the trained-and-ready young donkey is taken to a different herd than where her dam resides, so she can bond with the cows. Except when rearing a foal, I keep only a solitary donkey in each cow herd.
Donkey management Purchase a jenny that was reared with cattle. Do
not buy a family pet. I bought my fi rst jenny in 2005 for $260. She had been with cattle for 5 years and was pregnant. Her foal was a jack, which I sold at wean- ing age for $225. Breed the jenny so that she foals at least every 5
years. The purpose is to reinforce instinctive maternal behaviors. Ideally, fi nd a breeding jack from a ranch where donkeys are used as guard animals. A jenny does not require any special feeding. She
will do just fi ne on grass even during droughts. Years ago, I had a female mule that for the fi rst couple of years did a fi ne job of guarding my Barbados sheep. Then I began to notice that she spent a lot of time at my neighbor’s fence line. I came to learn that they were hand feeding her grain, carrots, apples, etc. By that time, she was already spoiled and I had
to sell her because she lost interest in staying with the sheep. Lesson learned: instruct your neighbors not to feed the donkeys. Also let them clearly know that donkeys can be dangerous and will even attack humans if they enter a pasture that they identify as their own territory. Donkeys are an easy-care species of livestock. The
donkey is still a species that is relatively unblemished by human selection. I have yet to have a donkey with any health issues. They do not readily colic on mesquite beans. I have never had to trim their hooves, probably because they are on hard ground in pastures. Donkeys also seem less affected by external parasites such as fl ies and ticks than are cattle. Donkeys can be a good investment and when prop-
erly managed, they deserve their fi ne reputation as guard animals.
Editor’s note: Steven Lukefahr is a professor in the department of Animal, Rangeland, and Wildlife Sciences at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
tscra.org November 2015 The Cattleman 91
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