Breeding mini donkeys

[gibsongrrl]

My husband and I are fairly new to minis. We have a mini donkey gelding and a mini horse mare. We originally had intended on breeding them, but after reading some of the horror stories of breeding minis we went ahead and got the donkey gelded. We have since just fallen in love with our donkey and are now thinking maybe we want to get into breeding those. Anyone here have experience in such? Are they hardier as far as breeding goes, than mini horses?

Thanks!

Kristie Strange

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[Black Magic]

Neighbor breeds mini donkeys and so far from what I've heard, breeding mini horses takes a bit longer then mini donkeys. The mini Jack they have was breeding when he was a year old. (our yearling mini horse is clueless in that dept). Lol.. Tony our neighbor says the mini donkeys are ah... easier to get bred. Of the nine foals Jack has, there weren't any problems with the first nine... that's about all I know.. maybe they were just lucky.

 

[Ashley]

WE have only had a few minor foaling problems with the donkeys, such as the front leg being back just a bit to far or what not, nothing serious.

Mini horses can and will breed as yearlings(we have a resulting filly out of that).

That said to me breeding wise they are about the same as a horse, but can be a bit rougher then the stallions, so you have to watch that. Also from at least watching my uncles jack, they take a lot longer to court and actually breed the jenny.

 

[minimule]

I could answer your mule questions but I've never gotten my jack to breed a jenny. We had one here last year and all he wanted to do was fight with her. He has only bred mares.

I've heard the breeding is pretty mean. One of my friends quit handbreeding because he lost too many chunks of flesh. The jacks do tend to go off in another world when they get "busy" and can be dangerous. I've also heard that the jennys can be little hussys and actual beat a jack up if he won't breed her when she is ready.

Good luck of you go into this and let us know what you learn.

 

[NorthStar]

One other thing I can add to the above info, is from my and a friend's experience, jennys seem to have a much longer gestation period. So plan your breedings accordingly. My jenny is now at nearly 12 months, and is barely bagging up yet. My friend's jennys always go about 13 months.