jack not interested in breeding jennys

[donkeymom]

I have 4 miniature donkeys 3 females and 1 male. The girls are ages 4, 7&8 and the male is also 4. I got him when he was 3 months old and for the first 1- 1/2 years of his life he lived with horses and had no problems wanting to breed them. then i bought 2 females, he was exposed to them during heat cycles but didn't know what to do other than bite them. For the last 6 months he has been in the pasture with all 3 females and he sniffs them, mounts them, bites them, goes through all the motions except he hasn't dropped. After awhile he gets bored and goes back to eating and they are left mounting each other! I've been told he could only like mares and that he may think he is a horse. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anybody have any ideas?!

I would appreciate advice.

Jenn

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

I would try to seperate the jack from the jennys permanently, and when your jennys come into heat...try to tease him a little bit before actually letting him do "the deed" . Most jack dont have a problem at all when it comes to breeding.

Has he sired any mules??

Corinne

 

[minimule]

My Kilroy won't touch a jenny. He was raised with mares from the time he was a yearling. He started breeding mares when he was 3 but only mares. We've tried breeding him to jennys with no interest at all. I'd try what Corrine suggests and keep them seperate but within sight maybe. If that's all he gets.....maybe he will develop an intersest.

I'd love to see a donkey baby sired by Kilroy but I just don't think it's ever going to happen.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

...lol... Shawna, I actually was thinking about Kilroy when I read this, and was hoping you would jump on and post. He might not sire donkey babies for you but sure makes up for it in the beautiful mules he sires!

....and you know there is always a stall open in my barn for him.

ooopppssss....thats right, I'm suppose to be downsizing

 

[minimule]

Hee Hee! I don't think he'd be happy where it gets REALLY cold. He's complaining today and it's only in the low 40s! You'd have to spend a lot of time "loving" him too.

Thanks for the compliments on my mules! I'm pretty pleased with his offspring. We just sold Memphis to a family in UT and they said they have the first mini mule in the area. They think they may try to show her!

 

[donkeymom]

he was separated from the girls up until this april and only brought in while they were in heat and nothing, he just wanted to play. I'm going to try "pin the tail on the donkey" with a horses tail. I have hair from my mothers horses tail that i teased him with this week and he's really interested in it. He chased me all over. I don't have any miniature mares for him to try, my husband won't let me buy another animal because i just bought another jenny in august. Hopefully i can borrow one! thanks so much for all your help.

 

[minimule]

I wouldn't give up on him yet. Give him time. Has he bred anything? If he never actually covered the mares he might learn to breed the jennys.

Kilroy didn't actually catch on to the breeding thing, even with mares, until he visited a bigger farm where there was a lot of breeding going on. They were breeding mares to stallions in front of him and it was like someone turned on the switch. Here he lived with the mares and they came into heat but he never really tried. I was only breeding one or two mares at a time so he never really "got it". He got the idea after watching for a while.

I've heard that some jennys will actually force the jack (or even a gelding) to breed them.

 

[donkeymom]

he has never bred anything, but he tried to breed my sisters horse but couldn't reach. with the jenny's he mouths back at them and gently bites their faces and sniffs their butts, he sometimes mounts them but he's not (turned on), eventually he gets bored and walks away. They girls are demanding too and definitly not shy. I'll try anything, if i have to borrow a jack to show him how to get it done then i will. He his a beautiful red jack and has a wonderful personality. I will never get rid of him no matter what, but i keep telling him if he don't use it he's gonna lose it!

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Once a jack decides he likes mares, he won't breed jennies. And vica versa... he won't breed mares if he's interested in jennies. Same thing with stallions. A stallion trained to jennies won't breed mares. Easiest way around it is to use artificial insemination.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Nathan, I would disagree with you. I know of alot of jacks that will breed a jenny or a mare. Also, very few stallions will have anything to do with a jenny,compared to jacks vs. mares.. I do own a stallion that will breed jennys and he has settled all of them easily. I can use him for breeding mares at any time I want and he will settle the mares just as easily. It is true they prefer to breed what they are use to but it is not always the stone hard cold fact. Usually, if no breeding has gone on for awhile...and a jack is use to breeding weather it be a mare or a jenny, they will cover what is given to them It just might take a little bit more teasing. Our neighbor had a jack, who wouldnt go near a jenny,after trying over and over.. finally his service for mules was no longer needed and he was put out to his own pasture area he was put in with 4 jennys and all 4 were bred, it took 2 years but he did finally cover the jennys. Never had any problems after that.