Please help, newly weaned 5 month old donkey

[dmkrieg]

hello guys, I am going to contact my vet as well, but I thought you all might have an idea. I bought my wonderful little 5 month old baby donkey from a really nice lady here but unfortunately he really didn't get weaned from him momma before I got him. I talked with my vet and she said to give him 1 cup 2x a day of Omolene 200 along with his hay. Well I can't get him to eat the sweet feed? I have tried putting it in my hand and feeding it to him and he just basically sniffs it and nothing else. What do you recommend. I want only the best for this little guy and I just can't seem to get him to eat it. He is eating his hay and drinking plenty of water, I have a salt block in his stall and will be adding a mineral block once the stores open back up from Christmas. Please let me here your suggestions.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

[SIZE=14pt]CONGRATULATIONS...on your new baby. Was the farm he came from feeding any grains? Even if he wasnt weaned, but yet his mother was being grained..he should have "treid" it a few times, maybe it is just the differance in what you are feeding over what he has tasted before. I would give him some time to get use to eating it. I am sure he will. As long as he is drinking and eating hay I wouldnt be too concerned just yet. MERRY CHRISTMAS, Corinne [/SIZE]

 

[Emily's mom]

What a cutie with the clothes on!!

When I got my Emily she was 5 months old, and she didn't drink, with lots of persuading and a little sugar she finallly drank, I'm sure he'll eat, maybe he just misses his Momma...

Merry Christmas

 

[JumpinJackFarm]

If he is eating hay .... that's great. If you feel you really need to give grain try giving "Sr Equine" it is a pelleted feed.... it is easy to chew and is highly digestable. When I have given it to mine...usually to give a nursing Jenny more calories...they love it.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

If your going to use a name feed, give him a equine junior feed, it is formulated for growing foals, also be careful with pellets, horses and donkeys can choke on them. I dont care for any pelleted feed. SORRY TERI.

Ce

 

[FlatCreekFarm]

Congrats on bringing your baby home!!

Is this the famous Johnny Come Lately (from the earlier photo?)

What a cute photo of him all dressed up in this post!!

My 7 month olds have been on Nutrena Youth Equine ~ it is pellets, and they have done fine with it. They never seem to have a problem chewing it... just takes them a little while (they chew & chew...). They've been on it since they were about 5 months or less. They seem to like it ok, but something they really get excited about is sweet feed! But of course we have to limit that. I only give them 1.5 to 2 cups each of the youth equine feed TOTAL per day.

I'll bet he comes around with the sweet feed. It is probably taking him longer because maybe he wasn't exposed enough to the adult donkeys eating grain before he left them?

Also, I'm getting long-winded here but here is a link to a post (my plea for help!) when I brought my babies home. I got a lot of great advice (loads of that here!

), and I took it to heart! Hope this works...

Weanlings' Feeding Advice

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[dmkrieg]

Thanks guys for your help...Yes, that is Mr. Johnnie come lately. My daughter has renammed him Sabastian after her Christmas donkey story. He runs with her in our field and seems to be full of life. What an adorable pet. He is much more than I could of even imagined personality wise. We love him to death. Yeah he is wearing cozy soft socks actually on his ears. They breath really nice and they stay on. hahahah My 7 year olds idea and of course his little winter blanket. We only use it at night when it gets below 30 degrees.

I am going to try the Equine JR. feed. I will pick up some tomorrow. I don't believe he got any grain. the lady I got him from only fed like a handful of Strategy to them mostly as a treat and I think that was for the older horses. I just believe that babies require more nutrients since they are going.

 

[Suzie]

We did not grain our foals this summer, just hay. Our babies are not grain babies and therefore all we sold we told them to use hay. We sell ours at 5 months old and they do well on hay. Could be your former owner did not grain either. We find when we use grain, we have major hoof problems, so we tend to limit grain and just give good hay 24/7. It has helped tremendously with hoof problems since we backed off grain.

Just a word of warning here. We bought a "five month old donkey" before (no papers) and turned out he was actually more like 5 weeks old. If we had not watched him closely, he would have starved to death. Not saying that is your case, but it happens. We did put him on mare and foal and he did just great (we kept him in the barn for a month!) but if we had not been watching, he would have starved (his coat was very full so hard to eyeball him and guess weight). Luckily, we had a mare that accepted him as her own (still does!) and with her help we were able to maintain his weight all winter and he is a happy, healthy boy! But not all people are honest about things, so be careful.

 

[Whiskey Creek]

Is he cute. The more I look at the baby pictures the more I think I am going to bring two of them home this summer. I wouldnt worry about the grain. He will get use to eating it soon, and from what Ce is always telling everyone, donkeys do not need grain, as long as they get a good quality hay and all there vitamins and minerals, but I do know she does give all her babies a junior feed, as they need the little extras in it. Have fun with him, he sure is cute.

 

[dmkrieg]

Well i have decided I am just giving the grain a handful in the morning and a handful at night. just as a treat. I did put a trace mineral block in his stall to help with the lack of minerals. It was pretty difficult getting hay this year so I have a pretty good orchard grass/brome mix that he eats really well and his weight actually looks great. He finally did start eating his grain but loves the attention he gets when he gets to eat out of my hand. lol so we will just keep doing that with him.

I never imagined owning a donkey could be such a different experience. He follows me and my daughter everywhere we go. He wouldn't even need to be contained in fencing. he just walks beside us where ever we go and he just doesn't spook like a horse normally would. I am so glad you all talked me into a mini donkey over getting a Llama or alpaca. I just wanted them for company not as a guardian and he is just perfect for that. thanks again to all of you that responded to my postings. I just love this forum!!!

 

[FlatCreekFarm]

Glad you're enjoying.... knew ya would just love that special donk personality

Keep us posted on your cutie, ok?

(I adore that "socks on the ears" idea

)