Why Is My Donkey Chasing Cows?

November 8, 2019August 20, 2021 / Donkey Whisperer Farm ® / 4 Comments

Donkeys NEED a strong playmate to grab a hold of the neck, play tug with a food bowl and chase after. Donkeys are not horses they are donkeys and they play different from the horse. If you have a herd of cows and a donkey chasing after them I would say your donkey is bored and more than likely young and has no donkey to play with he/she is bored to death. Or a Jack (intact) donkey.

Two donkeys will play donkey games.

Never leave a donkey with baby sheep, goats or baby cows as the donkey can get bored and pick up the youngster by the neck donkeys play really rough and can kill the animal not big enough to defend itself. Donkeys are not being crazy or mean they are just doing what donkeys do playing, they need a play mate that can play the way Donkeys play. Donkeys can and do kill baby sheep, calves, goats and dogs.

Ideas To Stop This Behavior – Remember Donkeys Are Thinkers and They Get Bored Easy:

1. Make sure your donkey has toys, black feed bowl or orange traffic cone – Donkeys like to play with their mouths all the time

2. If your donkey is a Jack turn him into a John

3. Please remember Donkeys go in two’s, get your donkey another donkey to play with and chase. Size matters, pair the donkeys up fair. Diet is easier to manage this way too. Never ever leave your donkey with an animal too small as donkeys are just being donkeys they play really rough with their mouths and grab the neck of the playmate. This is why donkeys have such thick necks compared to the horse as donkeys grab the neck of another donkey.

Please share information and enjoy your donkeys as donkeys are most happiest with another donkey and remember Donkeys are indeed precious gifts from GOD.

GOD bless you and your family two and four-legged.

Melody Johnson

https://donkeywhisperer.com

Death With Dignity For Our Donkey, Horse or Mule

July 7, 2019July 7, 2019 / Donkey Whisperer Farm ® / Leave a comment

Living the farm life is a blessing as farms are expensive to maintain, our world has become very expensive. The life of a farmer is amazingly difficult as each day something new is left at our feet. A farmer must pray, plan and let go. Nothing is more difficult than working for a year and having the weather destroy crops or livestock.

I teach the owner or caretaker worldwide how to care for the donkey and train and maintain the donkey. Everything we do or do not do will affect the health of our livestock emotionally, physically and mentally. Here on the Donkey Whisperer Farm ® we work closely with our veterinarian and farrier to ensure our donkeys and horses are living in optimum health.

Our Life is in God’s hands, each day is fragile and precious for humans and animals.

Resources: Options To Bury The Body Of Our Beloved Horse, Donkey or Mule

Resources: Sending The Equine To Heaven

Have A Plan:

When a donkey, horse or mule dies it is very important to let the rest of the herd smell and see the equine has passed. If we do not provide closure the animals will live in emotional distress crying and looking for their pasture buddy. Even when one of our dogs pass we let the other dogs say goodbye. Its only fair.

God Bless You And Your Family Two And Four-Legged

Donkey Whisperer Farm

Melody & Scott Johnson

Please Never Feed Equine Without Asking – Death Is Final

August 25, 2018August 25, 2018 / Donkey Whisperer Farm ® / Leave a comment

Please read. Please share and care. Please never feed any food to a horse, donkey or mule (equine) without asking. Never feed grass clippings. Death is final.
Tears….

Select Grass Clippings

The letter also warned that any treats – even apples and carrots – fed to horses without the owner’s permission could be deadly because horses can have food allergies like humans.

Alana Lester

August 13 at 9:02 AM

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, horse

Image may contain: grass, horse, tree, sky, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: one or more people, people riding on horses, horse, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: sky, horse, cloud, outdoor and nature

DO NOT FEED HORSES GRASS CUTTINGS!!!
This is horrendous and we’re all devastated. Our gorgeous, healthy, happy and much loved family horse Boston has been killed by somebody feeding our horses a pile of grass cuttings last night. He was the best horse in the world and we can’t believe he’s gone. The worst part is knowing that this could have been prevented and our lovely Boston could be with us now if he hadn’t been fed accidentally and unknowingly this way. I understand that people who do not have horses will not understand the severity of this but I’m hoping I can reach a few by sharing our story.
PLEASE DO NOT FEED HORSES GRASS CUTTINGS!!!

I’ve been asked to expand on the reasoning for not feeding horses cut grass which I thought this was a good idea as I would like to possibly prevent something like this happening again with someone else, if I could:

Because cut grass is much smaller than grass taken up by horses themselves, a horse eating cut grass wouldn’t chew it and would gorge themselves quickly on it. This would result in saliva not being added to the cut grass and “diluting” it before it reaches the stomach. Cut grass also ferments (which is why it can be warm to touch) and along with the saliva not being added, gives off gases inside the stomach. These gases cause the stomach to expand to the point of rupture in severe cases like ours with Boston, killing the horse. If the stomach doesn’t rupture due to not as much grass having been eaten, it would instead cause colic in the horse which is dreadful pain in the abdomen which could then lead to killing the horse later too however colic can be treatable.
Horses also do not have a “vomit” reflex meaning they can’t take up the harmful substances once eaten. Another point would be if a horse has been given lawn mower cuttings. These cuttings may also have different plants in, other than grass which could lead to the horse eating kinds of plants that are commonly found but that are poisonous to them and would have otherwise been avoided by the horse due to not being able to take back up the substances.

I hope this post spreads so people can understand how horrific this is. Thank you for reading.