Key Points of Winter Fattening and Breeding Technology for Meat Donkeys

Donkeys belong to the herbivorous category of animals, and donkey meat is tender and delicious, a high-protein, low-fat health food. Donkeys have strong disease resistance, tolerate coarse feed, are easy to raise, easy to manage, and reproduce quickly; they can be kept either free-range or penned, and require little investment, making them very suitable for small-scale raising by farming households. Therefore, breeding meat donkeys is an emerging income-generating project.

1. Scientific Feeding Principles for Meat Donkeys. When raising donkeys for meat, first feed them in separate troughs according to age, sex, body condition, body weight, and so on. Fix the trough positions, tie them with short halters, and feed 4 times a day: morning, noon, evening, and night (for the dual-purpose draft-and-meat type); in summer when the days are long, one more feeding can be given during the day, and in winter one fewer feeding can be given during the day. Coarse feed should be chopped short and fine, achieving “7 cm grass chopped with three cuts”; concentrate should be processed selectively by crushing, flattening, soaking, fermenting, and other methods to improve its palatability and intake and promote digestion and absorption. Feed a complete mixed ration, because the donkey's stomach capacity is small, so feed small amounts frequently and provide supplementary feed at night. When donkeys eat dry hay they need a large amount of digestive fluid, so ensure an adequate supply of clean drinking water and an appropriate amount of salt. Salt can increase appetite and promote digestion and absorption. 2. Fattening Methods for Adult Donkeys. Newly purchased donkeys from other places should first be fed some easily digestible feed such as green grass and wheat bran, and should be fed small amounts frequently, with each feeding amounting to 60-70% fullness. After they eat grass normally, they enter the introductory feeding period. During this period the mixed coarse feed is mainly millet straw, soybean stalk powder, and corn stalk powder, and the mixed concentrate includes: 50% soybean cake, 30% cornmeal, 20% wheat bran. Fattening donkeys just purchased from other places may not like the above feed or may not eat it at all; they can first be habituated to feed, and after seven days they will eat on their own. Specially purchased fattening donkeys can be fed twice a day (at night only coarse feed is given), and feeding to 80% fullness is sufficient; after two months of feeding, they should be slaughtered or sold at the appropriate time according to the donkey's fat condition and market price. In addition, the concentrate and coarse feed used in the fattening period of adult donkeys should also be selected according to local natural resources and market conditions, adapting to local conditions; coarse feed can include cottonseed hulls, millet straw, soybean stalk powder, corn stalk powder, and so on, and concentrate can include soybean meal, peanut cake, soybean cake, or cooked sorghum, or soybean ground into powder and mixed with grass for feeding. In short, use local materials and carry out cost accounting. During the fattening period, restrict the donkey's movement, provide enough clean drinking water, give an appropriate amount of salt, frequently brush the donkey's body and skin, and keep the pen and environment clean, dry, and hygienic.