How to raise meat donkeys? Master these three feeding key points

Meat donkeys are a newly developed wealth-generating project in Shandong Province's special breeding industry. Based on their own feeding characteristics, namely strong adaptability, wide feeding habits, fast growth, fondness for eating grass, strong disease resistance, high survival rate, easy feeding, and good economic returns, our association has summarized several key points for feeding meat donkeys.

(1) Seed selection. Chinese donkeys are divided into three categories by body size: large donkeys include the Shaanxi Guanzhong donkey and the Shandong Dezhou donkey (Bohai donkey), with body weights between 250 kg and 290 kg, and breeding jacks can also exceed 350 kg; medium donkeys include the Shanxi Jinnan donkey, Guangling donkey, Henan Huaiyang donkey, and Gansu Qingyang donkey, with body weights between 220 kg and 250 kg, and breeding jacks can also exceed 300 kg; small donkeys include the Henan donkey, Shaanxi Gunsha donkey, Inner Mongolia Kulun donkey, Ningxia Xiji donkey, Gansu Liangzhou donkey, Sichuan donkey, Yunnan donkey, Xizang donkey, and Liaoning donkey, with body weights between 160 kg and 220 kg, and breeding jacks can also exceed 250 kg. For raising meat donkeys, medium donkeys are preferred, followed by large donkeys, while small donkeys are mostly used for making ejiao, and their meat is also sold on the market. 1. Select female donkeys with good parental lines. 2. Select female donkeys with a strong appetite, fast growth, at least 2 years of age, and a body weight above 100 kg. (2) Mating. 1. Female donkeys for mating must reach 2 years of age and have a body weight above 150 kg. 2. Accurately determine the estrus period of the female donkey and adopt the principle of "mate early for old ones, mate late for young ones, and mate in the middle for those neither old nor young." 3. Foaling of female donkeys must be timed for the mild spring season, that is, mating in June to July and foaling in March to April. (3) Feeding and fattening of adult donkeys. 1. For newly purchased donkeys, on the 1st day give only drinking water; on the 2nd day give drinking water and add green grass or hay; on the 3rd day give drinking water, allow free access to green grass or hay, and add 0.5 kg of wheat bran; from the 4th day to the 6th day do the same as above and add 1 kg of corn. 2. After a 6-day transition period, they can enter the fattening period. For roughage, provide free access to millet straw, cottonseed hulls, soybean stalks, corn stalks, and so on; feed a mixed concentrate of 3.5 kg to 4 kg per donkey per day, composed of: cottonseed cake or soybean meal and peanut cake 50%, cornmeal 29%, wheat bran 20%, salt 1%, plus an additional 20 grams of sodium bicarbonate per donkey per day. 3. During the fattening period, restrict exercise, provide clean drinking water, brush the donkey's body every day, and keep the pen and surrounding environment dry and sanitary. After 60 to 70 days of fattening, they can be slaughtered. Fattening of young donkeys. 1. Newly purchased donkeys should first be dewormed, not castrated, and fed in separate troughs according to sex and body weight. 2. Newborn donkeys drink colostrum for 6 days, then suckle breast milk after 7 days, and at 15 days of age are trained to eat a thin porridge made by boiling equal parts of corn, wheat, and millet mixed evenly, with a little sugar added to entice them to eat, feeding 10 grams to 20 grams per day. 3. After 22 days of age, feed 80 grams to 100 grams of mixed concentrate, with the formula: soybean meal plus cottonseed cake 50%, cornmeal 29%, wheat bran 20%, salt 1%. At 1 month of age, feed 100 grams to 200 grams per donkey per day; at 2 months of age, feed 500 grams to 1000 grams per day; after 9 months of age, feed 3.5 kg per day. The whole fattening period consumes a total of 500 kg of concentrate. If cottonseed is fried until yellow or boiled until it swells and cracks open, feeding 1 kg per donkey per day gives an even better fattening effect. 4. Provide free access to roughage, choosing millet straw, soybean stalks, peanut vines, sweet potato vines, silage corn with ears, and high-quality forage grass, and chop them short. 5. Feed 4 times a day: morning, noon, evening, and night. As the farming proverb says, "A horse cannot be fat without night grass," and the same is true for donkeys, so emphasis is placed on feeding night grass mixed in. The farming proverb "grass for fat, feed for strength, water for spirit" means that only by eating more grass can they gain fat. 6. When feeding, pay attention to feeding small amounts frequently, mix the feed into all four corners, provide enough clean water, and supplement salt in appropriate amounts. 7. Brush the donkey's body every day, remove manure and urine, and clean the feed trough. 8. Each group consists of 20 to 25 donkeys, with free activity, free access to roughage, free drinking water, and free access to salt.