The Dezhou donkey is a large dual-purpose breed used for both draft and pack work.

The Dezhou donkey is a superior local breed in China developed for both draft and pack work, long famed for its tall stature, well-developed muscles, well-proportioned build, good performance and pure coat color. Its main production areas are the counties and districts of Dezhou and Huimin in Shandong and the southern plains of Hebei Province.

1. Characteristics and traits: In the male donkey the head, neck and trunk are well connected, and the forequarters are broad and deep; in the female the hindquarters are broad and large, the head is held high, thick and large, the ears are erect, the mouth is even, and the back and loins are straight. There are two coat colors: "three-white" and "black-head." The three-white donkey has a pure black coat over the whole body, with white hair only around the eyes and nose and under the belly (hence the saying "powder nose, bright eyes, white belly"); the black-head donkey has a black coat over the whole body. Its draft performance is good, making it suitable for field transport, cart pulling and plowing.

2. Reproductive performance: The Dezhou donkey reaches sexual maturity early, at 12-15 months of age. Both males and females can be bred at 2.5 years of age. Females show obvious signs of estrus, mate and conceive easily, and can produce about 10 foals in a lifetime. Males have strong libido and good semen quality. As a superior donkey breed in China, the Dezhou donkey can be purebred and can also be used to improve local donkey breeds. Mules produced by crossing Dezhou donkey males with female horses of local breeds such as Inner Mongolia and ** are of good quality, tolerant of work and long-lived.

3. Feeding and management: The Dezhou donkey has excellent tolerance for coarse feed. Forage consists mainly of millet straw, corn stalks, peanut vines and sweet potato vines, supplemented with alfalfa and various dried and fresh wild plants. Concentrate feed consists mainly of corn, soybean cake (or peanut cake, cottonseed cake) and wheat bran, supplemented at 1% of body weight under conventional feeding.

Household barn feeding is based mainly on tethered feeding, fixed manger positions and separate mangers for males and females; in spring, summer and autumn the animals are barn-fed and grazed, while in winter they are kept entirely in the barn. They are fed 4 times a day, in the morning, at noon, in the evening and at night, mainly on green and coarse feed supplemented with a mixed concentrate. Coarse feed should be chopped to 3-4 cm long, and concentrate should be ground, flattened, soaked soft or roasted to improve palatability and digestibility. Because the donkey's stomach is small, forage should be given in small amounts and replenished frequently, and night feeding should be maintained to ensure it eats enough and is full; at the same time, since a donkey needs large amounts of digestive fluid when eating dry hay, it must be supplied with plenty of clean drinking water and a small amount of salt.

4. Routine management: This mainly involves the hygiene of the stable and the donkey's body. Every morning and at noon after feeding, the donkey is taken from the manger, and the stable must be thoroughly swept and cleaned, with manure and urine removed and dry sandy soil spread as bedding, keeping the barn dry, clean and ventilated to prevent damp ground and accumulated manure and urine, which could cause foot rot, and maintaining ventilation in the barn to prevent ammonia from becoming too concentrated and affecting the donkey's growth and development. Mangers, feed vats, water vats and other utensils must also be kept clean and hygienic at all times, with attention to disinfection and disease prevention. After being taken from the manger and before being put back, the donkey should be allowed to roll freely on sandy ground, and its skin should be brushed or cleaned regularly to keep it clean and hygienic and prevent skin diseases. Hoof care (including cleaning and trimming the hooves and shoeing) should be carried out once every 2-3 months.