Donkey Sanctuary & University of Milan 2017: guidelines for keeping dairy donkeys

Background

Who, when, what kind of text

The Donkey Sanctuary is a British charity founded in 1969 that works with donkeys and mules worldwide. Together with the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Milan, it ran a project in 2015–2017 on keeping jennies for milk production.

According to the project page, literature was reviewed, farms were surveyed and 257 donkeys on twelve farms were assessed using animal-based indicators. The guidelines were published in December 2017.

A stakeholder platform of 29 experts from breeding, research, veterinary medicine, industry and associations took part in the consultation; the acknowledgements include, among others, a representative of the Italian Ministry of Health.

Content

What the source reports about donkey milk

The guidelines are divided into feeding and water (pp. 10–22), housing and handling (pp. 23–36), breeding (pp. 37–39), veterinary care (pp. 40–54), behaviour (pp. 55–57) and milking procedures (pp. 58–63). They expressly see themselves as a non-binding recommendation.

On milking, they recommend starting 20 to 90 days after foaling so that the foal is provided for in its first weeks. Milking twice a day at an eight-hour interval was said to give the largest daily milk yield; lactation should not last longer than 270 days, followed by a dry period.

For weaning foals, the guidelines give an age of four to six months, and for the first covering of a jenny a minimum age of 30 months.

Further chapters contain guide values for feed, water requirements (about 4–9 per cent of body weight per day at rest), stable space and hoof care.