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["clanSkeen" <sgian AT planetc.com>]

Tvo writes:



> The typical Mexican burro is too small for any but very light loads, but 
> nothing beats a bigger one in roadless, steep hill country.
> They are a lot tougher and smarter than horses, not subject to diseases or 
> twisting a gut, won't overeat, and take care of themselves quite nicely, 
> thank you , much like a goat on bad pasture.

Burros are very strong for their size but they are very small.  A standard 
sized mature donkey can carry about 200 lbs all day.  You could cultivate 
and maybe even harrow a garden with one, but you couldn't turn the ground. 
As the article pointed out, part of the problem with getting rid of so many 
donkeys in Mexico was that the supply of mules also was wrecked.  Mules are 
hugely strong.

Notice that it said that burros were used extensively for riding and as I 
said the load capacity for one is 200 lbs.   Tells you a lot about body 
weight in our recent past and now of days.

James




*washingtonpost.com* <http://www.washingtonpost.com/>
*Mexico Up Against a Burro Deficit*
Some Farmers Miss Their Jacks and Jennys

By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 7, 2004; Page A01

TALA, Mexico -- Men with machetes still hack at tequila-producing agave
plants; corn stalks still sway in fields dotted with ancient stone
churches. But one element is missing from the timeless, picturesque
scene: There is not a burro in sight.

"There used to be 50 in every town. Now there is one, if that," said
Nicolas Vazquez Ortega, a ranch manager. "Before you used to see packs
of mules and donkeys in the fields when you were driving along the road.
Now they are disappearing."

Although it seems as improbable as Hawaii running out of pineapples or
France without Beaujolais, Mexico has a shortage of donkeys. As farmers
abandon the countryside for big cities, move to the United States or
shift to tractors and cargo trucks, burros -- long a backbone of Mexican
agriculture and a symbol of Mexican life -- have become increasingly scarce.

This trend has so alarmed officials in Jalisco, one of Mexico's most
important agricultural states, that they are planning to import donkeys
from Kentucky to revive the dwindling population. The project, they
said, will bring economic benefits to ailing rural areas, where many
poor farmers still depend on beasts of burden.

Donkeys, first brought to Mexico by conquering Spaniards at the turn of
the 16th century, have long been a stereotype of rural Mexican life.
Even today, said Martin Martinez Cervantes, a Jalisco rural development
official, some tourists still expect to find "every Mexican riding a
donkey."

But those days are gone. In fact, many farmers have shunned donkeys
because of their negative association with poverty and backwardness,
officials said. Now, as the animals have started disappearing, people
are "realizing their importance," Martinez said.

Both donkeys, known as burros throughout Mexico, and mules, produced by
cross-breeding horses and donkeys, have gained belated respect as their
numbers have diminished. Farmers say they cause less damage than
machines amid the tight rows of blue agave, the spike-leaved plants that
produce tequila. Coffee growers in other states say they get better
traction than trucks on highland slopes. And in many remote areas with
no roads, they are still the only ride home.

Martinez said the demand for donkeys began to dwindle as more young,
rural Mexicans relocated to the United States and began sending home
enough money for their parents to buy a tractor or a pickup.
Increasingly, donkeys were sent to slaughterhouses or not replaced when
they died. Now, he said, the demand has outstripped the supply.

International promoters of the donkey argue that these sturdy quadrupeds
are stronger than horses, easier to care for and more resistant to hot
temperatures; they said mules are even hardier. "They are growing in
popularity," said Leah Patton of the American Donkey and Mule Society in
Texas, which works to correct what she described as "a lot of
misinformation" about donkeys, including the notion that they are not
especially bright.

Even if few people know a jack from a jennet, or jenny -- as male and
female donkeys are called -- there is growing appreciation of the donkey
as "an efficient working machine with a longer life span than a car and
the ability to get into places that cars can't," Patton added.

In some parts of Mexico, especially the poor southern states of Oaxaca
and Guerrero, there is no dire donkey shortage. But Francisco Lugo
Serrano, the Jalisco official leading the import project, said their
numbers have greatly diminished in many other regions, particularly in
the more developed north.

The donkeys that remain tend to be small, often more than a head shorter
than their American cousins, Lugo said. He plans to import about 50
Kentucky donkeys and breed them with Mexican horses to produce mules, as
well as creating a national breeding center that will strengthen Mexican
donkey stock.

Steve Aaron, a retired surgeon and health official in Kentucky, is
scheduled to come to Mexico later this month to give a PowerPoint
presentation on the Mammoth Jack breed. He doesn't use the word donkey,
which he said, "means a small gray animal," but calls his animals
"mammoths." Aaron said his big-boned animals are descendants of the jack
and jennet that the King of Spain famously sent to George Washington in
1785.

Aline Alija, a veterinarian in Mexico City, said donkeys have long been
a "symbol of underdevelopment" because poor people owned them. She is
working on a program, funded by British donkey protection associations,
that sends teams of veterinarians into the Mexican countryside looking
for neglected and overworked donkeys in need of medical attention.

Some farmers who shunned donkeys for the efficiency and status of more
modern machines regret their haste.

"They are so useful and such hard workers," said Vazquez, who manages a
ranch in this scenic town of 50,000. A few years back, his farm
purchased a jack from Kentucky, who was mated with nine mares and
produced nine strong mules. "We need more of them."

Felipe de Jesus Padilla Robles, 81, a farmer in Tala, said he always
took good care of his donkey, whom he has now outlived. For years, he
said, the two of them worked alongside each other in the sugar cane and
corn fields. "We understood each other," he said.

As more farmers become nostalgic about their donkeys, the nation's
largest annual donkey festival has surged in popularity. This year,
30,000 people attended the Otumba Donkey Festival, held May 1 near
Mexico City.

The festival featured donkey polo, donkey racing and a costume contest
in which burros were dressed as famous figures. They included Mexican
President Vicente Fox and President Bush.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company



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