Homestead mailing list

[Marie McHarry <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 1:51 AM, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Ok, so leaving Jack intact is an option that might produce a mule or
> another donkey in the future should I find the right person to trade
> with.  OTOH, he could be aggressive to baby animals that he is supposed
> to guard.
>
> At 28, is he too old to castrate-health problems with gelding at this
> age?- and would anyone really advise this over the possibility of
> getting a mule out of him?

Donkeys seem, according to good vets who've done it, inherently hard
to geld properly without causing them to bleed a lot. Young Jerome, of
goat-dragging infamy, stood nicely while he was altered for life, and
I held his head. He was a good boy, and I'd put great effort into
picking up his feet and giving him belly scritches from an early age.
After the numbing shots, he just got bored. The guy who did it is an
excellent vet who I'd trust to do surgery on any animal. He had read
up on jacks before the surgery. All was well.

On a 28-year-old I'd be hesitant to do any surgery at all. If he's
doing well without, it might not change a thing. A less than really
good vet could do some damage, or so I'm told.

Marie
>
> My friend has dogs.  One of her dogs is a rat terrier, the others are
> labs( one just died so now there is only one lab)  Dixie, the rat
> terrier, is always around Jack, and Jack ignores her as if she wasn't
> there.  Like I say, I have only seen Jack react when he was being picked
> on by the horses.
>
> I really wouldn't want to geld him, but I suppose I may have to do so.
> Marie has weighed in with this and agrees with the experts that you
> should not use an intact donkey as a guardian, but I still hold out hope
> that I would not need to cut him, so I'd really like to hear from
> everyone on this...
> BTW, just so I don't pass out, about how much does it cost to cut a donkey?
>
> Just so everyone knows, I am seriously putting the cart before the
> donkey here...Jack belongs to my friend and we haven't discussed his
> ownership recently. I've just fallen in love with him and now that I am
> learning more about them, the fit is getting better.
>
>
>
> Marie McHarry wrote:
>> On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 12:37 AM, Lynda <lurine AT com-pair.net> wrote:
>>> I've never had an intact male donkey or horse bother the babies.
>>> The weanlings, sometimes, but the babies never.  The only problem I
>>> ever had with an intact male anything was a Suffolk ram (I do NOT
>>> like Suffolk, btw <g>) and he would head butt the horses to get to
>>> their feed.  He stopped when an old gelding picked him up and
>>> tossed him.
>> .> Each donkey is different, but I can give you horror stories out
>> the wazoo of intact males who killed small things. We had a sad case
>> of a litter of kittens stomped to death (okay, no one saw it, but
>> even tomcats don't stomp as was done to those kittens).
>>
>> People have kept a male with the herd for years, and then had the
>> jack get a wild hare and kill all the kids. The intact jacks I have
>> known were more or less out of control until their respective
>> ballectomies. The jack that Bev has her eye on sounds like a sweetie,
>> and he may well be. Plus, he's an old guy, and age mellows us all
>> (for the most part).
>>
>> Marie _______________________________________________ Homestead list
>> and subscription: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
>>  Change your homestead list member options:
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/erthnsky%40bellsouth.net
>>  View the archives at: https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>  Version: 8.0.323 / Virus Database: 270.12.35/2124 - Release Date:
>> 05/20/09 06:22:00
>>
>
> --
> "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
> debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
> and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
> lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of
> living on public assistance."
>
> --Cicero, 55 BC
> http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/
> _______________________________________________
> Homestead list and subscription:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
> Change your homestead list member options:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/mmcharry%40gmail.com
> View the archives at:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead
>
>
>