Here are links to tips on burro care including hooves, food, weather concerns, training and more.
Burros/Donkeys
Donkey dental problems and prevention
Donkeys who eat mostly cut hay can get sharp edges on their teeth, causing them to get cuts in their mouths. We asked our vet about ways to avoid the sharp edges. He said that they get the sharp edges from cut hay because this feed causes them to chew up and down with their jaw so the sharp edges don't wear down. But, he said, if they eat living plants -- such as by being in a pasture or in the wild — their mouths chew in more of a circular, grinding way. This keeps the sharp edges worn down. He said we'll know they need their teeth "floated" (filed down) if they start "dropping their feed" (having it fall out of their mouths) or if we see blood in their mouths. He said they sedate them standing up and then file down the teeth. So the best prevention is simply to pasture the donkeys where they've got good plants, shrubs and trees to tug on and chew. (Be careful that there's nothing bad for them in the pasture.)
Burros: Keeping them cool
When the heat starts rising, burros need extra water and shade. We put up a drip hose line around their corral with misters. When the heat gets into the high 90s and the 100s, we mist them and it seems to help cool the area nicely.
Burros are desert animals but they can still get heat stroke. Here are the signs of heatstroke in your burro:
Skin that is dry and hot Pulse and respiratory rates much higher than normal Unusually high rectal temperatures. Around 104 degrees Fahrenheit. When these signs appear call a vet immediately. The burro should be moved to a shady area with fans or wind to provide ventilation. Cool water should be sprayed on the legs of the animal's body to help the evaporation process. Ice packs should be placed on legs and other areas that exhibit large veins on the surface of the animal's body. Veterinarians normally will give large amounts of fluid to the animal and possibly give cold water enemas or drenches if the core temperature is extremely high. The best recommendation is for equine caretakers to know how to identify heat stress symptoms before they progress to heat stroke. Relieving the burro from exercise and cooling the animal's body by fans and shade will help stop the onset of heat stroke. A simple test to determine marginal water loss is the pinch test. When a section of skin on the neck or shoulder is pinched, the skin recoil will be immediate in normally hydrated animals. Dehydration will delay the skin from bouncing back. Another test is the "effective temperature" test, used to help determine the environmental conditions most likely to result in heat-related illness. This test combines ambient temperature with relative humidity. When the sum of the ambient temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and the relative humidity is around 150, you should use caution in exercising the animal so heat buildup doesn't become critical. Most activities involving long or intense exercise should be postponed when figures approach 180. (Of course, at our sanctuary, the donkeys are not worked.) It is also important not to overlook cool-down periods following exercise bouts, even when environmental temperatures are within the normal range. Heat loss through sweat requires convection and evaporation. Air flow is important for convection of heat from the animal's body. The length of cool-down procedures will depend on the amount of work, the environmental conditions and the individual.
The bulk of these tips came from this article at HorseWeb.com.
Burros: Keeping them warm
When we had our first donkey winter, we had record low temps. All the horses in the valley seemed adorned with blankets and coats. Dianne panicked and went out and bought a horse coat for Willow and borrowed a coat for Tolstoy. The burros refused to let her near them. She would try to sneak up with a coat, but they would run from her and watch from a distance. She even left the coat in the corral for a week to see if they'd get used to it. Tolstoy drug it around and around, but once it was off the ground they would flee. Finally she asked a burro trainer how she could get them to cooperate and he laughed saying, "Donkeys don't need coats". After some research, she came across this information here.
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When the daytime hours are shorter and winter
approaches your burro will start growing that thick coat. By the time winter
is here he's lost his summer sleekness and gone Nova (Fuzzy).
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The comfort factor: Your donkey is comfortable in
the cold because his body has adjusted to the weather. He doesn't have to be
locked inside or have a blanket on. In fact, poor blanket management (sweating
then chilling underneath) can just make him cold. He does better moving around
to keep his circulation going, and unless he is clipped, a blanket (especially
if it's damp with sweat or dirty) will just compact his hair and keep him
chilled.
How the donkey's system works: Animals are able to tolerate
frigid climates because in simple terms, the blood coming from the heart (the
heated body core) is piped next to the blood coming from the cold extremities,
so by the time the blood gets back to the body core it's warmed back up and the
central heat core is not chilled. Also, being a herbivore, donkeys have a large
gut filled with digesting grass or hay (grain too, but actually good hay will
keep them warmer, grain provides calories, but the breakdown of the hay
provides warmth!). This natural digesting process creates a lot of heat, so the
donkey has it's own central heating unit in it's belly.
What your donkey needs from you: Provide care that supports
the donkey's natural winterizing adaptations! First if blood moves the heat
around his body, then we need to provide a constant supply of clean, unfrozen
water. This water is even better if it's almost warm, because the donkey will
drink better. Keeping the donkey hydrated in the coldest of winter weather
assures that the blood in his body will not be sluggish and slow and will be
able to keep him amply warm all over. A dehydrated donkey will not be able to
keep his temperature up, be unable to properly digest his food for the energy
and warmth he needs.
Taking care of the
coat: Make sure that the fur is not matted
with manure and mud and fluffed up. Brushing will help keep the coat free of
debris. Equines grow a winter coat and when they get cold the hair stands up.
This is like a bird fluffing it's feathers - the fluffed hair traps air to act
as an insulating layer. If the hair gets wet, caked with debris or flattened
down by a blanket, the insulation is gone and the donkey can become cold. This
insulating air layer can also be blown away by a hard wind, this is why shelter
and wind break is so important to the donkey. First so they can stay dry and
second, if the wind is blowing hard, they can avoid wind chill.
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