Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's donkeys

I've been kicking around the idea of getting a donkey for packing meat. However, I've found that standard sized ones are hard to come by. Everything around here is miniature. The one's I've seen online are way too expensive. I'm not about to spend 3 or $400 for one.
Does anyone know roughly what a standard sized one will weigh? I've read that a donkey that's in shape can carry 1/2 it's weight but I don't know how much that is.

Commercial pack saddles are pricey, but the web has a number of DIY plans for them.

Guess if I were looking something along those lines I'd just buy a small mule. Easier to find and plenty of packing gear available - probably cost more than $3-400 but it should last for a good 25 years of packing so not a bad investment.

My dad bought a couple donkies a while back thinking they would be packing out elk meat for him one day.

FFF-ckin donkies, that was a pipe dream.

The donks have stayed back home burning hay while we have taken numerous saddle horses along instead over the years.

Even the worse nightmare rental complete stranger horse has been more manageable than a FF-cking donkey in my experience.

I'll take a half crazy unbroke appaloosa over a donkey.


And I'll take a pack frame & a good pair of boots over a crazy appaloosa any day.

If you're still intrested, have a friend who tried to give me 2 donkeys yesterday, a 3yo jack & an older jenny. They are in Eureka Nev.

good lord i hope my dad don't read this.

even though they never did him any good he damn sure loves those stupid donkeys.

The trouble with donkies is that 99% of the time they are smarter than the people that own them. Donkies are much more cautious.It comes from thier evolvement.Where horses evolved on the plains, donkies evolved in mountainous country where they had to stand and fight or pick thier way though rough country, whereas horse just ran. Most folks mistake those traits for stubborness and stupidness. This is also why mules are so sure footed,but require easier handling.

Most guys that are really down on donkies and mules are usually the ones who you see that tend to have problems with thier horse.They can't handle a horse, mules are even harder,and for darn sure they would never be able to handle a donkey.

Funny thing about donky and mule prices,when the latest horse eprice dump came on, mules generally held thier value. Donkies to some degree too. Folks just have this thing in thier head that donkies are worthless. A good donkey is worth a lot more tha $300-$400 bucks.

These same people go out and find one of those cheap ones that has no training, don't know a darn thing about training them, and then complain to every one and God about how bad donkies are.

Then they conplain about the price of tack.The same type of person will then go out and spend $6k or so on an ATV and not blink an eye of spending $1000 on a trailer to haul it around.

Pound for pound a donkey or mule will out work ahorse,bu ta std size donkey is not going to carry 1/2 it's weight. A average donkey will be 13-14 hds, weigh about 600 lbs. They can carry 200lbs on short trips,but a day in day out total would be more like 150 lbs. I pack my mules about 200lbs,plus tack,but that is 2-3 trips into camp and 2-3 three trips out. My bigger mule (15 Hds) I can pack a whole cow elk out on if I use the no gut method.

I saw a darn nice donkey string of 6 donkies being strung out behind a good mule about two years ago down in the Gunnison country. They had elk,deer ,and camp all packed on them.

For sure, they are not for eveyone,but generally that is not the donkie's fault.

People have been using donkeys for 5000 years at least. They're probably the most common work animal in the world. If they were so miserable to work, they wouldn't be so popular.
I've done some reading on them but I don't know anyone who's actually worked one.

Saddlesore - when you say 13 hands & 600 lb, are you talking about mammoths or standards? That seems a little tall for the standards I've seen.

13 hds is only 52 inches. Pretty much average for a std donkey. Mammoths go 14-16 hds.

Burros run a might smaller and a lot of folks mistake that for a std donkey. Those usually run in the 48-52 size,although they do get bigger. There is alwasy an over lap,but once you start to get around true mammoths,you can readily tell the differnce.

I had a team of 42 " mini mules that I had pack saddles built for. They each carried 100 lbs.They didn't do well in deep snow or deep running creeks though

Come on now! Don't be insultin' our Northern Dave and his Dad!

John

I sure don't include myself in that other 1%. I have been working with the critters since about 1966 and they still out smart me 50% of the time or better. I guess the most I have come to learn is to recognize that they do out smart me.

Hey, no ofense taken.

the only thing I know for sure about those critters is that they ARE smart as hell.

Very protective too, better than a watch dog.

There is no place you can stand around a donkey where they can't kick you if they feel like it.

northern_dave:

I didn't really think you seemed like the shy retiring sort which might easily take offense... Anybody that could tell your your "drive by mooning" story on the monkey butt thread like you did can't be all bad! Even today, I can't recall your phrase "deploy the cheeks!" without smiling (I did borrow the phrase and use it on my girlfriend once; I got an entirely different result but that is another story...

Anyway, I only have experience with horses, and based on my limited experience, I have come to think of them as pretty dumb. In the absence of any info, I had just assumed donkeys (and mules) would be similar.

Interesting that donkeys are smarter!

How mules fit in? Intermediate?

Inquiring minds want to know...

John

I dunno John but now you've got me laughing.

i prefer to leave answers from here out to the true experts

I do know that drunken donkey rodeo is fun as hell!! I know that one drunk guy my size can not hold an adult male donkey still while another drunk man climbs onto the donkey to try for his 7 seconds of donkey rodeo fame.


The donkey will just drag the one dude along while bucking the rider...

This is very fun to watch over & over on video though...

jpb.You have it close,mules are about in between donkeys and horses. Probably more towards the donkey side. A lot depends on the mare the mule came out of and what jack was the sire.

Mules have a better retention factor than a horse.If left for a year or so,they don't back slide much in their training.On the other hand,it usually takes a mule a little, longer to catch on as to what you want. This isn't to be misconstrued as being stupid or stubborn. A mule has to decide that what you want it to do,will not hurt it,and makes some sense. One of the rules of mule training is to figure out a way to make the mule think it was his idea to do something. The next rule is that the mule must trust you to not hurt it or ask it to do something that will not hurt it. You can not bully or coerce a mule ( or donkey) into doing some thing like you can a horse.

Probably the biggest mistake a neophyte makes in raising, training or using a mule is not studying enough about the psychological make up of a mule. They are totally different than horse. Once this is mastered, folks become better mule handlers.

A mule trainer can train a horse, but very few horse trainers can train a mule. A lot of folks buy one mule and then after year or so think they have them figured out,but in reality, everyone of them is different. I have been working with them for 35 years + and I still learn some thing with every mule I handle.

Mules must be bred for a good disposition above anything else I believe. Their survival instinct is way above a horse,taking after the donkey. If this instinct is too strong and they are hyper,you have a bad combination. An Arabian mule is a good example. Smart as the dickens,but blow up at very little thing.

A good mule is 10 times better than a good horse,but a bad mule is 100 worse than a bad horse

Very interesting, saddlesore!

John

I guess you guys need to come to Texas for donkies. We run a few of them with our cows to keep the coyotes away. Jacks sell for $35.00 and Jennies for $90.00. Unless you do your own gelding you're better off to buy the Jennyies. Needless to say they are not trained, but are gentle and can be caught. Donkies and mules are not for everyone, but if you have the personality to get along with them they can't be beat.

They are effective hell on coyotes, i do know that.

I was thinkin it above when i posted about "better than watch dogs" but didn't dare say it.

pretty cool to hear thats what you use them for.

We have raised horses for years, have had a couple of Jacks and have friends with mules. I agree with saddlesore's comments. I have trained horses, but mules and donkeys are a whole different critter.I sold the jacks and don't see myself going that direction again. Also, when it comes to mules, there is a big diference in prices. Usually, a cheap mule brings problems. A good mule commands a much higher price.

Plus 1

Those little jenny mules will follow along like a dog. The only trouble I had, was they're hell to keep home; they could jump any fence. I finally had to yoke em, to keep in the pasture.

No offense, but if it's not worth more than 3 or $400 it ain't worth feeding. I don't want a pair of $50 dollar boots,a $100 dollar scope, or a $200 dollar gun either to take on a hunt of anykind much less a pack in hunt.


Trail riding is one of my biggiest hobbies. Almost every Saturday we are in the woods. We raise and train our horses and do have a few donkeys with our cattle(I don't know why because they run from my rat terrier). I also have a few friends that ride mules. I'm very open-minded about the horse vs. mule thing, but have yet to see that a mule is better than a horse. I think 95% of it is who has the horse and who has the mule. But my friends that have dang good mules have horses just as good. I've also yet to see the mules prove to be more shure footed than my horses.