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.