The Donkey Shop

16/11/2024

Last week we introduced two new girls to the herd. Meet Lightning and Brontë (Brontë means Thunder in Ancient Greek. They are Australian Teamster Jennies.
I often speak passionately about Australian Teamsters. Those are the ones that were used in large driving teams carrying incredible loads across this broad country… before being released into the wild when they were no longer of purpose… and then evolved over generations in our desert, to become their own breed, which is listed in the rare breeds trust, while also being a feral animal.
My mission is to pick the best of the best Australian Teamsters, and breed them in a domestic environment and train them for riding and packing, which will help open people’s eyes to how fabulous they are.
Helen Robertson and Ruth Walker have been on a similar mission for many years. As a part of my program, I used Ruth Walker’s Jack, Mulga, with Spice.
Last Wednesday I drove to Laura in South Australia, and had a fabulous catch up with Helen and met all of her beautiful donkeys… and selected two beautiful Jennys to come home with me.
These are young girls, handled but untrained. They should grow as tall as Spice.
As you can see, they are setting in well to life at Iron Brook Donkey Farm

15/11/2024

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12/11/2024

In case you haven’t seen this advert.
Some months ago, there was an enquiry for a donkey who would bray on command near Sydney.
‘Em Parott got the job with her donkey Tess, and this is the result. Great job guys
A great advert ❤️🫏

A singing donkey finds fame then realises he misses his family at Christmas.

10/11/2024

🌺 11.00 11/11

03/11/2024

My heart absolutely glows with love and pride for this beautiful mule girl….
My very sweet Pumpkin.❤️
How is it, that she has gone from beaten, flighty and untouchable, to this in such a short time? She totally amazes me. ❤️
When I took her on, in the state she was in, I was aware that she may never be able to be more than a paddock ornament, but now she is showing me that she is a young girl with a world of potential ❤️🙏

03/11/2024

I thought this little boy was chocolate, but as he has dried out, he is actually dark grey with just a hint of chocolate, and some darker stripes on his legs. He is a chunky, fluffy little thing.
I was going to call him Milo (Melanie Cole’s suggestion) but now with the grey colour, it needs to change. The guests who are staying here have been calling him Smokey… so I guess that might be his name. 🤔

01/11/2024

Our last foal for the season arrived at the sociable time of 13.15.
He is a little chocolate boy, out of Lola.
He wasn’t quite a textbook birth, coming out slightly on the angle, but with a little assistance to pass the shoulders out, I could leave the rest to occur naturally. He is now walking and drinking well

30/10/2024

Our second foal for the season was born early yesterday morning (about 5/5.30am)
She is fit and strong. and sucks her milk loudly.
She is VERY confident and cuddly, and a very pale colour, with some interesting markings.
She is a part bred Jenny, so not tiny like my other foals, but a great size for pulling a cart, or bush walking with a pack saddle. I can see in her bright personality that this little donkey will need to get out and about and engage with the world.

27/10/2024

Today, my sister Susan and I went to Gulf Station in Yarra Glen, for the open day of their historical homestead.
We took my miniature Jack, Banjo, and walked him among the crowd, handing out flyers, promoting the Yarra Ranges Donkey Festival. He received lots of cuddles and was his typical calm self among the activities. Many people commented on his nature, and really, that is the most important thing I look for in a Jack, and most certainly the reason my babies are so consistently placid and affectionate.
It was a fabulous day at Gulf Station, with Blacksmiths, Rope making, Butter making, Blade shearing, miniature goats, baby doll sheep, alpacas, Clydesdales, rocking horses and even a horse works…. All within beautiful historical timber buildings and yards. A really lovely day to be a part of. 🙂❤️🫏🌿

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21/10/2024

My sister Susan, took these lovely photos of Rosie being born yesterday afternoon ❤️

21/10/2024

This little lady was born at 5pm this afternoon.
It was an easy birth, and Mouse is an excellent Mum, and great at guiding her to the right places. The beautiful foal is a little girl, she is strong and bright and drinking well.

09/10/2024

Do you think Pumpkin wants to come out today? 🤔🤣 The more you do with donkey and mules, the more they want to do. … so get your donkeys and mules out of the paddock and into the world… Prepare them for the Yarra Ranges Donkey Festival. They will love it, and you can win fabulous prizes. ❤️🙂🫏🫏🫏❤️

26/09/2024

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🌟FANTABULOUS NEWS!!! 🏆🌟

Amazing pack saddle competition at the Yarra Ranges Donkey Festival…. with incredible prizes!!!
Pack Saddling Australia are coming on board to sponsor the pack saddle part of the competition with very enticing prizes…. including these great belt buckles 😍❤️🏆
The competition will be as follows:

Open class mules any size
Open class donkey any size
Class to be led in hand complete 3 tasks.

$100. Cash 1st prize plus engraved buckle both classes
$50. 2nd prize plus buckle both classes

How good is that!!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
So best you get practicing at home, and bring your donkeys and mules to enter in the Yarra Ranges Donkey Festival.

24/09/2024

Why not come and pat donkeys over the school holidays? We have 13 donkeys, one mule and one pony, who are all looking for cuddles.
Patting sessions are $20 per person for an hour with the donkeys, which includes informative answers to all of your donkey questions. ❤️🫏
BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL because sometimes our donkeys are booked to work offsite, and booking ahead also prevents people from all arriving at the same time.
Please call 0409664074 to book.
We also have a cute little shop here which sells donkey themed locally made gifts as well as books and other donkey stuff.
Thank you
Linda

17/09/2024

This is our new profile page for organising the Yarra Ranges Donkey Festival.
This is where you come to ask questions or find out how to be involved with the event, and connect with each other.
Please be careful of scammers. We had someone create a page last year which we haven’t been able to close down, which is why we have added the 2025 to this profile title, to help keep you safe. 🙏❤️🫏🌿

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565644782781&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Not a business

16/09/2024

I have just had the most fabulous weekend trekking our donkeys through the forest with John and Joanne Kasch of Pack Saddling Australia.
Our hosts are the most knowledgeable, generous, passionate, patient and humorous, earthy people who are an absolute pleasure to be around.
They organised a medley of us donkey lovers from miniature donkeys through to mammoth, to pack, ride, and/or walk with our donkeys. We all learned so much and it was a really fabulous experience.
Sure… it poured with rain, and we detoured to a sheltered room to rest and dry out on Saturday afternoon, but it didn’t dampen our spirits and we had another lovely walk/ride on Sunday morning.
Here are some photos from our trip, most of these pictures were taken by Jo Kasch during the day. There a couple in there by me, Angela, Anne or Liz
If you have ever considered packing with your equine, I highly recommend you treat yourself to a trip with Pack Saddling Australia
❤️🫏🌿

https://www.facebook.com/kaschnco?mibextid=LQQJ4d

22/08/2024

Those who have visited and patted the donkeys, would have heard me talk about these things.
🙂❤️🫏🫏🫏🥰❤️

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