02/26/2025
This is a full article, please read.
I dropped 3 off at the vet this morning - 2 foals for castration and one jennet for sarcoid removal surgery. So this is a good time to reiterate good protocol on jack foals and have a review handbook lesson. I have been contacted several times lately from people interested in getting a buddy for their single jack, sometimes several years old. This is common, but actually would be better if it never happened.
What should happen is this: the breeder or owner that they got their donkey foal or adult from should have had the jack castrated beforehand (and sold with a donkey friend but that's another subject) and they should have been sold as geldings. There are lots of problems that come up with jack behavior for people wanting pets, and some of these problems can be severe. It can be exacerbated by the jack being alone and if he is allowed to stay intact into adulthood. So, when I get these calls, I have to first go through all of the following so that they can make better decisions about what they are actually wanting.
When someone gets a jack as their first mini donkey, it is not going to go well like it would have if they had gotten geldings or jennies. It is shocking for people when they first see their sweet adorable jack act with his hormones. It can get vicious. And then they go right back to being their sweet normal selves. So sometimes rather than fix it with getting him gelded, which should have been done before they acquired it, they resell it or take it to auction where this scenario plays out over and over. It makes for unhappy folks and a sad donkey as well. All avoidable with a little snip-snip.
Here are things that can go wrong when you have an intact jack:
1) Jack's hormones tell them to attack to maim or kill any male threats to his jennies. If there are no jennies there, but some down the road, this can still happen. That means he might attack his own male foals, other male donkeys including geldings, especially those that might have been gelded late. They can still sense the testerone. Jacks have also been known to attack humans, especially males, and if they are kept alone and not with a herd of jennies.
2) jacks can be very rough on jennies, especially if there are only a few of them.
3) when jacks are going after a jenny to breed, or after another male to attack, there can be a lot of fast running, and if you, your child, or a small animal happen to be in the way, you can get run over and hurt even though you weren't the object of the pursuit.
4) if a jack is kept alone in his own pen (which often happens because of the above mentioned possibilities) he will be miserable and pacing to get to the other donkeys. His frustration is increased, and even more behavior problems can arise between the owner and other pets. This can include biting and kicking.
5) It's hard saying all this without it seeming like mini donkeys in general might not be the best pets. But the opposite is true, JUST NOT JACKS. Geldings and jennies are the sweetest and best lifetime pets. Jacks are considered more dangerous and harder to handle than stud horses. Jack hormones are just very, very strong. And, what is also hard, is that jacks are absolutely just as sweet when they are not in the middle of a hormonal activity. Therefore, new owners guards are let down, and while they may have had good intentions of getting them gelded, it may just get put on back burner and he is allowed to go through donkey puberty. Now, he will get jack behavior eventually, and even after being gelded, he has now "learned" some of that behavior, and may choose to continue to do some of it without the hormones egging him on. Also it takes much longer for the hormones to subside when gelded as an adult, maybe even a year. Typically it will cost between 250 and 500 to have the castration done, which can also be a reason people put off having it done.
6) new donkey owners sometimes think they'd like to get a "pair", a jack and a jenny, so they can raise a baby or 2 and then get him gelded. I mean, who wouldn't want to have these absolutely adorable babies, right? Unfortunately, it's not the nice little happy family that you might imagine will grow up together, basically because you have an intact jack with them. Firstly, a jenny will come right back in heat after foaling. The mating of donkeys can be rough including some chasing, biting, and kicking. The new baby foal can inadvertently get in the way of this and be injured. So, jacks should be separated from the expectant mothers.
Secondly, if the foal is a girl, she will have to be separated from the jack eventually as well, so she won't be bred back to her daddy. If the foal is a boy, he has to be separated from the jack because the jack will soon see him as competition and try to run him off. In any scenario, the jack ends up getting separated from them and again will be miserable. This is why it takes multiple pastures, great fences, and lots of donkeys to make a breeding program that works for everyone. I have separate pastures for jennies with foals and no jack, pastures with jennies and one jack, pastures with jennies with no jack who are retired or are in rotation to be on rest from breeding, and a pasture for geldings.
Thirdly, the jack now has full jack behavior, and as alluded to earlier, is harder to get settled down as a gelding pet when you are ready to have it done. Sometimes, they never completely settle.
And lastly, the jennet should be allowed to nurse her foal without being bred right back and being pregnant while raising it. It is much better for the mamas to get a year off. So, the jack needs to stay separated from the mama and foal. So, have you noticed that all roads lead to the jack being separated, and therefore miserable and therefore have potentially harmful behavior toward you?
All jacks should be gelded at about weaning time and definitely before a year old, except those who are going to actually be used at a breeding facility. Those jacks should be carefully sought out with superior genetics and personality traits. One jack contributes 50% of the genetics of that entire foal crop, and so it is reasonable to spend extra on him and to get the best available.
Now, can you imagine knowing all that, and still selling intact jacks with low quality confirmation to beginner owners, and give them 0 warnings or information about it? Either they do not know anything themselves, or more likely do not actually care about the long-term well-being of the new owner and animal. Please consider NOT supporting people who are bad for the donkey world by purchasing ungelded foals from them. Those people, or auctions, just say, "oh yes, I have these jacks or jennies available" and give no clue that there is any difference at all, and don't even offer geldings because they don't want the expense of it on them.
All male donkey pets at the Kickass Corral leave here as geldings, at no extra charge. I do not want to rely on the customer following through if it is not done here. Plus, gelding young mini donkeys is not an easy task and is a lot different than horses. It is usually not covered well at vet school, so veterinarians who are good at it have gotten a lot of experience from their practice. And very few actually have that. So it would normally be very hard for new owners to find an experienced vet.
Things inexperienced vets say: "the testicles need to have dropped before they can do it." - No, they drop under sedation. Yes they are very tiny and hard to hold, but the vet needs to have a special tool to hold them that they probably don't have because they haven't had to do hardly any. "Let's do it this fall when it's cooler" - no, the donkey needs done now before puberty. If the donkey is ligated well and the procedure itself is done in the cool of the early morning, it is just fine. "Let's do it this winter when there are no flies". No, again they need done now, and you should have appropriate fly control at your place so they are not an issue. Fly control is a separate article which you can search on this page.
I am pretty adamant about calling people out who sell jacks that are not going to breeding programs. It needs to be stopped and media push-back can help. It's just wrong to be a part of allowing future problems that should have been prevented.
Yes, you will find people who have a jack pet who brag about them and that they are not danger or trouble to anybody or any thing. And that is true under the right circumstances. I am even one of those people. My jacks are the absolute sweetest and I trust them completely around small children, etc., IF they are not able to be near another jack or gelding, which they are not, because I have jennies around and that will cause them to attack. However, if one my jacks gets out (if a jack can find a way to get out to get a jenny in heat, he will) then it is an absolute emergency to get him separated from any other jack or gelding.
Please, do yourself a favor, and go to the legitimate donkey groups, (there are only a very few, the rest are solid scams. Some have the same names as the legit groups so it's hard to direct you to the right ones, use the exact capitals, spelling, etc, but the groups are Miniature Donkeys, Mini Donkeys, Mini Donkeys of Oklahoma, Lil Ass Carriage Friends, Donkey Advice, Training, and Nutrition, The American Donkey Society, and American Donkey Association. There are some other regional legit groups as well. If I missed a good group, let me know and I'll add it.), and search the groups for posts about behavior problems. You will find, over and over, it is almost always an intact jack, some with even more environmental issues such as not having a donkey buddy and being kept in a small space. That's a surefire recipe for problems. The responses are always, get him gelded, and get him a gelded friend. It's the most basic donkey information, and yet it is withheld by these unscrupulous sellers.
In summary, it's best to stick to the motto "Don't be a jackass, get your jack gelded."
hi! We raise miniature donkeys in NW Oklahoma. They are very sweet and lovable and make great pets and companions.
