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Bailey's illness — the beginning of my interest in feeding....
My thoughts on diet for Shetland Ponies & donkeys in New Zealand
New Zealand's native snowgrass, Chionochloa Flavicans is beautiful in the garden, much liked by equines and obviously high in fibre. I would be interested to know of any studies on it?
As this grass is slow growing and would be destroyed by constant grazing I cut leaves.
right: Dec 11 2005 Bailey snatching a mouthful in passing.
Shetland ponies have lived for thousands of years in the Shetland Islands where the climate is too harsh for trees to grow and grass must be accordingly different from what is grown in New Zealand. The ponies are known to graze seaweed to survive severe winters.
Donkeys are native to arid regions of the world and as semi desert dwellers had access to fibrous shrubs and grasses. Donkeys have a larger gut than the horse which allows more thorough digestion so they absorb more nourishment from a quantity of food than the horse.
left: Moonshine and her mother Bailey enjoy a small feed of Dandelions and Yarrow.
Small ponies and donkeys are prone to founder in New Zealand, especially in the springtime and autumn.
Scientists have bred soft rapidly growing grasses for fattening cattle and sheep grazing on fertilized lands and we now have grasses bred for their high sugar content.
Since Bailey's illness in 2004, I have been experimenting and strictly monitoring their diets.
Bailey is a fine boned miniature Shetland pony while our other Shetland Elliot, (slimmer now than shown on his web page) is a larger sturdy boy, but they both live in a restricted area on a hill which helps with exercise. They have a shelter which they use in wet weather.
Generally we have a walk at some stage during the morning of up to 6kms. We stop for 10 minutes or so where they graze suitable grasses and sometimes willow leaves at the bottom of a valley.
In other areas we encourage specific 'weeds' and grasses for cutting. It is easy to develop these. You just let some of the desirable plants seed, cut the undesirable before they seed and wait.
We try to feed them a variety of grasses and herbs:
left: (Bromus unioloides), Prairie grass is an annual, often seen growing in waste land. It has flat seed heads and is bright green. I encourage clumps but, if you cut them too often, they will die.
(Sonchus oleraeus or Sonchus kirkii), Good source of iron, calcuim, fibre, vitamin A. Also known as Sow Thistle, or Milk thistle and by the Maori people as Puha, Puwha or Rauriki.
(Taraxacum officinale) Dandelion,
(Dactylis glomerata), Cocksfoot appears to be a fibrous grass - you still need be cautious after rain in warm temperatures when it is growing rapidly and at such times restrict grazing to the morning before sugar rises, as it will, during a hot day. The shorter grass is an old variety of Ryegrass but even so not good.
right: Cocksfoot going to seed.
Rosalie enjoys a big pile of cut mature Cocksfoot which she will munch on during the night. Both the Shetland ponies and Rosalie have been enjoying their fibre rich old grass and the rubbish which is left in the morning is forked up and used as mulch around trees along with their dung.
When animals are restricted to what we provide for them to eat their health and quality of life depends very much on us. Donkeys evolved in semi-desert enjoying a wide range of plants and shrubs providing vitamins, minerals, oils and perhaps things yet to be discovered. Evidence from Biblical times (Jewish history) show they were domesticated at least 4,000 years ago and over that time they would have adapted to human domestication, but they are far different from horses than most people realise.
One such plant I know donkeys find attractive to nibble on is the rose. I read recently that 1 cup of Rose-heps from Rosa Rugosa, contain as much vitamin C as 40 oranges.
Apparently pectins in the heps improve tensile strength in the hoof wall. Dried heps were recommended at the rate of 2tblsp per horse. Apart from looking pretty, petals from rose flowers contain valuable flavonoids.
At the last property I planted several of the species rose, Rosa Rugosa (Alba, Frau Dagmar Hastrupp & Rugspin, ) and all grew into robust, but somewhat prickly, rounded shrubs with scented flowers from deep wine to white and huge hips followed. I recently purchased some more Rugosas for this property.
When we bought our last property, California thistles grew abundantly but after a year or so they disappeared. Rosalie's mother, Ernestine, cleaned them up, delicately nipping their flower heads and later the new tops as they came through the ground in the spring.