we are expecting !!! well not me exactly... but our mamouth donkey - janine thought she looked lopsidedly large-- and the vet ( not goerge, but brian--- equine vet) called yesterday to say i was going to be a grandmother-- so to speak...
he had taken a blood sample and had the results back... pregnant...-
thereby lies a long story......
we do not know where she came from ... other than a slaughter pen in texas... where some person who janine has organized picked her "off the line" . so we do not have a clue of her suitor....... and the baby she is carrying could be alot of things.
starting with..... if she came from a nice organized farm that raised mamouth donkeys, her husband could have been a nice mamouth "jack" and her baby would resembwle her... even better teh needed spernn could have come from the university of texas where they have a very nice 17 hand black jack (17 hands is huge--- 4" to a hand-- the size of janine's big horse) THEY at the univ of texas have been breeding jackstock for a long time ... more later on that.. if that is true, we could have a very valuable donkey baby coming... valuable as far as future of the breed is concerned...
however if it was just another equine "on the line" we coudl be expecting a mule. that willbe a whole new ballgame. i have been called--- alot of things-- but also a national expert on donkeys- most i ever owned at one time ... maybe 40...their stall was kennel 1 thru 8----- i used to drive 8 mini donks.. like the budweizers -- with fake antlers... into many of the ballrooms of the big hotels in boston... as santa's 8 tiny reindeer... so i am nostranger to donkeys.. mules is another story...
i owned one once---joshua-- and other than he was very strong i can't remember much...
i am not sure i could even tell when it is born if it is a donkey or a mule...--their tails are really different... maybewe could tell that way...- the other problem is it could be a draft horse who fathered the baby
but it also could have been a very clever pony of any size-- geometry excused, it coudl be literally any size with the help of a test tube....
so other than being pregnant, we know nothing.
donkeys are usually very self sufficient at foaling-- but we certanly willwatch ( feel) to see whe she starts to"bagup" withmilk. gestation is 12 months... lindak immediately said "DOGFEST?"
so... when did we get her... you cp's will have as good an idea as any of us????
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one quick comment on mules... back when i bought mary---?30 years ago- ther was a great demand for mules-- apparently a 747 airplnae left kentucky regularly for afgahnastan and iraq with baby mules-- apparently the USA breeds better mules than anyone in the world...
and big piece of info... when you put a boy mule with a girl mule you get alot of action but no baby mule. the only way to get mules-- is a horse and donkey-- and the only problem there is ... sometimes the 2 different animals don't find the other attractive- which i willnot get into... but there are alot of stories there heavily laced with whiskey and cigar smoking.
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so we are expecting... we don't know what we are expectiong --- or when- but we are ready.
not an unusual situation for crazy acres.
