How to Breed Donkeys

Many people raise and breed donkeys with good confirmation and bloodlines so that they sell the animals for working or showing. You can learn how to breed donkeys by following these steps.

Instructions

    • 1

      Find a good quality jennet (female donkey), at least 3-years old. Breeding to a younger jennet is inadvisable. Her body won't fully mature until she is between 3- and 5-years old.

    • 2

      Obtain a quality producing jack (male donkey). If you don't want to bother with having a jack on your property, send your jennet to the facility where the jack lives or borrow the jack to bring to your jennet. Jacks need special care and living areas to contain them.

    • 3

      Know when the jennet is in heat and ready to be bred. Watch for signs that she is ready. Jennets open their mouths and make chewing motions like they are chewing gum. Their ears lay back, and they will urinate in certain positions. This means she is in heat and ready for breeding. Some jennets only show this behavior when around a jack.

    • 4

      Have a veterinarian do a health exam on both the jennet and jack before breeding them. This ensures that both animals are healthy and able to be bred. The vet can make sure the jennet is healthy enough to carry a foal to term.

    • 5

      Turn the jack and jennet out together in a safe pasture to breed naturally, or you may hand-breed them. Turning them out together creates less work for you, but you run the risk injury with both animals. Hand=breeding reduces the risk and ensures that the animals breed.