Today, Erin, Jenny, Amy and I visited Tulip Hill Farm, home to a herd of the miniature donkey, a.k.a. mini donks. All four of us caught cuteness and died.
This is Erin and Wingnut.
Camellia
Wingnut again.
We kind of loved Wingnut.
Amy and one of the slightly bigger donks.
Mike and Carole, owners of Tulip Hill, were quite possibly the nicest people I’ve ever met. After showing us all the donkeys, they had us in to their house and served us home grown tomatoes and cherries. Mike got to talking to Jenny about one of his hobbies, turning wooden bowls. The bowls are amazing- he sells them in an art gallery in Culpepper- and before he left he insisted that each of us take one of what he called “his mistakes.” They are absolutely lovely. Then Carole brought her hedgehog, Sid Vicious, out for us to play with.
It was an altogether lovely day.
Amy did a great post about our field trip to Tulip Hill. Read it here.
{ 31 comments }
But did you go home with a mini donk?
Sounds like a perfectly lovely day
My neighbor has mini donkeys (but bigger than the Tulip Hill ones, I think) named Gus & Olive. They are so cute and friendly (curious!), but murder on fences–maybe they’re just bored? I love that spotted one in your pic . . .
We need mini donks STAT!!
Can we go back next week???? PLEEZEEEE!!!
OMG, you HAVE to get a minidonk!
OMG. I want a hedgehog in a wooden bowl! The minidonks are pretty redonkulous too.
My puppy is named wingnut. Princess Wingnut of Clare
She is a miniature dachshund with wonky wingnut ears. I love this donkey
So adorable and i am partial to its name
Soooo cute! It looks like a wonderful day
It WAS a lovely day!!! Best I’ve in a long time. And “Dude”, I totally have like 600 pictures. I think I’ll make you a cd.
Trying not to miss my donkey boys, Moses and Aaron. These tiny donks are killer!
Any hedgie names “Sid Vicious” is okay in my book.
Okay, so how do the donkeys help the parasite load for the goats/sheep? I’ve been meaning to google it, but I forgot.
OMGOMGOMG! You need a minidonk! And a potbellied piggeh. And a minihorse.
OK, I need a mini donkey. I have a friend who has one and he plays ball – fetch. And after I get my mini donkey, then I need a hedgehog. Tomorrow.
totally awesome!
what a cute hedgehog
i didn’t know people had them as ‘pets’
never SAW a mini donk before
too cute
you need some
it’s for the parasite control rite?
a must have
those bowls are amazing too
wow
what an excellent day
xo
rona
I think we have found Terminal Cuteness! I wish I could take Camellia home! Sid Vicious is adorable and makes me miss my hedgie.
What a sweet day you had. I know not all your days are perfect, but I sure love hearing about them. Thanks, Susie!! xoxo
What a sweet field trip. Love the Sud Vicious ending.
How did you manage to leave without a mini?
do they make a typical donkey bray but higher pitched?
So cute!!!
We must have Wingnut!!! He’s sooo sweet, and the name is so perfect.
The bowl of hedgehog is high-level cuteness, too.
AHHHHHHH HEDGEHOG IN A BOWL!!!! I’m dying of adorable explosion!
Miniature donkeys, I think I would have died from the cuteness, too!
To answer Ekja, on how equids help with the worm load, here is the basic concept: Equids don’t get the same parasites that small ruminants(sheep and goats) do and small ruminants don’t get the same parasites that equids do. Generally, the parasite eggs come out in the manure, and hatch into larva that crawls up a grass stem to be eaten by the herbivore. How long they last on the grass stem is kind of dependent on a lot of factors, like what kind they are and environmental conditions, etc. But if a sheep parasite is eaten by a non-target species like an equid or cow, the larva can’t mature there. Similarly, if the sheep eat the equid parasite larva, it can’t mature in the sheep. So you can kind of think of it like the non-target species is sort of vacuuming up the parasite larva of the target species from the pasture. How well it works is anyone’s guess because I don’t think any really well controlled studies have been done. But it is another tool in the tool chest and we need all of them we can get because, as you have seen, parasites can be lethal. Also, as adorable as the mini-donks and mini horses are (I have 2 mini horses as well as a couple full sized horses), they don’t eat much more than an individual sheep or goat does, so I am not sure if the grazing pressure of a single mini would be balanced enough with a flock to be beneficial. However, there is a crisis in this country with homeless horses overwhelming the shelters. I have two adopted “pasture pets” at my farm (sweet, gentle,easy to handle but not rideable due to injuries–still they look oh so elegant and graceful out in the field).. Some horse shelters will allow you to foster horses, they are so hard up for space for them. I hope you will look into these as well–maybe not the same cuteness factor as a mini donk, but they come with some really good karma.
Huge soft spot for the rescued ones. I vote (as if it is a democracy) that if you get equines, go the rescue route!! Oh how I long for land of my own for just these sort of babies…. Sigh…
*rescue vote here too
if it counts
and is a same/similar option as the donks
Fantastic, thanks for the info! I figured it had to do with either a symbiotic parasite relationship, or maybe something with grazing rotation, or grazing different plots of land? I’m just a backyard gardener and pet owner, so I wasn’t sure.
thanks for the info! I like alternatives like that, as opposed to the chemical ones…biology is too smart for chemicals… they’ll keep staying ahead of the de-wormers.
looks fabulous. i would like one! i think wingnut is adorable, too!
Hi Ekja, it’s Jan again. Sorry for writing so much. We have to use the chemical de-wormers too. The difference is that, instead of just going and buying them at the feed store and de-worming everyone on a schedule (as was taught in the past and ended up selecting for resistant parasites), we have to have a better understanding of the biology and use a lot of methods, like Suzie already mentioned (FAMCHA and refugia and more testing). The chemicals have their place too, as long as we are doing it correctly and that is not all we are using. It is like a symphony–you want to hear all the instruments, not just the brass section. But when it is the right time, let those trumpets sing. Same too with chemical de-womers (and also antibiotics). They have their place, provided we don’t over-rely on them.
The mini-donks are so seriously cute I would have had a hard time not putting Wing-nut in the back of my car and bring him home…..
Mini donks are so darn cute! We met one on a lama farm in Michigan, and it was as sweet and loving as a puppy. If only we lived on a bigger hunk of land…
I hadn’t heard of mini donkies before, mini pigs and others, but these are so cute! Love the sweet little ‘ole face on the hedghog too!