Management Practices and Milk Production in Dairy Donkey Farms Distributed Over the Italian Territory

Abstract

Limited information is available about the actual management characteristics of dairy donkeys in Southern Europe. The aim of the present study is to describe animal management of dairy donkey farms in Italy. Twelve farmers were asked to answer a questionnaire on the management of their animals and their farms distributed over the Italian territory. Six farms grouped their animals in paddocks according to the production characteristics (e.g. lactating, dry, stallions); three farms housed the stallions in single boxes. Most of the visited farms were family run and the number of animals cared for by a single person varied from five to 103 animals. All the farms but one performed mechanical milking with a modified goat milkmaid. Vaccinations were regularly performed only on two farms. All the foals received colostrum and suckled from their own mothers. Foals were nursed by their mother until 6-12 months old. During the separation period before milking, foals were usually (83%) housed in paddocks near their mothers with the possibility of visual and/or tactile contact, however such separations could be for up to 12 hours (17%). Even though the assessed sample was small, considerable differences were seen between farms, likely due to lack of uniform information available for the farmers. The adoption of scientific based procedures is suggested in order to improve both animal welfare and milk quality.

Equine Milk Production and Valorization of Marginal Areas—A Review

“…In the Steppes of Central Asia, mares are milked 4-5 times per day [70], while in more intensive dairy farms located in Europe, mares and jennies are frequently milked depending on consumer demand, up to eight times a day [10,62,71]. Milking is carried out at least 2 hours after foal separation from the mother [70,72]. This distinctive trait of the dairy equine enterprise introduced the neologism "milking session", i.e., the interval from foal separation up to the end of each milking [62].…”

“…The farming system is a major cause of the observed variability in equine milk production, as reported for pastoralist areas of the Steppes of Central Asia [70,85], or for more intensive systems, described for both koumiss and dairy donkey farms. In the latter, shelters are available on pasture, and milking is usually carried out in dedicated areas or facilities [72,83]. Donkeys raised under temperate conditions are reported to need more protection in rainy and windy weather than horses, as the results of the adaptation of donkeys to semi-arid environments of Africa vs. continental climate, and Eurasian Steppe environments where horses evolved [86].…”

“…It is also well known that the dietary influence on milk composition is more direct in the equine species than in ruminants [10,90]. Regardless of the farming system, as already mentioned, the common denominator in the diet is the presence of forages and pasture, whose management is crucial for dairy equine production and welfare [71,72,74,91,92]. Because of the evolutionary history of the two equine species, their different feeding behavior and metabolism should also be considered in relation to nutrient requirements, management of feeding, and their impact on land preservation.…”

“…Nutrient requirements and suggested allowances, nowadays available specifically for donkeys, are mainly devoted to working animals, i.e., used for transportation, small agricultural works, and equine therapy, and to animals at maintenance, i.e., companion animals, often castrated, hosted in international animal rescue charities, e.g., Donkey Sanctuary [72,79,97,98]. The available nutrient requirements of the dairy donkey are either based on results from one study on foal growth, or they are derived from domestic horse data, whose behavior and physiology are known to differ from those of the donkey.…”

The Potential for New Donkey Farming Systems to Supply the Growing Demand for Hides

“…Nevertheless, compared to Animals 2020, 10, 718 4 of 22 horses and other domesticated animals, knowledge about the reproductive physiology of donkeys and donkey breeding management is still very limited [34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. In addition, intensive donkey farming is a relatively recent development, mainly for the production of donkey dairy products in Europe and for donkey hides but also meat and dairy in China [23,34,[41][42][43][44][45]. To date, intensive donkey farming is still under-researched and knowledge on donkey farming systems is very limited.…”