Edinburgh Napier University

  This study was conducted between May 2003 and July 2004 at The Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, Devon, UK. Two recording periods took place; the first between June and August 2003 and the second between December 2003 and February 2004. Twenty donkeys (10 male and 10 female) were housed in individual stables and received individual hay and barley straw rations in quantities that were adjusted to maintain body weight. The donkeys were weighed daily and mean weekly body weight was calculated. The feed offered and faecal samples were analysed for neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), crude protein (CP), gross energy (GE) and organic matter (OM). Daily dry matter, digestible energy and digestible crude protein intakes were calculated for each donkey. Results showed that body weights remained stable throughout the study. Small losses occurred in the summer season while weight gain occurred in winter. The weight gain coincided with an increased hay ratio in the ration resulting in significantly greater DM and DE intakes (P0.05). The increased hay:straw ratio in the winter ration resulted in a significant (P<0.01) increase in DMD and is reflected by the increase in DM (g/kg BW) and DE (kJ DE/kg BW) intakes during the winter (P<0.001). The largest increase was seen inDE intake despite the lower energy value of the winter diet.Digestible crude protein (DCP) intakes were also significantly(P<0.01) higher in winter.