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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Performance and Welfare Status of Working Donkeys
Author(s)
Girma Gebresenbet1, Samuel Aradom1 and Pascal Gitari Kaumbutho2
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DOI:10.17265/2161-6256/2016.02.004
Affiliation(s)
1. Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7032, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
2. Network for Draught Animal Technology, Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT), P.O. Box 2859-00200, Nairobi, Kenya
ABSTRACT
In Africa, donkeys have significant contribution in traction operation, but
there is little research related to workload and their welfare. The objective of this
work was to examine the effect of various loads on donkeys’ physiological and
behavioural responses to evaluate welfare. Donkeys weighing of 132-172 kg (159 ± 11 kg) and totally 20
were used for the experiment. The experimental
design included two wheeled cart × seven load class (an increment
of 100 kg) with five repetitions each, and the travelled distance was 2 km. Travelled time,
behavioural occurrences and physiological responses were recorded. Statistical analysis was conducted using SAS (version 9.4) software
programme. When loads were 500-700 kg, heavy and rapid panting and falling down
occurred frequently. When loads increased successively and reached 500, 600 and
700 kg, speed started declining from 3.68 km/h to 3.5, 2.94 and 2.54 km/h, respectively, indicating that speed and applied loads are inversely
correlated (P < 0.001). Heart rate was 129 ± 11 bpm at 700 kg, and in respect to resting state, donkeys’ heart
rate elevated by a factor of up to 3. As
the load exceeded 400 kg, the speed declined significantly, and behavioural
occurrences like heavy panting and falling down confirmed this. This leads to
the conclusion that donkeys could pull about 2.7 times of
their live weight. But if
they have continuous and long working hours (about 6
h), it is recommended to keep load of two wheeled cart
about double of donkeys live weight so as to safe guard donkeys’ welfare.
KEYWORDS
Donkey, load, behaviour, heart rate, welfare.
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