A Cross-Sectional Survey of Foaling-Related Parameters of Jennies (Equus asinus) Under Smallholder Farm Conditions in Northeast China.

The research involved studying the reproductive efficiency of jennies, female donkeys, in smallholder farms in northeast China. The researchers analyzed various parameters related to their breeding, revealing that although the donkeys maintained fairly efficient reproductive practices, overall foaling rates remained relatively high throughout the breeding season.

Research Method

A detailed survey was carried out over 694 smallholder farms, randomly chosen from 40 different villages in the Western Liaoning Province and Eastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The time period of this survey was between March and July 2017.

• The research specifically targeted the northeastern region of China under smallholder farm conditions.
• The while gathering data, parameters measured include mean age at first foaling, foaling rate, and foaling interval from 2014 to 2017.

Findings

According to the findings of the study,

• Only two-thirds of adult jennies foaled during the 3-year period covered by the survey, delivering a foal roughly every 1.9 years.
• The average age at first foaling was found to be 45.3 months.
• The lowest foaling rate coincided with the peak of foaling.
• The overall mean values for the foaling rate and foaling interval were 75% and 500.5 days respectively.
• There were no significant changes in the foaling rates up to the age of 15 years and in the foaling intervals within the first 8 parities.

Implications

The results of the study indicated that jennies were able to maintain fairly effective foaling-related parameters under smallholder farm conditions in the northeastern region of China.

• Despite this, the research shows a major loss to donkey breeding as the foaling rates hardly stayed high for the full breeding season.
• This implies a need for changes, likely in farming practices or donkey management, in order to increase the efficiency of donkey breeding, and, in turn, the overall donkey population.