Silly Little Donkeys

I wish, I wish, I wish I had had a camera with me this morning.  Silly donkeys amused me yet again.
When I left the house to go to morning feed, we had a nice crusty layer of ice topping the recent snowfall.  Walking up the driveway was an effort; you had to actually lift your foot and plant it with a crunch to move through the snow.

When I arrived at the donkey gate three little donks were slowly moving toward me, (single file of course).  They stopped a few feet short (instead of rushing the gate bellowing for breakfast) and stood there all prissyfied lifting little feet off the ground, as though to say "this is icky, I don't like it".

They stood there with at least one foot off the ground until I announced I had cookies.  Well, that changed the whole situation in a flash.  Suddenly they were actually able to crunch down through the icy snow to stretch out necks and neatly attack the equine treats.

How could anyone resist their irresistible ways...

Shavings vs Straw

We've been in the deep freeze in SE Michigan the past few days so there are NO photos to accompany this post.  You'll have to put up with my description only.

I'm trying a test -- shavings for bedding instead of straw.  Donkeys eat straw!  I'd pile more straw on at night and voila, in the morning, gone.  Thought this was pretty peculiar until I did some more reading.  Apparently they'll eat quite a wide range of materials.  So I turned off the panic button.

Now when I go to feed breakfast, little backs are covered with shavings.

Yes, shavings are a bit pricier.  But I can control their food consumption better now.  Pros and cons.  Looks I'm sticking with the shavings for the time being.

I have to think this is a good thing.  Although Fran did ask me the other day -- where'd dessert go...