Leave No Jack Intact!

Okay, so you may be thinking, well, don't you have an intact jack? Well, yes. Let's back up a minute. When I say the term jack, I'm referring to an uncastrated male donkey. When a donkey has been castrated, we call them geldings. Now, it makes sense that in order to have baby donkeys, you need to have a jack around but if you are not a breeding farm, please do not leave your jacks intact and here's why.

An intact jack has an overflowing supply of hormones that rule and reign over his mannerisms. If he gets a scent that a female is in heat, watch out, he just might run you over. I've heard people say that their jacks are the most sweet and loving animals they own. I can agree! One of our jacks, Fire, is so mellow and lovable. We took him a couple years ago to show at the State Fair and he was so good with all of his adoring fans and took many selfies with people and we had no issues.

He is one of the calmest and respectful jacks when it comes to breeding and he doesn't maul his jenny's. A seasoned breeder once came and saw his breeding nature in action and she was absolutely astounded at his good manners saying that in her thirty years of breeding she had never seen a jack act like he did. He is a good boy.

Popcorn is young and still learning some manners. I don't trust him. I never turn my back on him when I'm in his pen. He can be a sweetheart and he can be a beast. You just never know and that is the main point with intact jacks: THEY ARE UNPREDICTABLE.

One fall evening, I was inside the kitchen making dinner. All of my kids were outside in the lovely fresh air. They were digging in the newly tilled garden dirt having a great time. I turned my back to the window and a few minutes later I looked up to see some commotion happening out by our jack, Fire's, pen. I ran outside to see what was going on. My ten year old daughter was holding our very sad and crying 18 month toddler. My little guy had quietly snuck away from the group of kids and squeezed between the jack's gate. When my daughter heard something behind her, she looked up to find that the usually calm Fire, had thrown my toddler face down on the ground and was biting and pawing at him with his front hoof. She ran into his pen (which normally, all of my children know they are not allowed in a jacks pen without an adult) and smacked him away and scooped up the terrified baby.

We got him inside and began to look him over. He had some scrapes and scratches on his face but his right shoulder looked pretty mauled and bruised. We did some movement tests and didn't feel like anything was broken.

We called a relative who is an ICU nurse to ask him what we should do. He told us that if we could move things without a reaction from the toddler then nothing should be broken. It was a huge blessing that he had been on his face because his rib cage protected his vital organs from receiving any damage. It truly was a miracle that he wasn't more severely injured and I know his guardian angel was on duty.

I tell this story to illustrate a jack's unpredictability. I don't know what came over our jack that day but he felt a threat from this little person coming into his territory. I would have never thought something like this would happen from our calm boy, but his hormones control him and they completely took over.

If we didn't have a breeding farm, I would never keep an intact jack. Geldings can be just as sweet and you can trust them so please, please have your jacks castrated! They will be happier and so will you.

Oh, and our little toddler is much wiser. He no longer tries to squeeze between the fence or gate and now enjoys the donkeys from a distance.