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The foods that are commonly fed to donkeys contain only small quantities of fat. However, certain feeds are rich in fat, particularly the cake remaining after the extraction of oil from seeds such cotton, linseed, canola and sunflower. These feeds are a very rich source of energy. In the UK, the habitual inclusion of these feeds into the diets of donkeys is likely to result in gross obesity. However, in poor countries they may represent a cost-effective way of boosting the energy intake of working donkeys. Donkeys do have a specific requirement for particular essential fatty acids such as linoleic and α-linolenic, but the levels of these are sufficiently high in most common forages to make deficiency very unlikely under practical conditions.
References
- Smith, D. and Wood, S. (2008) Donkey nutrition In Svendsen, E.D., Duncan, J. and Hadrill, D. (2008) The Professional Handbook of the Donkey, 4th edition, Whittet Books, Chapter 1
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