OPEN DAYS now running Twice Weekly

DYFI DONKEY WOOD is now open every wednesday and Sunday throough to the end of August.

Come and meet mid- Wales' Friendliest donkeys in thier natural habitat.

We have 30 acres of wild nature reserve open to the public on the open days; residents include squirrels, rabbits, buzzards, chickens!, donkeys, horses and otters.

You may be luck enough to see a newt or a dragonfly.

Bring a picnic and spend the day.

 Come and groom some donkeys sessions run at 12 and 2pm

We are open from 11 am to 5 pm .

Why did we have Dylan gelded?

Many of you may have seen on facebook that Dylan had a little operation yesterday to prevent him becoming a dad.

I felt it would be good to let you know why this is always the sensible option to take whether it is a donkey,horse,dog or cat or any other pet.

Most animals will always follow the call of nature and it is their natural instinct to want to mate. The consequences of this are more animals. Now as anyone who had the pleaseure of seeing my foals knows baby animals are really cute; however they GROW UP. Donkeys can easily live over 35 years, so a foal now will still be needing care and attention in 2050... think about how old you would be then.
Having baby animals has loads of unseen costs such as extra food, vet costs and uncalculatable anounts of time in care and training, and those cost continue throughout their lives; often getting more expensive as animals get older. Even if you don't intend to keep your baby animals you need to be able to find homes for them, for someone else to take the costs on. This is extremely hard in the current economic environment and often people take on an animal only to have a change of circumstances and these animals then end up in the animal rescue industry which is already overloaded. Even the best intentioned breeder has no control over what happens to their animals once they leave their care.

Therefore unless you are prepared to take on the offspring of your jack donkey/stallion/dog/cat/etc for life or you are a really experienced breeder with specialist knowledge it is unkind to encourage more young animals into an overloaded system. There are two ways to prevent this ; ISOLATION or CASTRATION. Most animals are sociable so to isolate them from their fellow species can lead to lonely unhappy animals, which will often develop bad habits or behaviours due to unfulfilled sexually urges. The EASY alternative is a simple operation ; castration. This means that there are no risks of accidental breeding; both sex of animal can live happily together in their normal social environment and there is a decreased burden on welfare organisations. It is the kindest option for your male pets  and they will be much happy and contented for it.

Here at Dyfi Donkeys we run a no breed policy and strongly encourage you all to think very carefully before you . Remember we only have foals because we rescued two pregnant mums; who were accidently breed due to an oversexed Jack donkey seeking them out. Castration makes mens toes curl but it is always the best option. The biggest myth is that you can make money from breeding; it will always cost you more.

New Arrival at Dyfi Donkeys

Announcing the arrival of Billy the donkey.

Dyfi Donkeys have a new addition, a beautiful dark bay gelding called Billy. As far as we know Billy is about 9 years old and stands about the same height as Del-Boy and Muffin.

So what's his story ? Why is Billy at Dyfi Donkeys?

Billy used to live at an adult care facility in Dolgellau with his buddy Harry. They had both come to the home about 8 years ago when Billy was still very young. Sadly a fortnight ago , Harry passed away; he was much older than Billy . So Billy was left all alone with just a little pony to keep him company.

The owner of the care facility thought that Billy would be better of with other donkeys rather than a pony so contacted Dyfi Donkeys to see if we would be prepared to offer Billy a new home. Louise went to see him last Tuesday and realised that this was a really nice donkey. He has a lovely temperament , maybe a little timid at the moment but because he has been used to being handled by adults with learning difficulties he is used to being gentle and calm. 

Billy was a little sad to have lost his best friend and so we decided to move him as soon as possible. On Friday we headed off with the trailer to pick him up.  Billy was a little reticent to get in the trailer ; although this maybe because some of his friends from the home had come to see him go and maybe he could tell they were sad. Eventually we convinced him to mount the ramp and off we sped back to Dyfi Donkeys.

Louise decided it would be a bit much for him to be turned out with all the other donkeys. Everyone was really pleased to see him when he arrived and were very vocal, but she put him in a stable with Twister.This is good for Billy because he suffers from seedy toe so a nice dry stable is a good place to be.

 In the morning the rest of the donkeys were allowed in to meet him. Billy was a little overwhelmed but he had plenty of his own space. After a while the rest of the gang got tired of bothering him and wandered of. Then Billy asked to be let out.

Everyone made him feel really welcome and by the end of the day he was happily wandering round the the field with everyone else. By teatime Billy was ready to come back into his stable. So last night he spent with Twister again, he doesn't have to fight for his food and his feet are nice and dry.

Today Billy has been out again and has been playing with Muffin and Del-Boy.

Everyone seems happy, and  Billy has settled in really well. We are all happy to have him and hopefully he is happy to be here. We have lots of work to do with him but once his feet are sorted we hope to be taking Billy down to the beach.

TV Gold - Dyfi Donkeys hit CBBC Newsround and shine!

Watch the link and let us know what you think.

Del-Boy and the boys do it again as they put their best hooves forward and let the world know that they are not resting on their laurels all winter but out their working their hooves off!

So What DO beach donkeys do in the winter?

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/24958983

BBC Newsround visit Dyfi Donkeys

How exciting , Dyfi Donkeys got a visit from the BBC!

CBBC Newsround presenter Ricky Boleto paid us a visit and filmed the donkeys for a news segment.

The donkeys were all very excited and Muffin decided that it was his turn to be a star for the day. He followed Ricky and Louise around the yard all day, hardly leaving their side and making sure he was always in shot!

Ricky, Mosses and Muffin putting their best hooves forward in front of the camera.

The piece will focus on what the boys get up to when they're not on the beach - as you may know we do lots of Christmas based events from church carol concerts to donkey rides at Santa's grotto at Newman's Garden Centre in Aberystwyth. we also do birthday parties and educational session too through out the year.

It was a great day , the fim crew were all really friendly so neither Louise or the boys got too nervous. The foals weren't too sure of it all and kept themselves in the background, but you never know they may make it onto screen!

We aren't sure when it'll go to air yet but rest assured we will have a link added ton the page so that everyone gets to see Muffin in his new Media celebrity role!

HALF TERM OPEN DAY 30th OCTOBER

This is your last chance to catch up with the Dyfi Donkeys at home this year.

Dyfi Donkey Wood will be open from 11am to 5pm on Wednesday 30th October.

All normal activities will be available , the donkeys will be roaming free although they may be lurking in the shelter if the weather is wet! Dont forget even if it is wet there is lots of cover in the woods and the grooming sessions are all under cover.

Grooming sessions at 12pm and 2pm.
Den building available all day.
Autumn treaure hunt - all day
General exploring - all day.

New for Autumn - the chance to find an acorn and plant it, you can either leave it with us and come back and plant it once it's grown or you can take your very own piece of Donkey Wood home with you.

Dylan and Seren are growing fast so take the oppurtunity to come and see them before they aren't really foals anymore... they are really fluffy at the moment!

Prices are £3 children and £4 adults, no additional costs , no need to book.

Phone 07717020344 for more details.

Dylan gets a little sister SEREN

Wow, things have got really hectic here at the Dyfi Donkeys; our open days are in full flow and the foals are keeping us all on our toes.

Dylan's little half sister arrived on 18th July at 13.40 to everyone's surprise. All the books say that donkeys will give birth during the wee hours of the night , obviously Poppy doesn't read!

I was happily trying to relocate everyone to accomodate a visit from our friendly farrier, Dorian, when i realised that poppy wasn't just lying down because she was a little weary. Luckily the birth went without the same trauma as Dylan's and Seren popped out of her own accord.

Seren - about an hour old!

Seren means Star in welsh. Seren's vital statistics were height 82cm tall, ears 21cm long, weight 20kgs.  She looks much finer than Dylan, has a very curly coat and a beautiful cross on her back.

I was luck enough to watch her make her first steps and her first steps are available to view on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200717007180398&set=vb.548717721815216&type=2&theater - check it out as it is really special, Bambi could have taken some lessons from young Seren.

A week on now and Seren has totally found her feet and she is spending her time racing around the field with Dylan.

If you get the chance get down to one of our Open days and check them out. We are getting nothing down down here on the farm because we are spending all our time foal watching!!!!