harness

Background

Working donkeys represent an important source of energy worldwide. Poor working conditions and equipment affect their ability to work. Poorly designed, ill-fitted harness causes inefficient transfer of power and leads to health and welfare issues. Using technology to assess different types of collars provides a better understanding of those that are most efficient for working donkeys.

Materials and methods

Seven different collars were tested using pressure pads. Contact area, median, maximum and peak pressures were obtained for the whole collar and critical points. Eight donkeys pulled 20% and 40% of their body weight, using each collar, under controlled conditions.

Results

Contact area and pressures vary between collars and effort, with design and expansion capacity of the collars playing a major role. Simple collars designed specifically for donkeys performed well, with full collars designed for horses also having good results. Due to reduced expansion capacity and contact in the critical points, the breast collars were the least effective.

Conclusion

Design, appropriate padding and manufacturing materials and adjustment capacity are key features for good collars, and such parameters are of paramount importance in terms of health and welfare for working donkeys.

Ethiopia has 7.1 million donkeys and mules, the majority of which are used as pack animals. Factors such as poor harness quality, long-distance traveling, and heavy cartloads have been linked to reduced work efficiency. Addressing the health and welfare of working equids is imperative not only for the animals but also for the households dependent upon them for livelihood. In developing countries, 75 % of working equids have gait or limb abnormalities, but the relationship between workload and prevalence of lameness is unknown. We examined 450 cart mules in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Lameness and workload were assessed through use of a survey and lameness exam. We found that 26.8 % of cart mules were lame, and acute lameness of the forelimb was the most common. Animals with poor harness quality were 2.5 times more likely to have sores and 1.6 times more likely to be lame. Lameness tended to be associated with cartloads >700 kg (P = 0.09), and there was a significant association between multiple-leg lameness and cartload weight (P = 0.03). The presence of sores was the best predictor of lameness (P = 0.001). Possible areas of intervention may include education to reduce average daily workload and improving harness design.