American Mammoth Jackstock Donkey Chat

The Livestock Conservancy

Welcome to the American Mammoth Jackstock Donkey Chat! This week Brittany Sweeney and Cindra Kerscher are chatting with Audrey Cadle of Donkey Meadows Farm (https://www.donkeymeadows.org/ and @DonkeyMeadows). In December 2006, Audrey, husband Mike, and their three children moved to Purcellville, Virginia, motivated by her interest in owning American Mammoth Jackstock donkeys. They found a lovely home with some land and a nice barn ready to be occupied. They brought Gus and Hoss home in February 2007. A short year and a half later they were on their way back to Tennessee to pick up 3 pregnant jennies and a foal. Audrey read and researched anything and everything she could about the breed. She wanted to spread the history and versatility of them as far as possible. She worked with the donkeys, made plenty of mistakes, learned from those mistakes, then researched and retrained those lessons correctly. Audrey has done a little breeding, a little selling, and training with her donkeys and a few others. She also trained new human donkey-owners on the care, handling, discipline, feed, and exercise for their animals. She's helped prepare barns and pastures for new donkey-owners as well as searched for and found the right donkeys for clients. Audrey also started a 4-H donkey club in Loudoun County. After two years, she decided the kids would be better served by with the donkey club at her farm. The children learned how to care for, groom, handle the donkeys as well as teach them to navigate obstacle courses and to learn to have patience with the donkeys. Now, 15 years after getting her first Mammoths, Audrey is focusing on saving the American Mammoth Jackstock. She is working to achieve 501(c)(3) status at her farm, Donkey Meadows, so she can do more to preserve the breed. She is constantly educating people and providing a true experience of what it is like to love a mammoth donkey. She calls it “Preservation by Education.”