I've Got a Big Shaggy Donkey....

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The French Inspection Committee with Leah's half-bred gelding, Historique (Thor).

I've got a big, shaggy donkey I'm sure is a Poitou (or part Poitou). Everyone who looks at it says so.. I'm having tests run..... We hate to pass along bad news, but your donkey, unless it has verified pedigree, papers, microchip and breeding documentation, cannot be called a Baudet du Poitou or Poitou Donkey.  We have no doubts that large, heavy-headed shaggy donkeys have a percentage of Poitou blood.  In the 1930's, a Pure-bred, papered Poitou jack named Kaki was imported into the US.  He sired a number of part-bred offspring, who were used in Mammoth breeding programs.  Another may have been in imported in the 1950's, "Old Frenchie", in the Oklahoma or New Mexico area.  The famous Jen-Jack" owned by Tex Taylor, College Station TX, had  great deal of Poitou characteristics, and traced in lineage back to Kaki.  The influence is strong, but without verification of pedigree and bloodlines, "common" (the French refer to them this way - we know of course they are not common at all, but unique!) donkeys cannot be Poitous or even Part-breds.  There have been several known donkeys of Poitou bloodlines (but no verification of registration) that have been used around the country.  Unfortunately, these  large fuzzies we find occasionally are special, but they cannot have status in the Baudet Studbook.  You may list them by size (Large Standard/Mammoth   - and under description we can note of Poitou Type,) but they cannot use the name Baudet du Poitou or Poitou Donkey according to French Law.  They are very strict about this, and this is one case where registration of the donkey and pedigree tracking is absolutely essential! Some preliminary testing on known Pure-bred Poitou DNA samples has already been done at University of Kentucky by Dr. Gus Cothran.  Thus far the results were inconclusive as the a definate genetic marker for Poitous versus other jackstock.  The only verification a DNA test could provide at this time would be to show that an untraced donkey was actually related to a known, catalogued Poitou Jack or jennet.

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So, this is a Poitou on the left and a common donkey on the right, correct?  In actuality, the one on the left does have Poitou blood (she's a French jennet) but no paperwork, so she cannot even be classified as a partbred.  The one on the right also has a smaller percentage, but no verification, and is indeed listed as a common donkey.  While the left jennet would seem be idea for a rebreeding program, she was not approved for inclusion into the Livre B breeding program as she lacked in bone and height.  She is a prime example of how the outer trait of the coat shows up as prominant, when the animal may not be a registerable Poitou.