Poitou

Poitou jacks were put to mares of one particular draft breed, the Mulassier, and the mules that came out were the best in Europe. The mules were sold everywhere. The breeding stock stayed in Poitou.

That closed loop lasted for centuries. France's national stud recognized the breed and opened the studbook in 1884, and the mule trade around it stayed a regional industry until after the Second World War.

Poitou blood also traveled: it is one of the strains behind the American Mammoth Jackstock.

A big donkey. The Livestock Conservancy puts them at 14 to 15 hands, 56 to 60 inches at the withers, and 750 to 950 lb; the French standard sets minimums of 55 inches for a jack and 53 for a jennet. The head is large and long, the ears very long, the bone heavy, the feet large.

The coat is the signature. Left entirely ungroomed it grows long and mats into hanging cords called cadenettes, sometimes reaching the ground. Color runs dark brown to black, with a gray underside, and there is no dorsal stripe: unlike most donkeys, a Poitou carries no cross on its back.

Docile, friendly and affectionate are the words the sources use. This is not a difficult animal to be around.

It is a demanding animal to be responsible for. The Conservancy rates the Poitou for advanced owners, and the reasons are stewardship rather than behavior: a Critical population leaves no room for casual breeding decisions, and the coat needs a policy, because the cords form only in a coat that is never groomed. Corded or brushed is a decision you make once.

Siring mules was the whole job for most of the breed's history, and the studbook was built around it.

The modern uses are wider: driving, riding and light agricultural work, and the French standard still describes a strong, willing carrier. The central job now, though, is the breed itself: with a Critical listing, breeding to the studbook is the work.

Decide about the coat first. The cords take years to form and survive only without grooming, so the traditional coat and an ordinary maintained one are two different keeping regimes, not two looks.

The rest is donkey keeping at a large size: modest forage rather than rich pasture, which founders donkeys, and fencing and shelter for an animal of 14 hands or more.

When demand for mules collapsed after the Second World War the breed nearly went with it. Its small home range made it fragile: by 1977 there were 44 animals left anywhere, and still fewer than 80 in 1980. Numbers recovered to around 2,500 registered by 2012, and the Asinerie du Baudet du Poitou now runs a conservation program alongside the regional park.

The registry's own counts keep the scale honest. A 2018 estimate put 2,800 Poitou donkeys in the world, 1,300 of them in the purebred book, Livre A. In 2024 there were 123 registered births, 114 of them in France, and 47 jacks stood at stud in France in 2025.

The Conservancy began an American census in 2020 after two large herd dispersals put the US population at risk. The count found about 125 animals, and the American Poitou Breeders Association formed in its wake.

Papers here mean the French studbook. Registration runs through the Races mulassieres du Poitou association, which keeps the genealogical book, and the purebred book, Livre A, is the population conservation counts. Ask which book an animal is recorded in, not just whether it has papers.

If you are buying in the United States, ask where the animal sits in the Conservancy's census, and expect to deal with the American Poitou Breeders Association. The American population is small enough that a single dispersal moves the numbers.

Budget the coat, the size and the stewardship. This is a Critical breed rated for advanced owners, and any breeding decision you make ripples through a very small population.

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