A donkey leaving your yard should not leave its history behind it. Before a sale is agreed, assemble the papers that prove who this donkey is and show how it has actually been kept, so the buyer begins from knowledge instead of guesswork and the donkey's care does not reset to zero on arrival.
Start with identity: its passport or identification document, microchip number, age, sex, colour and any markings, written exactly as they appear on the records themselves. Then build the health side in date order — veterinary visits and findings, vaccinations, dental checks and work done, farrier visits, and any ongoing management the new owner must continue from day one.
The one-page summary the buyer reads first
On top of the full file, write a single current page: what the donkey eats and how much, which companion it lives with and how closely bonded they are, how it is caught and led, what it dislikes, and the routines that keep it settled. Be plain about behaviour and health rather than polishing either; a buyer warned that a donkey is wary of strangers or needs its weight watched can plan for it, while a surprise helps nobody.
Assembling the file in a useful order
Work through the bundle before handover day:
- Identity documents and microchip details at the front, with a recent clear photograph
- Health records in date order, most recent first within each section
- Feeding, companions and handling notes written as they are now, not as first planned
- Sale agreement noting which records, rugs and equipment pass with the donkey
- Your contact details, plus the vet and farrier the donkey already knows
Agree with the buyer, in writing, that this bundle passes over on handover day, and keep a copy for yourself in case questions come back in the first weeks.
Keeping the file honest until it moves
Update each entry on the day something changes — a dental visit, a new vaccination, a change of companion — while the details are still exact, rather than rebuilding them from memory when the sale is already arranged. A short note of weight and condition, taken monthly, gives the buyer a trend to follow rather than a single snapshot. If more than one person tends the donkey, settle on a single version of its routine and write that version down, so the buyer hears one story from the file instead of three at the gate.
Handled that way, the paperwork stops being a chore at the end of the sale and becomes the donkey's continuity. On handover day, the buyer receives that continuity whole when the profile moves across through KinsLe's Transferrable Profiles.