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Goat Rental – Hire Goats

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Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#141

Post by oynqr »

__dunder__ wrote: post #65
mingusrude wrote: post #55

My sister has a small farm and in addition to cows and horses she also has rabbits. Every spring, parents show up to buy a rabbit to have at home. When the deal is done my sister takes the parents aside and tell them that if they plan or feel by the end of the summer that they want to let the rabbit loose, they can return it for free. What she does not tell is that our brother-in-law is a chef and happily makes rabbi…

Doesn't this produce a selection effect against cute rabbits? Parents are more likely to choose cute rabbits, those rabbits become pets, they either get returned and eaten or kept. So non-cute rabbits tend to live longer on the farm, and as such have more offspring and get selected for, and eventually the farm will be covered in ugly rabbits and your sister will not have any clients anymore.

Ugly rabbits probably get the stew treatment first

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#142

Post by hendrikrassmann »

redbar0n wrote: post #110
throwawaylinux wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fox guarding the hen house seems like the English equivalent to that.

Norwegian equivalent: «To let the billy watch the sack of oats.» A billy/buck goat is a male goat.

The German proverb is also about a "Bock", same word, same meaning.

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#143

Post by pagade »

yitchelle wrote: post #54

Story time - My dad asked the local school which had a goat if he can borrow it for a weekend. It was to tame his backyard. As the backyard was enclosed with no chance of the goat escaping, we left it by itself. The goat was be extremely hungry and ate everything insight including the roots, leaves and bark. By Monday, the backyard is barren and took months recover. Moral of the story - keep an eye on the goat.

Ok, I have to ask. Why did the school have goat?

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#144

Post by dstick »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #127
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not talking about cat litter I'm talking about litters of kittens. Who gives a fuck about litter? Unless you're talking about litter as in garbage. But if you think dumping helpless animals under your care to fend for themselves is morally equivalent to littering, I'm not even sure what to say to that. It's not even in the same ballpark.

I know commenting on downvotes isn't kosher but I really wish downvoters would leave a comment on why. It could be 3 words: downvoted for x. I'm really not sure what is so objectionable about asserting that animal abuse is not the same thing as littering.

Since you asked nicely: downvoted for using a specific type of language.

It’s the first part in the HN guidelines for comments:

“Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.”

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#145

Post by e12e »

leobg wrote: post #63
yitchelle wrote: post #54

Story time - My dad asked the local school which had a goat if he can borrow it for a weekend. It was to tame his backyard. As the backyard was enclosed with no chance of the goat escaping, we left it by itself. The goat was be extremely hungry and ate everything insight including the roots, leaves and bark. By Monday, the backyard is barren and took months recover. Moral of the story - keep an eye on the goat.

In German, there’s an old phrase: “Appointing the goat as gardener”. You use it when somebody is being made responsible for task for which he is not just incompetent, but where he will actually cause damage - for instance because he has ulterior motives.

Fantastic. I think most of the "equivalents" miss a lot of the nuance.

We don't expect the fox to be any good at guarding the chickens, but the goat could plausibly start out as a good gardener ("mowing" the grass and eating the weeds). But then through enthusiasm and love of the work end up ruining the garden...

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#146

Post by yitchelle »

pagade wrote: post #143
yitchelle wrote: post #54

Story time - My dad asked the local school which had a goat if he can borrow it for a weekend. It was to tame his backyard. As the backyard was enclosed with no chance of the goat escaping, we left it by itself. The goat was be extremely hungry and ate everything insight including the roots, leaves and bark. By Monday, the backyard is barren and took months recover. Moral of the story - keep an eye on the goat.

Ok, I have to ask. Why did the school have goat?

It was a progressive school in the country side. I think most of the students are from the local farming community.

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#147

Post by yitchelle »

mikk14 wrote: post #103
yitchelle wrote: post #54

Story time - My dad asked the local school which had a goat if he can borrow it for a weekend. It was to tame his backyard. As the backyard was enclosed with no chance of the goat escaping, we left it by itself. The goat was be extremely hungry and ate everything insight including the roots, leaves and bark. By Monday, the backyard is barren and took months recover. Moral of the story - keep an eye on the goat.

> with no chance of the goat escaping Bold assumption there. As they say, "if it doesn't hold water it won't hold a goat."

I guess if we left the goat long enough, it will eat thorough the fence. Then the neighbours garden will also be barren.

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#149

Post by vrc »

mikk14 wrote: post #103
yitchelle wrote: post #54

Story time - My dad asked the local school which had a goat if he can borrow it for a weekend. It was to tame his backyard. As the backyard was enclosed with no chance of the goat escaping, we left it by itself. The goat was be extremely hungry and ate everything insight including the roots, leaves and bark. By Monday, the backyard is barren and took months recover. Moral of the story - keep an eye on the goat.

> with no chance of the goat escaping Bold assumption there. As they say, "if it doesn't hold water it won't hold a goat."

My town stopped its annual “goats clear the park” setup because one goat would consistently escape and wreak havoc on traffic. Pretty solid enclosure, too

Re: Goat Rental – Hire Goats

#150

Post by vrc »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #86
mingusrude wrote: post #55

My sister has a small farm and in addition to cows and horses she also has rabbits. Every spring, parents show up to buy a rabbit to have at home. When the deal is done my sister takes the parents aside and tell them that if they plan or feel by the end of the summer that they want to let the rabbit loose, they can return it for free. What she does not tell is that our brother-in-law is a chef and happily makes rabbi…

What kind of people adopt a pet, and then release it into the wild? People doing this with cats is one of the reasons stray cats are such a big problem in many places. People dumping cat litters in the woods and what not. And rabbits can be an ecological menace too if allowed to multiply, which they do like rabbits .

Fish and turtles immediately come to mind. I knew of somebody who released Siberian dwarf hamsters and for a brief period they multiplied in their backyard before the local red tailed hawk caught wind
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