Living with COVID-19 has meant some very difficult financial times for many individuals and companies. That means getting creative about ways to bring in cash while “normal” life is on pause. That’s exactly what happened in England, where a farm struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus pandemic managed to raise nearly $70,000 (£50,000) by offering Zoom calls with some of their goats.
We are absolutely loving sharing our goats with people all over the world – hysterical laughter is the same in every language "WHY IS THERE A GOAT?!" 😂🤣 Simone here has already been to India, Australia and France this morning 🇮🇳🇦🇺🇫🇷🇫🇷😆 pic.twitter.com/ZwTiXx4Mls
— Cronkshaw Fold Farm (@CronkshawFold) May 23, 2020
- It all started as a joke. Cronkshaw Fold Farm in Lancashire originally decided to offer the Zoom calls with the goats for £5 for a bit of a laugh. The idea was that one of the pets could jump on a business call to offer a little added entertainment and levity for roughly five minutes. They didn’t quite expect it to turn out as popular as it ended up being!
- Who could resist the sales pitch? “For the bargain price of £5 (all currencies and countries accepted), you can choose one of our goats to join you for 5 minutes of your video meeting. All proceeds go towards bulk buying loo roll. The goats are savvy in Zoom, Microsoft teams, Webex, BlueJeans, Skype, Google Hangouts, Jitsi, Go To Meeting and Ring Central,” the website reads. I mean, I’m already sold!
- It wasn’t long before things really took off! Dot McCarthy, who’s run the farm since 2016, told Farming UK that after sharing the idea with her colleague, they decided they should probably focus on other ways of making money that would be more lucrative because at the rate things were going, the farm probably wasn’t going to survive. Little did they realize how legitimate this little operation would be. “I put it on the website that evening anyway along with Emma’s email address for bookings. I woke up, I had loads of missed calls from Emma saying she’d been inundated with emails and couldn’t keep up with the demand for goat calls,” McCarthy recalled.
- Now, they’ve raised nearly $70,000. The number of business meetings the goats have joined have meant that the farm has had an influx of much-needed cash. “We’ve had everyone from the European management team of Facebook, to NHS staff in need of a cheer up, to virtual church services – the vicars always seem to choose Mary the goat and I am pleased to say we have made over 50k so far,” McCarthy revealed. That’s awesome!
- That money is going to very good use. In a Facebook post on February 1, Cronkshaw Fold Farm revealed that the money they make from the goat Zoom calls is not only keeping employees in jobs but is providing everything they need to ensure the farm is COVID-safe. “Any extra funds raised are all going towards installing equipment to make renewable power on-site at the farm, switching farm machinery from diesel to electric and switching up our farming practices to the lowest carbon models possible to help us do all we can to help tackle climate change,” the post read. Good for them!
Cuthbert here didn't see the time until it was too late… He's sent you an email to apologise and ask if you'd like to reschedule. He hopes he's still on your bucket list 🐐 pic.twitter.com/zr89rsWnes
— Cronkshaw Fold Farm (@CronkshawFold) August 15, 2020
